Hanley Town 2-2 Cheadle Town

It was third time lucky for this fixture to be played following the previous postponements due to the recent inclement weather. Due to injuries and player unavailability, Terry Hicks had to shuffle the squad around which saw Reserve players Aiden Lovett and Josh Stevenson start their first game of the season. Whilst we welcomed Kieran Halliwell following his recent transfer from Atherton LR and an even bigger welcome to Jimmy Moore who returned back to Cheadle Town following a stint at Atherton Collieries.
 
It was Hanley Town who had the first chance of the game on 7 minutes, but Stephen Piggott did well to save a shot at the feet of their striker.
 
Cheadle’s first chance came on 13 minutes when Liam Tongue found some space on the edge of the area, but could only fire his shot wide of the target.
 
Hanley broke the deadlock on 23 minutes when the Cheadle defence failed to clear the ball before it landed to the feet of Theo Stair who made no mistake and converted easily.
 
Hanley were unlucky not to double their lead on 37 minutes when Thabiso Magida cleared a goal bound header off the line. That until 38 minutes when Luke Hincks challenged a Hanley player in the area and the referee pointed to the spot.  Hanley’s Theo Stair sent Piggott the wrong way to give them a two goal advantage.
 
HT: Hanley Town 2 Cheadle Town 0
 
Cheadle started the second half brightly and were unlucky not to score on 61 minutes when Josh Stevenson cut into the area from the right hand side and pulled his shot wide.
 
On 81 minutes Cheadle were awarded a penalty as Michael Sherrington was brought down in the area. In the absence of Luke Pearson, Magida stepped up to take the penalty and converted with ease.
 
Cheadle got their rewards on 86 minutes when Sherrington latched onto a through ball and drilled a low shot past the diving keeper.
 
With minutes remaining, Cheadle had the chance to win the game but James Horan could only poke the ball wide of the post.