Cammell Laird 2-0 Cheadle Town

Let’s get the negative statistic out of the way first.

This was the first time that Cheadle Town had lost their first competitive match of the season since the 2007-08 campaign. Funnily enough that was a 0-2 away defeat and all (at Padiham, in case you are wondering) but my memory serves me correct enough to recall that it was nowhere near as frustrating as this one.

Yannick takes a tumble

After a shaky start in which we conceded in the 3rd minute, we laid siege to the Cammell Laird net with the ball always managing to find an outstretched limb in its path.

The match was barely three minutes old when we conceded our first of the season.

Cammell Laird broke down the right and Danny Whiting looked to be winning the race to a threaded through-ball but then hesitated slightly, allowing Lairds’ Ollie Nugent to nip the ball around him and slide home from an angle.

That was to be the home side’s last meaningful shot on goal until the 88th minute when they got the second; Danny Whiting had pushed a fierce shot out wide, only to see it returned square and tapped home by Michael Furlong.

Patrick Davin making his presence felt

In between those two goals, more so in a concentrated spell in the first half, we had chance after chance.

On the 11th minute both Ben Brooks and Ashley Woodhead saw efforts blocked at the near post with Aaron Taylor then picking up a cross from Patrick Davin and seeing his drive spin off the keepers legs and harmlessly over the bar.

Patrick got in on the act a minute later, using his quick feet to garner himself a shot, only to see that effort stopped right on the line.

It continued. Patrick then rifled one straight at the keeper with a fluid passage of play setting Yannick Machado Le Gal in on the right only for his effort to be blocked at the near post.

Let’s dance

On 35 minutes Patrick Davin then tried the audacious, craftily flicking an Ashley Woodhead cross narrowly over the bar before Aaron Taylor’s neat turn-and-shot on the edge of the area was saved on the line.

A Patrick Davin free-kick that cannoned off the keeper’s legs (he would have felt that) was the last Cheadle shot in anger before the half was out and, bar a moment where Le Gal just couldn’t connect onto a Woodhead free-kick early in the second half, the final half-decent chance we created for the rest of the afternoon.

A frustrating afternoon but if half the chances we created end up in the back of the net for our next league match then we will be bringing home three points.

Onwards.

TEAM: Whiting, Hamzat, Machado Le Gal, Clarke (Knight) (Rakundo), Gaskin, Johnson, Woodhead, Rezayan (Kayode), Davin, Taylor, Brooks. SUBS: Knight, Piggott (gk), Phelan, Rakundo, Kayode

Cammell Laird 1-1 Cheadle Town

Given that these two teams have the highest number of drawn matches between them I suppose there shouldn’t be any surprises at the outcome.

It all could have been very different, however, were it not for some heroics from Cheadle goalkeeper Adam Stevens early in the second half.

Conor Naughton

In a match of very few clear-cut chances, Lairds will be ruing their most golden of opportunities on the 50th minute when they were awarded a penalty, only to see our Adam beat it away to safety.

That was the only real excitement of note in a rather staid second half. Rhys Clooney did manage to get himself in a good position on the 58th minute but shot straight at the keeper, Shaq Lewys saw an effort deflected wide and Joe Neild sent a long-ranger wide of the post just as the match was coming to an end.

Rhys Clooney had better luck in the first half when his effort on the 37th minute had brought us level.

Latching onto a neat through ball down the left channel he won his individual battle with his marker before breaking clear and drilling home past the onrushing keeper.

Congrats all round after Rhys Clooney pulled us level

Lairds had got themselves ahead in the 13th minute after, arguably, having the better of the early exchanges.

They had hooked an effort inches wide as early as the 2nd minute following a long throw-in from the right and had forced Adam Stevens into a good block some ten minutes later.

Mr Clooney with the Lairds defence in admiration

He could do nothing about the moment of quick-thinking shortly after, though.

Possession was lost in our midfield and, spotting Adam Stevens off his line, Lairds’ Elliott Jones thumped a shot from 35 yards over the top of his head and in off the underside of the crossbar.

Rhys Clooney then had his first chance to pull us level after a Nathan Ntalu shot had found its way to his feet on the edge of the area. He twisted and turned away from danger only for him to fire just over the bar.

Next up is a visit from high-flying Stone Old Alleynians this Saturday, 3.00pm kick-off.

TEAM: Stevens, Neild, Daulby, Naughton, Dunn, Hatfield-Banton, Ntalu, Egan, Clooney (Knight), Rodriguez (Wallis), Son (Lewys). SUBS: Wallis, Lewys, Knight.

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).

Cammell Laird 1-2 Cheadle Town

Well will you look at that?

From a period that saw us go seven matches without a win to one with four wins on the trot; a month is a very long time in politics and an even longer one in football.

The run started with a show of piercing attack at Bacup Borough and was continued last night with one of resolute defence.

At the end of the rainbow, Mssrs Trucca, Allcock and Whiting. And three points.

It had to be resolute as we were down to ten men for 99% of the second half - Callum Collinson taking the early shower for a second yellow card - with Cammell Laird putting us under some severe pressure, particularly in stoppage time, after they had pulled a goal back.

Before all of that fingernail-biting nonsense started to unfold, we had built ourselves a deserved 2-0 lead thanks to our first-half endeavours.

