By James Briscoe
Nantwich Town kicked off their Evo-Stik Premier League campaign with a fine 2-0 victory over King’s Lynn Town.
Goals by Aaron Burns and Adam Carden were enough to see off the promoted side at the Weaver Stadium.
And it was thoroughly deserved victory for Danny Johnson’s men who bossed proceedings for much of the game.
Burns scored a delicate lob secured the win after winger Carden had placed a calm opener on seven minutes.
Nantwich survived on 32 minutes when Danny Caldecott received a yellow for felling Hall with one defender covering.
The Linnets started determinedly in bright yellow but Burns had a point-blank header tipped away by Danny Gay on four minutes.
Caldecott curled a free-kick on to Burns’ head but he could only deflect it over on six minutes before Carden stole it to open the scoring.
King’s Lynn Town struggled to contain Nantwich in the first 10 minutes but they did get the ball forward occasionally.
Andrew Hall ran down the right on 13 minutes and put a cross in but it was well cut out by Russell Courtney.
Left back Jordan Yong was Lynn’s outlet early on, showing his pace keeping in a hard pass.
Hall’s corner on 19 minutes after Daniel Jacob’s shot was blocked by Earl Davis resulted in Dan Quigley heading over.
It was hard to see how the Dabbers could keep up their frantic starting pace for the full 90 minutes.
Burns contested a ball on the ground with Linnets keeper Gay and the stopper came off worse on 23 minutes.
A well-struck Max Harrop free-kick flew straight at Gay who parried on 28 minutes.
Nantwich looked frustrated at only 1-0 and Lynn were getting back in to the game ten minutes before half time.
The visitors started the second half well, with Quigley heading just wide on 48 minutes.
A minute later Tolley found space near the Nantwich penalty spot to swivel and blaze wide.
Nantwich’s Simpson failed to punch a cross away and Jacob shot wide again on 52 minutes.
Simpson atoned for his error a minute later as he parried away Hall’s low cross-shot.
After 60 minutes the Linnets’ second half pressure subsided and Nantwich again looked dangerous.
Carden found himself in acres of space down the right but his shot was well smothered by Gay with Clayton square on 74 minutes.
Then Burns stunned the crowd and opposition with a brilliant lob on 83 minutes to put the home side two goals up.
King’s Lynn Town manager Gary Setchell said after the game: “We’ve got to play to our maximum this year and today we probably played to our maximum for 20-30 minutes.
“It looked like we were scared of the occasion for the first 20-25 minutes and then obviously we went gung-ho and put on extra players and they nicked a goal against the run of play.
“This is step 3 football. You’ll get punished for your mistakes and you’ve got to take the most of your chances.”
Dabbers manager Johnson, said: “We are really pleased with the way the game’s gone and to pick them off at the end was magnificent.
“Earl Davis and Danny Caldecott have come through the game despite struggling through pre-season with injuries so that’s good.
“I’m never happy with the squad. I still think we need to improve but we’ve got a good enough group to get us going but I’m sure over the next six weeks I’ll still be looking to add to the group.”
(All pictures courtesy of Simon J Newbury Photography)
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