Cheadle Town 4-1 Ellesmere Rangers

After a clutch of matches against local opposition, teams coached by ex-coaches, top six etc. it made a pleasant change to engage in something without some sort of extra agenda.

On paper this looked like a home banker: Cheadle Town in great form, Ellesmere Rangers struggling at the foot of the table and to those who didn’t attend the resulting 4-1 scoreline would have been everything they expected.

It didn’t tell the whole story, mind, as Ellesmere certainly had their chances up to the moment we took the lead and gave some indication as to why their recent form had picked up.

Danny Whiting was called into action as early as the 4th minute, getting down low to block as Ellesmere broke down the right with our crossbar being clipped on 11 minutes when we suddenly found ourselves with a three-on-two situation.

Rhys Clooney - Mr Hat-Trick

Our first decent half-chance came on 17 minutes. Sheriff’s deep cross from the right was headed back across goal by Ben Brooks to Ben Christopher who looped a header just inches wide.

Ellesmere then had two more chances of their own leading up to the half-hour. Danny Whiting grateful for the shot being driven straight at him first of all with a simple give-and-go on the edge of our area setting somebody free on the right only for him to balloon his effort over the bar.

On the half-hour mark came the swing as we were awarded a penalty which Rhys Clooney duly buried.

Eight minutes later and we were two clear. Rhys Clooney collecting the ball in midfield, driving forward and shoving everything out of his way before rifling a left-footed shot into the roof of the net.

Kefala Sheriff

For all their efforts Ellesmere were now two-down in the blink of an eye.

Just after the hour mark Rhys netted his hat-trick, latching onto a Ben Christopher square ball from the left and taking his time to set himself before blasting home from close range.

Ellesmere got one back on 71 minutes from a penalty of their own which Adam Davies netted and then could have reduced the deficit even further on 80 minutes were it not for an excellent stop by the legs of Danny Whiting.

The match was put to bed just four minutes later, and for a change it wasn’t Rhys Clooney who was instrumental!

The tireless Connor Naughton saw a powerful drive cannon skywards via a pair of Ellesmere legs and spin towards the area. A bit of “after you, Claude” ensued in the Ellesmere defence and Ben Brooks was quickest to react to the falling ball, stabbing home past the hesitant keeper.

Thankfully New Years football isn’t a thing at this level and the players get a bit of a break after what has been a semi-hectic schedule. Next up is a really tricky away match at promotion-chasing Abbey Hulton United. Given our recent run of form we should have nothing to fear.

TEAM: Whiting, Wallis, Ratican (Neild), German, Dunn, Naughton, Sheriff (Ntalu), Taylor, Clooney, Christopher, Brooks. SUBS: Neild, Huynh, Ntalu, Todd.

Ellesmere Rangers 0-1 Cheadle Town

The North West Counties Football League is enjoying something of a goalfest at the moment.

Goals galore. Goals, goals, and more goals. Goaly McGoalface. It’s certainly the league to watch at the moment if you want your money’s worth. A 4-2 here, a 5-0 there and even an 11-3 over the weekend.

Goals!

Trouble is if you’re at the wrong end of such, for the want of a better word, tonkings your enthusiasm for such excess is blunted. That has certainly been the case at our end of late. We have been at the wrong end of a 5-1 here, a 6-0 there and even a 7-0.

If ever we needed to be just a little bit antisocial and refuse to join in with the goal glut with “just a 1-0 win” then it was away at Ellesmere Rangers….

…and that very result was duly delivered thanks to Ruben Abreu’s effort on the 55th minute after he cut inside from the left and drilled home at the near post.

“Come here and give me a hug”. Chris Sherrington is the first to congratulate Ruben after we went 1-0 up.

It was deserved reward as we had the lion’s share of chances and whathaveyou up to that point.

A very bright start saw the returning Mssrs Collinson and Sherrington force the keeper into two nervous clearances within the first five minutes.

They both had chances again shortly afterwards. Collinson swinging an effort inches wide and Sherrington seeing one of his crosses almost turned into his own net by an Ellesmere defender.

Tyler Devlin had an exemplary game in the back line and could have got himself on the scoresheet twice in the first half, leathering a volley into the side-netting from close range and then getting his head to a corner that was gathered by the keeper.

Tyler Devlin receiving his (deserved) gratitude from Chris Woods after the match

In between Tyler’s two efforts Ruben Abreu went close with a free-kick and a lovely dinked pass by Sherrington through to Collinson saw the latter narrowly plant a shot wide of the post.

Ellesmere were much-improved in the second half and fired their first shot across our bows on the 54th minute when Dane Smith produced a spectacular one-handed save to beat away a shot that was arrowing towards the top corner.

The next passage of play was when Ruben gave us the lead. Fine lines and all that.

One of Chris Sherrington’s teasing crosses from the left almost found a Cheadle boot on the hour mark and that was pretty much that in terms of chances for us.

Substitute Callum Knight receives his instructions

We went through a bit of a nervous patch in the last ten minutes as Ellesmere pressed for the equaliser. Dane Smith had to come out sharply to snuff out danger on 85 minutes as Ellesmere were clean through and he produced another smart stop in stoppage time, getting down low to smother.

A much-needed win. Ellesmere Rangers are, as yet, winless in the league; given our past history for being a registered charity when it came to assisting teams with their first wins of the season the win feels that little more satisfying.

Hopefully we can press on with another win versus Stone Dominoes this coming Saturday.