After a shaky opening ten minutes which had already seen Joe Shaw collect a yellow card in the 2nd minute (hindsight tells us that he was going to have a card-happy evening), we settled down, got our passing game going and took the lead on the 12th minute; Chris Sherrington firing in a free-kick that the Lairds keeper couldn't hold, allowing Rick Whyatt to react and bundle the ball home from close range.

Ryan Allcock had to be quick moments later to come out and punch clear before seeing the Lairds no11 screw a shot across his goalface and wide of the post.

Just after the half-hour we stretched our lead further thanks to the Sherrington brothers combining: Chris' free-kick on the right fizzed in for Mike to steal in ahead of his marker and sharply head home.

Mike then had a chance to make it 3-0 when he burst through on the right but was denied by an excellent block by the Lairds keeper before Ryan Allcock was called into action on the stroke of half-time; like his counterpart did beforehand, he also had trouble holding onto a free-kick but was quick enough to recover and make a second stop.

Callum Collinson had already received a yellow card for kicking the ball away midway through the first half before collecting another some 60 seconds into the restart.

Some five minutes later our lead was cut - Cooper's run-and-shot taking a nick off one of our defenders to wrongfoot Allcock - which meant that for the next 40 minutes we would have to show some resolve.

And we did. In spades.

We limited Cammell Laird to very little in the main body of the match - Ryan Allcock pushing away an acrobatic effort on the 65th minute - but then came under siege in stoppage time after the hosts won a succession of corners, all of which caused heart-in-mouth moments but all of which were expertly dealt with by our back line.

We would have to wait for any window of opportunity to steal a third. We were given two: Rick Whyatt unleashing a long-ranger on 79 minutes that had the keeper scrambling to push it away and a cross from Chris Sherrington on the left that somehow didn't go in after cannoning off Luke Cotton and the Lairds keeper.

And all of this amidst a volley of yellow cards from the referee. We came away with six bookings (including the two for Callum) and, whilst I wasn't counting Lairds' tally, they also had a man sent off in the 87th minute. We can only assume the conversation between referee and his assessor in attendance went long into the night.

Together...

The frequency of fixtures has meant a tough run for our coaching/managerial staff and the players but they have coped with it admirably. In another 24 hours they are all on the road again as they head to AFC Blackpool for the final away match of the season.

Just four more matches remain....

TEAM: Allcock, Nield, Harrison, Holt (Delaney), Shaw, Dunn, Collinson, Wood (Jones), M Sherrington (Cotton), Whyatt, C Sherrington. SUBS: Delaney, Cotton, Jones, Whiting (gk).

Cheadle Town 3-0 Cammell Laird

It was quite a day.

First of all we signed a deal that meant the future of the club is secured and then we went and put three goals past a Cammell Laird side that were doing rather well.

We hadn't kicked a ball in anger since the 1-4 home defeat to Whitchurch Alport at the start of December so we were desperate to get the game on. Kudos therefore to Phil, our groundsman, who worked very hard - in the face of some very trying weather the night before - to ensure that we had a game with which to end the calendar year.

The match itself took a full 20-odd minutes to get going.

Lairds had netted on the 14 minute mark but it was flagged offside and any forays that we were making into their box were thwarted by us being repeatedly caught offside.

And then, on 21 minutes, the breakthrough as the match suddenly woke up.

A bad clearance by the Lairds keeper was seized upon by Rick Whyattwho advanced on goal and only just managed to stick out a leg and slide it under the keeper just in time.

Three minutes later and the Lairds keeper made amends with a fantastic save, stretching out his right hand to stop Rick Whyatt's effort after he had connected with a through ball from Chris Sherrington.

Rick then threw a back-breaking shape to connect with a cross on 31 minutes only for it to be ruled offside. And that was pretty much that for the first half.

The second half started with Adam Gardiner curling an effort just inches wide of the post before Lairds then went in on the right and poked it just wide.

Then came a break in play that really seemed to upset our rhythm.

Chris Sherrington was unceremoniously upended by Lairds' no11 who received a red card for his efforts. The footballing lore of "it being harder to play against ten men" then kicked in as Lairds then threw the kitchen sink at us to try and snatch an equaliser.

The closest they came was in the 73rd minute. Not helped in the slightest by some sloppy defending from us, Danny Whiting was forced to get down low and quick to make an excellent block.

That seemed to serve as the turning point as it was Cheadle that carved out the better chances from that point forward, going on to win the match 3-0.

Adam Gardiner fizzed in a free-kick from the right on 76 minutes; all it needed was a touch!

Substitute Callum Collinson then threaded the ball through to Rick Whyatt but he couldn't dig the ball out from under his feet with James Dunn then finding himself all alone on the right of the area only to lash a tame shot straight into the keeper's arms.

As injury time loomed, we got our second thanks to substitute Collinson; seizing upon a slip by a Lairds defender on the edge of the area, he advanced on goal and slammed home the sealing goal.

There was time for one more. Collinson instrumental again, getting to the byline down the left and squaring for Rick Whyatt to tap home his second of the match with literally the last kick of the game.

Onto the Potteries we go this Saturday and an away trip to Abbey Hulton United. It's good to be playing football again after a weather-enforced hiatus.

Everybody connected with the club had a smile on their face and a spring in their step as they went about their duties today, be they on or off the pitch, as if a huge black cloud had been lifted from the club.

It felt good. And long may it continue.

TEAM: Whiting, Nield, Pearson, Trucca, Shaw, Harrison, Ambrose, Fleming, Gardiner, Whyatt, C Sherrington. SUBS: Collinson, Kilheeney, Dunn, Piggott (gk).