SATURDAY 1st DECEMBER 2007

NUNEATON BOROUGH 2 v 0 VAUXHALL MOTORS

BLUE SQUARE NORTH

Already without influential midfielder Tom Field, who was serving a one-match ban, Vauxhall manager Andy Mutch was forced to leave for the Midlands without 15-goal hot-shot Paul Taylor through illness.

And if that was enough, he then saw his side fall behind early on when skipper Joe McMahon tripped Borough’s on-loan striker Jordan Stephen just inside the box after just 13 minutes, which home captain Tom Curtis converted into the bottom left corner despite the efforts of Motors keeper Andrew Murphy, who had already made one smart save.

And then to compound matters, McMahon was forced out of the action on 32 minutes with a reoccurrence of his ankle injury which previously kept he sidelined for seven weeks.  Just prior to that, Mark Reed superbly set up Anthony Wright only for the Vauxhall man to be denied by the legs of Borough keeper Darren Acton from an acute abgle and before the break, Ged Brannan saw his curling shot following a free kick palmed away by the home keeper.

On the resumption, Borough enjoyed a ten-minute spell of pressure and wasted a couple of chances, but for the remainder of the half, were completely on the back foot as Motors took a firm hold of proceedings, pegging the hosts into their own half.  Peter Heler set up Alan Griffiths for a piledriver which Acton did brilliantly to tip over, Reed tricked his marker only to find Acton in the right place and substitute Ryan Wignall’s drive was blocked on route to goal, as Motors threatened an equaliser.

But the breakthrough never arrived and right on time, Nuneaton bagged the points with a second to give the scoreline a most flattering home victory.  Having won a throw-in near the corner flag in a rare excursion up field, home substitute Danny Williams wrapped up the game, when his shot slipped just inside the far post.

Vauxhall: Murphy, Owens, Dames, Smith (15. Wignall 60), McMahon (16. Holmes 32), Brannan, Heler, Griffiths, Reed, Marsh-Evans, Wright (14. Egerton 54).  Sub not used: 12. Clarke