Cheadle Town 1-1 Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird always seem to time their visits to Park Road when change is in the air.
Last time they were here the club had just announced that they had become part of the Little Sports Group; this time it was to herald caretaker manager Will Griffiths’ first match.
Will Griffiths - king for the day
The opening exchanges were fairly balanced.
Lairds put Danny Whiting’s hands to early work as he easily held a free-kick that was fired straight at him with an excellent chance then falling to us on the 5th minute; Rhys Clooney getting on to the end of a Chris Sherrington cross, seeing his effort loop towards the line only to see it hacked away at the lat minute.
Lairds were in down the left moments later where it looked as though Danny Whiting has been rounded but he recovered well to make a stop.
On 13 minutes a free kick of ours caused all manner of mayhem with us unable to force it home from close range with Rhys Clooney then seeing a snap-shot from the edge of the area turned around the post with half-time looming.
From that we opened the scoring as Luke Hincks opened his account for the club for this season by glancing home a corner from the right.
All smiles after Luke Hincks’ opener
The pressure that we had been gradually building up continued into the start of the second half.
Within the opening minute of the restart Ben Brooks found himself in a good position with a free header but could only nod it straight into the keeper’s hands.
Rhys Webb then got himself onto the end of two crosses from Callum Collinson and Ben Christopher respectively but was denied by a great tackle and the legs of the keeper.
On the 68th minute Lairds were given a free header which was completely missed but this seemed to herald a strong finish from the visitors, one that would ultimately result in them getting an equaliser with just 11 minutes remaining; Ben Dutton-Kelly latching onto a ball popped into the right of the area and having plenty of time to tuck home.
A civilised discussion taking place
Danny Whiting then had to beat away a shot on 84 minutes and was breathing a sigh of relief when he came-for-and-missed a corner a minute later; thankfully the Lairds player air-shotted his opportunity to snatch the win.
On balance of play, all things considered etc. a draw was probably a fair result. With a swathe of home matches coming up, we have the perfect opportunity to close the nine-point gap that now exists between us and that single promotion spot.
Next up is the visit of Wythenshawe Town this Wednesday.
TEAM: Whiting, Wallis, C Sherrington, Hincks, Harrison, Dunn, Brooks, Christopher, Webb (Power), Clooney (Russell), Collinson (Rogers). SUBS: Huynh, Russell, Rogers, Power, Smith (gk).
