Cheadle Town 0-2 Nelson
"Charity begins at home". Sometimes we wish it wouldn't.
The past two matches at Park Road have seen both at-that-point winless visitors - Oswestry Town and now Nelson - collect their first 'W' in the form record.
'W' for them stands for "win". For us, "wibble".
The less said about the first 45 minutes the better.
We got three shots on target during that first half. One was from Remeece Brown but it was straight at the keeper and one was from Rick Whyatt on the left but the keeper got a touch to it.
The one that counted came from Josh Harrison who put some decent traction behind his effort. The trouble was it was a back pass which the usually reliable Danny Whiting failed to control with the ball skidding underneath his foot and into the net.
The second half was a different story and one that would have everybody scratching their head wondering how on earth we didn't score with one gilt-edged chance after the other going to waste. To wit:
50 minutes - Luke Pearson through in the middle but, with a Nelson defender in close attention, is put off and shoots over
51 minutes - neat interplay between Ambrose and Whyatt sees the latter's shot well saved
52 minutes - Mike Sherrington picks up a bad back pass, advances one-on-one on goal but sees his effort blocked by the keeper
53 minutes - a Luke Hincks fre-kick is headed square across the face of goal by Trucca for the awaiting Mike Sherrington but his shot from close range is blocked
65 minutes - Danny Jones' cross from the left presents Mike Sherrington with a free header but it's straight at the keeper
67 minutes - quick throw-in by Danny Jones sets George Clarey free on the left, one-on-one with the keeper but his shot gets a touch and it rolls just wide
68 minutes - corner fizzed in from the right by Luke Hincks. No limbs to tap it home.
72 minutes - Danny Jones lashes one wide from range
74 minutes - George Clarey squares for an unmarked Danny Wood who surely must score. He doesn't.
76 minutes - Luke Hincks sends in another arrowed corner from the right. Joe Shaw meets it at close range but it's over.
80 minutes - ditto...with James Dunn planting it over this time.
82 minutes - Luke Hincks pulls it back from the byline for George Clarey but his shot doesn't have enough power and the keeper's flailing legs somehow stop it going in
88 minutes - Danny Wood weaves his way through and looks set to bury but his effort is blocked
90+3 minutes - a Luke Hincks long-range shot is deflected and the keeper is stranded...but the ball rolls just wide.
90+4 - Danny Jones sees a close-range shot blocked by the keeper's legs
You get the drift.
And so it came to pass that, in the final passage of play on a thoroughly frustrating and miserable afternoon, Nelson then went on a break away and tucked away their second, thus saving us the embarrassment of being beaten by that solitary moment of madness in the first half.
Only one of our next seven matches are at Park Road. This may be no bad thing as our home record is ruining us at the moment with only the one solitary win amongst the seven matches played on home turf.
Next up is Chadderton away this Tuesday in the LWC Drinks First Division Trophy.
TEAM: Whiting, Dunn, Pearson (Wood), Trucca, Shaw, Harrison, Ambrose, Hincks, M Sherrington (Clarey), Whyatt, Brown (Jones). SUBS: Wood, Delaney, Jones, Clarey, Piggott (gk)
