Bacup Borough 1-5 Cheadle Town

If you made your way up to Bacup last night - fighting the worst the M60 has to offer on the way - and paid your dues at the gates of Bacup Borough FC for 90 minutes of football then you would have been treated to the full gamut of goal types.

The well-worked one; the speculative shot from distance; the one as a result of great anticipation; the "he didn't really mean that, did he?" worldy; the spectacular lob.

All five types scored by us and all - with only the one reply from our hosts - on a top-notch evening.

The well-worked one (2 mins)

Liam Delaney had already had a volley beaten away by the Bacup keeper when our not-quite the quickest goal of the season (Chris Sherrington's opener vs Abbey Hulton United in the First Division Trophy holds that accolade) was then netted shortly afterwards. Some neat build-up play on the edge of the area set Danny Wood free down the right and all he had to do was square it for a waiting Rick Whyatt to tap home at the far post.

The speculative shot (27 mins)

It was becoming fairly evident that the Bacup keeper was having trouble keeping a firm grip on anything that came his way. Liam Delaney picked up the ball some 30 yards out and tried his luck with a low drive, seeing his effort nestle home after the keeper had completely misjudged his own attempts to block it.

The one as a result of great anticipation (41 mins)

Joe Shaw lined up a free-kick some 30 yards out and blasted it on target. The Bacup keeper failed to hold it and first to react was Chris McGreevy to poke home the loose ball at the near post.

The "he didn't really mean that, did he?" worldy (56 mins)

Danny Jones was brought on early in the second half as Chris McGreevy had started to struggle with an injury. Being of ample height he was asked to provide the mandatory knock-ons and hold up play but on the 56th minute he found himself somewhat out of position wide on the right. The thunderous cross - or was it a shot? - he sent in caught the keeper off-guards and it sailed in over his head.

The spectacular lob (87 mins)

As Tom Ratican chased a through ball on the left the Bacup keeper came haring out of his box. Tom won the race to the ball and sent it high, so high that we thought he'd overcooked it. Not so as it ended up being the perfectly-measured lob, dropping in just underneath the crossbar to give the victory that extra layer of gloss.

Smiles all round....

As far as the match as a whole in concerned, you have to say that it was a fairly dominant performance by us.

Bacup had their spells, namely a fifteen-minute one in the first half where they had a couple of half-chances, the first five minutes or so of the second half where we had started sloppily and, of course, their goal which frustratingly denied us a clean sheet (we haven't had one of those since the end of December), coming on the 85th minute when Danny Whiting parried a shot into the path of Bellamy to stab home from close range.

We were measured, calm, and fine value for the 5-1 win. All a far cry from the disappointments of Daisy Hill away and the 3-3 draw vs Eccleshall.

Two wins in twelve matches...or is it just the one defeat in five? Depends whether your a "glass half-full" or "glass half-empty" kind of person.

Just the seven matches left now. Atherton LR are the visitors to Park Road tomorrow....

TEAM: Whiting, Nield, McLaughlin, Delaney, Shaw, Dunn, Ratican, Wood (Holt), McGreevy (Jones), Whyatt (Collinson), C Sherrington. SUBS: Collinson, Holt, Jones, Piggott (gk).

Cheadle Town 4-1 Bacup Borough

Whyatt, Ratican, Whyatt, Ratican.

If, like me, you have a slight case of OCD then that lovely little symmetrical sequence will push your button in a kind of way.

That's how the scoring pattern panned out last night as we comfortably saw off Bacup Borough. All four goals were wonderfully taken and whilst we are right to heap praise on our goalscoring duo, the support act wasn't bad either.

Whatever Liam Delaney had for his dinner last night worked wonders as he was spraying passes around for fun in the first half and Mssrs Nield and Dunn had excellent shifts on our flanks.

Luke Cotton - desperately unlucky not to have scored, it has to be said - was the first to show as he raced clear with just a minute gone only for the Bacup keeper to get a vital touch to his shot and deflect it wide of the post.

On the 11th minute we took the lead. A delicious cross from the right by Liam Delaney found the head of Rick Whyatt in the area who thumped a header off the underside of the crossbar with the keeper rooted to his spot.

On 21 minutes Bacup had a chance to equalise but Danny Whiting made an excellent stop to deny their no10 after he had sprinted clear on the right.

Just two minutes later a Joe Nield shot deflected straight into the path of Luke Cotton but he was to be denied once again as his effort was nicked wide.

On the half-hour mark, a case of deja-vu.

Tom Ratican was sent clear down the left but, perhaps with too much time to think, planted his effort harmlessly into the keeper's midriff. Just in case you had missed that by gazing up at the passing aircraft he was put in exactly the same position again 30 seconds later.

