Cheadle Town 2-1 Carlisle City

What a crying shame that, of the 11 matches that remain, only 3 are at Park Road.

We're rather enjoying our home comforts at the moment. Amidst the current form of just one defeat in eight matches we haven't been defeated at home since the start of December [2-5 vs Charnock Richard].

Admittedly we have had the lion's share of home matches in that run. Of those 8 matches 6 have been at Park Road and now, after this latest victory, we will be on the road more often than not with some tough encounters on the way.

It might also give the Park Road pitch time to recover after another 90 minutes of trampling it could perhaps have done without. That said, our hat is tipped once more to our groundsman and to the two teams that still made for an entertaining afternoon.

We got to work straight away and were in front within the first five minutes.

After Rhys Webb and Liam Tongue had gone relatively close with efforts with a long-ranger and a free-kick respectively, it was Rhys who then profited from a blunder by the Carlisle keeper who cleared a long through ball straight into the collective bodies of Rhys and a Carlisle defender with our in-form striker then left with the simple task of walking the loose ball into an unguarded net.

Seven minutes later and our lead was extended.

Justin Pickering collected a through ball just to the left of the box and, with no other option, went for the shot across the keeper...which he somehow then misjudged and allowed the ball to squirm through his body and into the net.

Just five minutes after that we should have been 3-0 up. Justin Pickering again, clean through on the left with just the keeper to beat but this time launching his effort high and not-so-handsome into somebody's garden on Tennyson Road.

One minute later, another chance as Justin gets his head onto a cross from the right by Webb and sees it go just wide followed by a lung-busting run by Liam Tongue spoiled by his resulting shot being blocked.

On 23 minutes we carved out another opportunity when George Blackwell tore down the left with Webb getting his side-foot to his squared pass; unfortunately he didn't get quite enough purchase on it and it was gathered easily by the Carlisle keeper.

And then the waves of green-and-black attack stopped. This allowed Carlisle City to gain something of a foothold and it showed in the remaining 15 minutes of the half as they posed more of a threat and reduced the arrears.

Just after the half-hour mark they caught us napping at a free-kick and we had to hastily clear our lines close to the goal-line, Dane Smith made two key punches clear from dangerous-looking situations but then could do nothing about the free header that Wallace plunged into the back of the net on 36 minutes to make it a completely different game.

The opening 15-20 minutes of the second half weren't much to write home about. The main attraction, if you can call it that, of this period was one team going down to ten men as their no3 received his marching orders.

Carlisle hooked a cross inches wide on the hour mark and that seemed to jolt us - and the match itself for that matter - back to life.

On 67 minutes Mssrs Webb and Pickering fashioned a counter attack that saw Rhys just fail to get his toe to the final ball with Rhys then turning provider for George Blackwell two minutes later, cutting back only to see George sky a great-looking chance.

Carlisle's no8 went very close with a fierce drive on 79 minutes - Dane Smith would have had no chance if it was on-target - with Carlisle then reduced to nine men after their substitute hurled a ball at Dave Banda in frustration.

There was time for one more chance for Justin Pickering but he was to be denied by the keeper when through on goal.

As mentioned before, our travels start again this weekend when we're off down the M6 to Eccleshall before returning to Park Road the weekend after to face Bacup Borough.

TEAM: Smith, Lever (Dunn), Banda, German, Tongue, Pearson, Hincks, Whyatt (Todd), Webb (Magida), Pickering, Blackwell. SUBS: Piggott (gk), Dunn, Magida, Todd, C Sherrington.