Cheadle Town 2-2 Holker Old Boys
Pre-match discussions for Cheadle Town centred around making the right decisions and communication as ‘Town’ looked to follow on from their impressive victory at Atherton LR the previous week.
The game started out in a rather lack lustre affair as neither side created any chances of note. Indeed it wasn’t until 29 minutes when the first goalscoring opportunity fell to Richard Whyatt who could only watch as his shot was somehow cleared off the line courtesy of the Holker keeper and defender.
On 35 minutes, Darrhyl Mason was put through one-on-one with the Holker keeper who came rushing out of his area only to bring down the oncoming Mason. Many people thought the foul was worthy of a red card, but to everyone’s amazement the keeper didn’t even receive a caution and Cheadle only had the free-kick to show for.
Mason’s chance was the final noteworthy moment of the half as the first 45 minutes ended scoreless.
HT: Cheadle Town 0 Holker Old Boys 0
Soon after the restart Holker took the lead on 47 minutes as Stephen Piggott could only parry a shot into the path of Billy Moss who scored from close range.
Cheadle finally got their deserved goal on 60 minutes when Mason whipped in a low cross from the left that was bundled over the line by a Holker defender.
Holker then took the lead again on 72 minutes when a Bradley Hubbold speculative shot from 25 yards seemed to elude Piggott as it beat him at his near post. But with two minutes Cheadle equalised again when Antony Trucca headed home a corner.
Anthony Trucca punches the air in delight after heading the second equaliser of the match
Cheadle continued to press for the victory but were denied by the stubborn Holker defence who managed to hold onto the draw.
Under normal circumstances, a draw against a strong Holker Old Boys side would have been acceptable. But with the chances that Cheadle created during the afternoon, then need to be killing off sides like this. We move onto Chadderton next weekend and we know we’ll have to be much more clinical if we are to take anything from this match.
