PAUL Carden lauded Nantwich Town after their Isuzu FA Trophy upset against York City, believing that he would struggle to witness a better first-half performance than his side displayed.

It was an afternoon in Cheshire that the Minstermen would rather forget, as despite a late comeback, they ultimately failed to recover from a 3-0 half-time deficit against a side 64 places, and three leagues, below them in the footballing pyramid.

The Dabbers never looked back once Ahmed Ali broke the deadlock with a flicked header past David Stockdale two minutes into proceedings, with Paddy Kay doubling their lead in similar fashion before Connor Rankin put them in a commanding position with half an hour played.

City, fielding a rotated squad including several fringe players, did fight back late on through a Lenell John-Lewis penalty and Zanda Siziba strike, but it was too little, too late to prevent themselves from crashing out of the competition.

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Carden was delighted with his side’s performance and believes that they "thoroughly deserved" their place in the competition’s Fourth Round.

“I think you’d have to go a long way to see a better first-half performance,” he enthused to the club.

“We thoroughly deserved the lead, and we thoroughly deserved the win.

“We were holding on a bit towards the end, which you’re going to in the conditions, which just seemed to pick up massively.

"I know it was windy in the first half, but just the gusts in the second half, we couldn’t get out at times. But I thought that we stuck to our shape and plan, it was brilliant.

“They’ve scored a couple of goals – a penalty is a penalty, which gives them a little bit of something to go at – but to a man, we were excellent and thoroughly deserved it.”

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Rankin ensured his first goal for the club would be one to remember when he glanced a near-post corner through a sea of bodies and into the back of the net to leave Nantwich in dreamland.

But whilst Carden’s gut told him that the forward’s inclusion may prove fruitful, he was unsure about his squad selection - even on the morning of the tie.

“To be honest, I was undecided with the team," he conceded. "I knew the shape, I was undecided with the team, but I just fancied him to get his goal.

“I knew they wouldn’t like the type of forward he is – he’s raw, he’s aggressive with his run, and he puts himself about.

"I’m delighted that he’s got off the mark in such a big game for us.”

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Byron Harrison’s straight red card for an alleged elbow in injury time saw the game end on a sour note for the hosts - and the Dabbers’ chief believes it should not have been brandished.

“It was a harsh red. He’s stepped across the lad, he’s not thrown an elbow.

“Their staff were outside the referee’s room at half time, and then you just get a feeling that the referee’s going to sway a little bit, every nudge went their way, every nudge that should have been for us, he never gave.

“You just felt ‘it’s not going to be one of them, he’s not going to help them along because of the standard, he’s used to refereeing that’, but to hold on in those circumstances with 10 men, the spirit that the lads have shown was a different class.

“I’m delighted for everyone at the club.”