There was a different outcome this time as he nudged the ball past the onrushing keeper with a lovely delicate flick of his right foot to give us a 2-0 lead.

Just before half-time Liam Delaney sent in a piledriver from 30 yards out that forced a great save by the keeper before an equally impressive shot gave us a 3-0 lead moments later.

Latching onto a lofted through ball, Rick Whyatt tussled with a Bacup defender and seemed to have lost control of it thanks to an unfortunate ricochet; in the blink of an eye he then unleashed a vicious, dipping 20-yarder that sailed in under the crossbar.

It took a matter of seconds after half-time for us to carry on where we left off and if Luke Cotton needed any indication that this wasn't going to be his night then his header that hit the crossbar with the goal gaping should have been enough.

Bacup, who surely must have been on the end of an ear-bending from manager Brent Peters, came out much brighter in the second half and forced Danny Whiting into holding a fierce drive on 47 minutes.

They then side-footed wide when in a good position following some good work down the left with Rick Whyatt firing just over on the hour mark and a Chris Sherrington drilled cross having nobody to touch it home.

With 70 minutes gone we sealed the deal for sure following a lovely move that was started in midfield by Liam Delaney and ended by Tom Ratican advancing on goal and sliding home for his second of the night.

And that was pretty much that where chances were concerned, bar Bacup's consolation on 82 minutes when Bryan stormed through on the right and stabbed home.

That was only our third league win at home all season but, with a lot more home matches yet to come, repeat performances like this one will ensure that particular tally is improved upon before the season is out.

Next up is a tricky away-day at an in-form Cammell Laird this Saturday.

TEAM: Whiting, Nield, Ratican, Delaney, Shaw, Harrison, Dunn, Wood (Fleming), Cotton (Farrow), Whyatt, C Sherrington (Collinson). SUBS: Collinson, Fleming, Farrow, Allcock (gk).

Cheadle Town 0-1 Bacup Borough

We did everything but score. And when we did score with virtually the last kick of the match it was (wrongly, in our opinion) ruled out for offside. It felt like "one of those days".

That said it's a tad churlish to bemoan any bad luck on our part.

Firstly, we didn't help ourselves at times with some poor decision-making in key areas and secondly we were up against an inspired performance from the Bacup keeper [Aaron Ashley] who has attracted suitors over the past week (some of which were at Park Road to watch him); it's not difficult to see why.

He pulled off four excellent stops of note, three in the lead-up to half-time. He somehow managed to claw away a Liam Tongue downward header when Liam was in acres of space, denied Justin Pickering when he tried to catch him out at his near post and then made an excellent block from close range to ensure that Rhys Webb's goalscoring streak didn't continue.

...and Rhys will be still wondering how he managed to get his hand to a shot on the 64th minute; Mr Ashley producing a wonderful reflex save to tip the ball over the bar.

Add to those all of the other half-chances we had.

'Dave' Banda looked to have a clear shot on goal as early as the 9th minute but screwed his shot horribly wide with Justin Pickering then volleying inches wide a minute later.

George Blackwell had tested the keeper twice with efforts from the left before Rhys Webb was put clean through on the 15th minute, only for an unkind bobble of the ball to render his effort high and not-so handsome.

Bacup made a brighter start to their 2nd half - they had started to snap at our heels a bit quicker - and took the only goal of the game on the 51st minute...but somewhat down to the slack decision-making I referred to earlier.

Bacup's midfield seized on a wayward pass in the middle of the park and within one through-ball their no7 Anthony Hall was in on goal to stab the ball past the onrushing Adam Rigby and guide it into an unguarded net.

Bacup had their tails up and only five minutes later Adam Rigby had to pull off a great double save to keep us in the match as we failed to clear our lines.

Rick Whyatt came off the bench with 20 minutes remaining to give us a bit of extra attacking impetus.

In this final 20 Luke Hincks went agonisingly close with a cross-shot, Rhys Webb latched onto a delicious pass from Liam Tongue only for him to poke his effort wide and a Justin Pickering long-ranger was clawed away by the keeper after it had bounced awkwardly right in front of him.

With injury time coming to a close we finally had the Bacup keeper beaten, the net bulging after Rhys Webb had crashed home (what looked like a square cross) from close range, but the flap of the linesman's flag in the corner of everybody's eye confirmed that, given all the efforts and agonies of the Cheadle squad, the defeat was ever thus.

Of the 9 remaining matches, just the two remain at Park Road now. Our next appointment is Prestwich Heys away this coming Saturday.

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

Bacup Borough 2-3 Cheadle Town

Cheadle Town claimed a well deserved victory at Bacup Borough, even though they had to do it the hard way with two goals from Liam Tongue in injury time.

