IN this form, it is difficult of fathom how Witton Albion had waited three months to win a home game.

With that sequence halted, and the treatment room at Wincham Park almost empty, there is plenty to be positive about.

An early breakthrough certainly helped last Saturday.

Matty Devine drilled low into the centre after raiding down the left and, after Joel Stair had blocked Will Jones’ attempt, Rob Hopley rifled in the loose ball.

The Dabbers responded, and Matt Bell hooked narrowly over after Troy Bourne and Joe Mwasile had combined neatly on the right.

At the other end, goalkeeper Fabien Speiss was swift from his line to smother Jones’ shot after he intercepted Toby Mullarkey’s weak backward header.

Carl Macauley’s men did double their lead before the break when James Foley’s arced free-kick was helped into the top corner by a stretching Speiss.

Nantwich halved their arrears in similar circumstances midway through the second-half when Sean Cooke swerved a perfectly-placed set-piece out of Witton custodian Calvin Hare’s reach.

However their hopes were hit five minutes later when Steven Tames forced a mistake from Stair before teeing up Hopley to steer in his second goal of the game.

Alboin added gloss on 79 minutes when Hopley flicked on Hare’s huge clearance kick for Tames, and he found the net from an angle after nudging the ball past Spiess as he rushed from his line.

Cooke flashed another free-kick wide for Nantwich, while Hopley was denied a hat-trick when he curled an effort onto the crossbar when a loose ball rolled into his path.

Hare also denied the Dabbers’ goal-scorer with a smart low stop.

Witton | Hare (GK), McKenna, Devine, Humphreys, Wilson, Foley, Haywood (Gardner 82), Owens, Hopley, Jones (Dale 74), Tames Subs not used Williams, Brown, Neild (GK) Goals Hopley 3, 75 Foley 28, Tames 79 Booked Hopley, Haywood

Nantwich | Spiess (GK), Bourne, Wildin, Stair, Mullarkey (Morgan 46), Bell, Mwasile (Forbes 80), Hughes, Clayton, Cooke, Cotterell (Griggs 73) Subs not used Phillips, Boney (GK) Goal Cooke 70

Referee Michael Barlow

Attendance 394