Cheadle Town 2-2 AFC Blackpool
The worst of starts; (almost) the best of endings.
Seven minutes in and you'd be forgiven for thinking that we'd got this all terribly wrong. Two goals down and looking very rocky, giving away possession cheaply and in dangerous areas.
Blackpool's two goals came in quick succession on the 5th and 7th minutes. For the first one, possession was lost in midfield with their no8 - Ben Fishwick - roaming forward and unleashing a rising shot from 20 yards out that beat Danny Whiting.
Two minutes later an errant leg in the penalty box from Joe Nield gave Blackpool the chance to extend their lead from the spot, a chance that Duffield took.
And oddly enough that was pretty much it in terms of clear-cut chances from either side until much later on in the half. As already alluded to we weren't up to much, mis-placing passes and generally "not getting going".
Our first shot on target didn't come until the stroke of half-time but it was one that gave us a key foothold in the game for two reasons....
Firstly, it resulted in AFC Blackpool going down to ten men as their defender superbly blocked a Luke Cotton effort on the line with his hand and secondly, as you can probably guess, the resulting penalty was coolly stroked home; Liam Delaney doing the honours in what is turning out to be a rare month for him.
The entire second half didn't deviate from one set pattern: Cheadle trying to lay siege to the AFC Blackpool goal with the latter attempting to nick an extra goal on the break.
Callum Collinson called the keeper into action early doors as his awkward swinging cross from the right had to be tipped over the bar and then Rick Whyatt was in on goal from close range on 55 minutes and looked set to poke home but was denied by an excellent block by the keeper.
The AFC Blackpool rearguard finally caved in on 76 minutes with Rick bagging his 19th of the season, latching onto Callum Collinson's perfectly-squared ball to guide it home from close range.
A minute later Callum's teasing cross from the right looked set to be converted by the onrushing Whyatt or Sherrington but somehow neither of them made the final, telling touch.
With two minutes to go a free-kick from the left was met at the far post by Jake Ambrose who perhaps didn't quite get enough purchase on his header, allowing the keeper to make a vital save and push it onto the post.
That turned out to be the last chance of the match but not the last piece of the story as there was still time for AFC Blackpool to have another man sent off for a dangerous challenge on Tom Russell.
So, match that started off with us "taking the draw if you were offering it" and ending with us being disappointed with said draw. Just goes to show a lot can happen in 90 minutes.
Next up is a tricky-looking trip to promotion-chasing Litherland REMYCA this Saturday as the gruelling run-in starts. Hold on to your hats.
TEAM: Whiting, Nield, Dunn, Delaney (Russell), Shaw, Harrison, Collinson, Wood, Cotton (Ambrose), Whyatt, C Sherrington (Farrow). SUBS: Russell, Ambrose, Farrow, Piggott (gk)
