Nantwich Town 2 Stourbridge 3

George Bowerman came in for his debut on loan from Accrington Stanley, and Andre Francis was drafted in for the unavailable Chris Knight, whilst injuries and other availability problems meant manager Gary Hackett could name only four substitutes, including youth team striker Lewis McPike.

The match had an explosive start when a poor touch by Francis saw the Glassboys' defender lunge at Kyle Blake right in front of the home bench in an over-enthusiastic attempt to win back the ball, and the referee had no hesitation in producing a red card to leave Stourbridge with an uphill task.

However, it was the Glassboys who drew first blood on 12 minutes when Paul McCone rose highest to head home Drew Canavan's corner.

Dean Coleman was called into action almost immediately with a fine double save from Iain Howard and then Anthony Sheehan, but thereafter despite having most of the possession Nantwich failed to make much headway against a determined Glassboys defence.

Indeed, Stourbridge should have doubled their lead just before the half hour, when Bowerman charged down a clearance from Dave Stevenson in the home goal and the ball looped up to Reece Hales whose shot was blocked by the scrambling Andy Pearson.

The half ended with Nantwich very much in the ascendency as the Glassboys proved wasteful in possession whenever they broke up home attacks, and the second period began in very much the same fashion. But Stourbridge were to give themselves breathing space with their first attack on 53 minutes, Bowerman tenaciously battling for the ball in the area before calmly picking his spot beyond Anderson.

Nantwich continued to press forwards, although Will Richards was to shoot narrowly wide after McCone knocked down another Canavan corner on 57 minutes.

The home side came close to an equaliser after 64 minutes when a slick passing move left Howard one-on-one with Coleman, but the Glassboys keeper produced a wonderful instinctive save to push the ball wide for a corner, and they came even closer with 69 minutes on the clock as Sam Wilson's header came back off the underside of the crossbar.

The Dabbers finally grabbed a lifeline on 82 minutes when a long clearance from Anderson seemed to catch the Stourbridge defence off guard and Aaron Burns was able to lift the ball over the exposed Coleman.

Stourbridge were now relying on breakaways to relieve the pressure and from one such on 86 minutes, Jordan Fitzpatrick released Reece Hales who confidently slotted past Anderson from the edge of the area to restore the two-goal advantage.

Nantwich were not finished, however, and in the final minute of the scheduled 90, Burns found a peach of a finish to curl a shot beyond the reach of Coleman. Four minutes of added time followed but the home side were unable to seriously test Coleman again and Stourbridge hung on for the points.