Cheadle Town 0-2 Cheadle Heath Nomads
Everything that could have gone wrong during this 90 minute spell, did.
A goal from an ex-Cheadle Town player for the opponents, a Cheadle Town bench that resembled an episode of ‘Casualty’ before half-time and a second goal for the opponents that was pure comedy cuts. When it’s not your day….
A brisk start from us saw us carve out two half-decent opportunities in the first ten minutes.
Desley Osakwe got himself into space on the edge of the area on the 7th minute and looked to be in a good position to shoot but he was crowded out by the Nomads defence and found his space limited, resulting in him shooting wide.
A minute later and Rhys Clooney nipped in following some confusion in the Nomads’ defence, only for him to see his effort hastily cleared.
Nomads’ first foray came on the 12th minute when Adam Stevens was forced to make a good stop at his near post.
And then two injuries that really derailed us. First of all midfielder Conor Naughton limped off having twisted awkwardly on the dry pitch and then centre-half Ollie Hatfield-Banton saw his day cut short with a bad knee injury.
…and there endeth Ollie’s day
The only remaining action of the first half saw Nomads take the lead on 42 minutes.
A quickly-taken free-kick on the left caught us napping a bit and the cross was headed home by unmarked ex-Cheadle Town midfielder Callum Collinson.
Our start to the second half mirrored the one we made in the first, carving out two decent chances in quick succession once again.
On 56 minutes Callum Knight placed a teasing cross in from the left that fell at the feet of substitute Shaq Lewys but he somehow skied his effort over the bar from close range.
One minute later Rhys Clooney powered through down the left and looked set to score but the Nomads keeper got a vital touch to it to force the effort wide.
Robbie Wallis and Rhys Clooney
On 62 minutes Nomads then squandered an identical chance in front of goal and would have gone further ahead four minutes later if it weren’t for Robbie Wallis acrobatically clearing a lobbed effort off the line.
As the match entered the final ten minutes Adam Stevens made another great stop as Leon Grandison’s near-post volley was beaten away with Rhys Clooney then latching onto a slide pass from Joe Neild only for him to place his effort straight at the keeper.
‘Deadly’ Desley Osakwe
For all of Adam Stevens’ efforts it was a shame the match ended the way it did. A minute into injury time he misjudged a clearance straight to Nomads’ Kirkby who kept his head, rounded Adam and slotted home from the edge of the area.
Only one more match to go. With plans for next season already in the offing 5.00pm this Saturday can’t come quick enough. It’s been one heck of an indifferent season….
TEAM: Stevens, Phelan (Neild), Wallis, Naughton (Rezayan), Dunn, Hatfield-Banton (Lewys), Russell, Knight, Osakwe, Clooney, Christopher. SUBS: Lewys, Rezayan, Neild, Whiting (gk).