Last season’s fixture saw Cheadle Town share the spoils in a fantastic 5-5 draw following a great comeback after being 4-1 down, so we always knew that this fixture had the promise of goals.

Cheadle Town made a good start to the game and could have taken the lead on 2 minutes as debutant George Blackwell crossed to Nathan Tosum who could only fire his shot into the keepers hands. Then on 5 minutes Rhys Webb beat the keeper to a loose ball, but could only watch as his lob hit the bar.

Matthew German who was causing the Bacup players many problems in his advanced midfield role had a chance on 18 minutes, but his shot was well saved by the keeper.

Cheadle’s dominance was rewarded on 21 minutes when Webb managed to find some space within the area and fired a low shot past the diving keeper.

Cheadle continued to press for a further goal with some wonderful football and were denied on 28 minutes when a Blackwell’s cross found Luke Hincks on the left who put in an inch perfect cross to Webb who could only volley the ball over the bar.

HT: Bacup Borough 0 Cheadle Town 1

It was Bacup who came out the stronger side in the second half as Cheadle failed to repeat their form of the first half and the hosts were rewarded on 66 minutes when Tom Coulson headed home a corner at the near post.

Bacup then took the lead on 75 minutes when ex-Cheadle player Artjoms Butorins hit a speculative shot from 35 yards which sailed over the head of Cheadle keeper Stephen Piggott.

With 10 minutes remaining, Bacup were reduced to ten men when Nathan Emery was shown a red card for a bad challenge.

This seemed to ignite Cheadle as they pressed forward for an equaliser and Liam Tongue’s 25 yard effort on 81 minutes was well saved by the Bacup keeper.

As the game was drawing to a close, Cheadle got their equaliser as Tongue scored from an angle. Then 4 minutes into injury time a Tongue shot seemed to take a deflection and sent the keeper in the opposite direction as the ball rolled across the line to give Cheadle a much deserved and needed victory.

Cheadle Town 3-0 Bacup Borough

Another weekend, another Cheadle win.

Those of a more malicious mind will point to two goalkeeping errors for our first two goals but the simple fact remains that we were imperious, should have won by a larger scoreline and thoroughly deserved the three points, limiting Bacup to very little, if nothing; goalkeeper Tom Elford had his quietest 90 minutes in between the sticks for Cheadle.

We started very brightly, so brightly that I registered an attempt on the Bacup goal for each minute of the opening five.

A corner in from the left that nobody could connect with, Chris Sherrington's outrageous attempt from distance that clipped the crossbar, Anthony Trucca going just wide with a header, Liam Tongue testing the keeper from distance and then seeing an effort ruled out for offisde all happened in the first passages of play.

The Bacup doors caved in on the 10th minute.

Liam Tongue again instrumental, blasting goalwards and forcing the keeper into a save that he could only direct into the path of Luke Hincks who buried the loose ball from close range.

Another four minutes later Luke was to profit from another goalkeeping error, unexpectedly finding the ball kindly dropped at his feet for him to roll home from the edge of the box with nobody else in sight.

The pressure continued. Luke Pearson struck the foot of the post with a corner on the 19th minute before the third went in shortly after: James Horan converting easily after connecting with a square pass from Darryhl Mason.

James Horan should have had his second just before half-time but just mis-timed his run by the smallest of margins as he went to head Chris Sherrington's left-wing cross.

The first half ended with Darryhl Mason cracking the post with a shot from the tightest of angles and Liam Tongue seeing a rasping drive deflected wide.

The second half was a different beast. A downpour made the conditions that little bit more difficult and obviously Bacup had received the proverbial rocket up their behinds and had tightened things up in defence, but that said we were never in any danger as we managed the game well and saw things out comfortably.

The Bacup keeper did better in holding a fierce drive from Chris Sherrington on the hour mark and perhaps should have been picking the ball out of the net two more times but Darryhl Mason spared him the trouble, driving over from a good position on 81 minutes and then somehow making a complete pig's ear of converting a Magida cross from a yard out on 87.

In what was labelled by yours truly as a "potentially difficult month" hasn't turned out too bad thus far: maximum points. Hopefully we can make it a 100% haul on Boxing Day when we travel to Irlam.

Still top. Guaranteed top spot for Xmas Day. And for the turn of the year and all. Merry Christmas.

TEAM: Elford, McLaughlin, Pearson, Trucca (Magida), Sacks, Dunn, Hincks, Tongue, Mason, Horan (Whyatt), Sherrington (Vincent). SUBS: Piggott (gk), Magida, Whyatt, Kennedy, Vincent.