Scarborough Athletic overcame a first half red card to beat Nantwich Town 3-0 at the Flamingo Land Stadium, writes Liam Price.
The Dabbers had the better of the first half, with the returning Jamie Morgan and Joe Mwasile dominating the left hand side.
Shaun Miller squandered a half chance early on, a Sean Cooke free kick fell his way but it looked as if he wasn’t expecting it and it squirmed under his foot.
Jake Day headed in for Scarborough but was promptly flagged offside.
Then Dan Cockerline fell victim to the artificial pitch, seeing a ball played through to him in a good position get held up and forcing him to turn, losing his chance to get a shot in.
Joel Stair had Nantwich’s best chance, heading powerfully towards goal from a Cooke free kick but it was well saved by Ryan Whitley, tipping round the post at full stretch.
What looked to be an uneventful first half all changed on 40 minutes.
Morgan was penalised for a foul on Scarborough captain Nathan Cartman.
But he reacted badly to the challenge, and lashed out at Morgan with a foot.
After lengthy consultation with his assistants, the referee gave a straight red card to Cartman, as well as a yellow for Morgan.
The hosts seemed to be galvanized by this and flew in the second half.
Mwasile had the ball in the net early on but the offside flag denied him.
Scarborough then took the lead through Day who half-volleyed in off the post after a cross was not cleared sufficiently, poor defending but the finish was exquisite.
A flurry of action just past the hour saw Scarborough miss two chances to double their lead, the first a good save by Wycherley and the rebound should have been buried but flew wide with the keeper still on the floor.
Then the Dabbers went up the other end with a smart move that saw Miller get an opening, he tried to lift the ball over Whitney but he stood tall and showed rapid reflexes to push it over the bar.
Most of the Dabbers’ other efforts lacked any conviction, too many were wildly off target or straight at the keeper, and often from ambitious distances out.
But even when the attempts were good, Whitney was looking nearly unbeatable in goal.
Another Miller effort on 72 minutes, a shot on the swivel, was well saved.
That felt like the moment the Dabbers started to feel as if it wasn’t going to be their day.
Scarborough pounced on this and added a second 11 minutes from time.
A cheeky free kick from Ryan Watson snuck in at the near post past Wycherley who was caught out.
Nantwich got a penalty four minutes from time after substitute Connor Heath was tripped in the box.
Cooke took but Whitley capped off his man-of-the-match display by going the right way and saving.
And Scarborough finished the game with a third.
Luca Colville found the corner in the 90th minute to seal a fine win with a man disadvantage.
(Pics courtesy of Jonathan White)
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