By Ashley Houghton
A Kyle Wilson hat-trick on his first Nantwich Town start sent the Dabbers on their way to a 5-1 victory over Macclesfield Town.
Wilson’s first-half treble and a brace for Sean Cooke gave Nantwich their first pre-season victory in front of 270 fans.
Wilson, Cooke and Matt Lowe returned to the starting XI after coming on from the bench in Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to Crewe Alexandra.
Nantwich started brightly and passed the ball well with Caspar Hughes at the heart of everything the Dabbers did on the ball.
Cooke gave the hosts the advantage on 13 minutes when Carl Martin’s clearance was blocked by Lewis Short and fell kindly to the Nantwich winger who chipped Macclesfield keeper Daniel Lloyd-Weston elegantly from 18 yards.
The lead was doubled ten minutes later as miscommunication between Martin and Craig Barrett left Short with plenty of time to pick out Wilson at the back post who slotted home easily.
The Dabbers third, and arguably the pick of the goals, came from Wilson as he knocked Cooke’s pass out of his feet and fired home an unstoppable strike from the edge of the area.
Mark Beesley was a constant threat throughout and his link-up play with Wilson was key to the fourth Nantwich goal, Beesley fed through a perfectly timed pass for the ex-Bangor City man and he made no mistake in lifting the ball over Lloyd-Weston for his hat-trick.
Macclesfield got into the game more as the second half progressed with ex-Nantwich striker Ben Mills breaking down the right and cutting back for Euloge Ahodikpe, but the Town midfielder prodded wide.
Nantwich scored their fifth with ten minutes to go when substitute Josh Lane broke down the right and was felled by Tony Diagne in the penalty area leaving referee Joe Simpson no choice but to give a penalty.
Cooke stepped up and made no mistake in hammering home the spot kick into the bottom right hand corner.
Macclesfield did gain a consolation in the closing stages through Diagne, the centre-half latched onto Ben Tomlinson’s knock down and lifted the ball over Jon Brain in the Nantwich goal.
Nantwich welcome League Two Port Vale to the Weaver Stadium on Friday August 3, kick off 7.30pm.
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