Nomads collect 3 points on the road

Yesterday’s away game against second place Abbey Hey was probably expected by most to be a win for the hosts, who have been in good form of late, but Nomads spoiled the party and brought home a well deserved 2-1 win.

In cold and blustery conditions it was the home team that had the first chance with a header going over the bar, no work required on this occasion for new keeper Mason Walker on debut following his call up from the reserves.

Nomads however then began to dominate the ball, as they have been doing so well of late, and the hosts were unable to create anything of note in the remainder of the half. Nomads on the other hand were creating opportunities with Kyle Foley and Max Lewens finding space in behind the defence, but neither could trouble the keeper. In all fairness, despite Nomads dominance of possession and the ball, there were few chances for either team in the first half.

It was the visitors that opened the scoring however, just on the hour when fine work down the right hand side between Kyle Foley and Charlie Mulgrew put Kieren Alley free and his ball found Max Lewens unmarked and he calmly slotted home from inside the 6 yard box. Nomads got a second 13 minutes later and it was almost a carbon copy as Dan Mclaughlin was able to finish from inside the box to net his 16th goal of the season.

As expected, the hosts tried their best to get back into the game, and managed what would turn out to be a consolation goal just a few minutes later to make the last 15 minutes more nervy than it needed to be. Nomads however, did what they were unable to manage in last weeks game against New Mills and held on to take a well deserved 3 points.

After the game we got the thoughts of Manager Jake Davies:

“Overall a great result and a fantastic performance from the group in difficult conditions.

I thought we started the game a little slow but it was kind of expected given the conditions of the game with the wind and the pitch not being the best to play on. We utilised the wind well in the first half to try and put the Abbey back line under some pressure but our final pass, final dribble really let us down and ultimately we didn’t manage to create anything clear cut. We were frustrated we hadn’t created too much as we knew we were in for a right battle for the second half with the wind in their favour. Mason also made a couple of great stops to keep us level at half time, great start for our debutant in goal.

The second half was the best half of the season in my opinion, the reason being it had a bit of everything when the conditions were completely against us and against a good side.

The way we played out in the second half and retained the ball was outstanding and we had no choice other than to play with the wind being against us, we had to keep control of the ball this half otherwise it would of been coming straight back at us. Not only was I so pleased with how we retained the ball but I thought our wing backs and our front three nullified direct balls so well and this was a critical element for keeping control of the game. We denied them crossing opportunities so well.

The first goal from ourselves was outstanding, we built the attack well and exposed Dylan Norris which was part of our game plan. Dylan is so good going forward so when we could get Kieran behind we had to do it quickly, Max running into finish again is massive for him as he is capable of scoring more goals in this scenario.

The determination, aggression and discipline to get over the line was superb, it was their against new mills and we were just unfortunate that day.

To come away with 4 points from 6 against two of the top three feels good however we should have had 6, I’m hopeful we can now kick on and perform consistently. It feels like we’ve turned a big corner.

I want to thank the group for their hard work, the coaching staff for their commitment and the committee for their unwavering support throughout this season so far. Together we can achieve so much and it feels like now we can start to make a real statement in this league.”