Poynton 2-1 Cheadle Town

It's fair to say that pre-season has been a bit of a mixed bag.

Creditable draws against Glossop North End and Congleton, an even more creditable win over West Didsbury & Chorlton and two defeats against so-called lesser opposition, the 2-3 reversal at Tintwistle Athletic and this loss at Poynton.

Take nothing away from Poynton, though. They came second in the Cheshire League last season and were every bit the robust and difficult opposition we expected.

It took us a while to get going and it wasn't until the 18th minute when Luke Hincks saw a free-kick touched onto the crossbar.

By then we were a goal down, though, after Josh Harrison unluckily trod on the ball around 25 yards out with the lurking Poynton forward seeing Ryan Allcock off his line and delivering a well-measured chip.

Good work by Tom Ratican just before the half-hour mark was almost rewarded when Luke Hincks latched onto his pull-back but the Poynton keeper was equal to it.

Ryan Allcock then made two excellent stops before half-time to ensure that the score was kept at 1-0 to Poynton.

The hosts started the second half the better, rattling the underside of the crossbar and forcing Allcock into another good stop within the first five minutes before they extended their lead on the hour, slamming home at the far post after the ball had been hooked back across the face of goal.

Poynton squandered two decent chances to make it 3-0 before substitute Mike Sherrington started to make an impact and gave us some added impetus up front.

His run and cross from the right on 66 minutes almost saw Tom Ratican connect for what would have been a certain goal before fellow substitute Rick Whyatt powered through on goal just moments later to bury and get us back into the game.

Mike Sherrington then planted an unmarked header straight into the keepers hands thus blowing a great opportunity to draw us level before our final foray on goal saw Joe Shaw latch onto a free kick, see his effort blocked before the loose ball was skied on its way to Woodford by Dean Nolan.

By then Steve Piggott had come on to replace Ryan Allcock in goal and there was time for him to shine, spectacularly tipping a fierce volley over the bar which would prove to be the final action of the match.

It all starts for real in a couple of weeks' time when we travel to Atherton LR but by then the creases will hopefully have been ironed out.

STARTING XI: Allcock, Ratican, Brocklehurst, Russell, Harrison, Shaw, Hincks, Wood, Nolan, Christopher, C Sherrington. SUBS: Piggott, Ambrose, M Sherrington, Whyatt.

Poynton 0-5 Cheadle Town

On arrival to Poynton Sports Club on Saturday afternoon you could have taken your pick of things to watch: tennis, a spot of leisurely bowls, a batting collapse on the cricket field or five football goals in this professional pre-season victory.

The starting eleven find out whether they are in the starting eleven or not

You'd have been forgiven for allowing your eyes to wander elsewhere for the first 20 minutes of this match as there was only one thing of note to speak of: Jonathan McLaughlin's drive from the edge of the area tipped over the bar on the 5th minute mark.

Tweeter's curse, Sod's Law, call it what you will, but after reporting that "nothing much had happened" on the 20 minute mark Mike Sherrington then broke the deadlock, evading the attention of two Poynton defenders to fashion himself some space in the box and fire home.

Liam Tongue went close with one of his trademark efforts before Tom Russell extended our lead on 35 minutes, dealing with a bouncing ball around the edge of the area with a deft flick of the outside of his boot.

Luke Hincks quashed any Poynton comeback early in the second half by finishing off a nice move from the edge of the box before Mike Sherrington was in on the action twice more, catching the keeper off his line only to see his lob sail inches over the bar and then profiting from good work by Liam Tongue only to see his effort saved brilliantly by the Poynton keeper.

Poynton looked set to reduce the arrears with ten minutes remaining but a last-ditch saving tackle by Joe Shaw meant we would keep a clean sheet.

As the game drew to its 90th minute we netted twice in quick succession. Liam Tongue latching onto a pass from Matthew German to roll home from the edge of the box before an unmarked Luke Pearson nodding home from close range to give the scoreline an emphatic sheen.

A good work out against energetic opposition and a bit more match fitness for those involved; in a pre-season game you can ask for no more.

Onto Knutsford this Thursday.

STARTING XI: Piggott, McLaughlin, Pearson, Shaw, Moore, Russell, Hincks, Tongue, M Sherrington, Tosum, Magida. SUBS: Connolly, German, Dunn, Rigby (gk)

Cheadle Town 1-1 Poynton

Another sunny day. Another pre-season friendly. Another 1-1 draw.

A lot of the post-match chatter overheard from some of the players whilst they were doing their warm-down centered around our lack of cutting edge up front and failure to put chances away.

Can't disagree.

The second half saw us with enough chances to put the game out-of-sight despite the visitors' equaliser just after the hour mark when we were caught square and their no11 was put through on goal to slot home comfortably.

Shortly before that Niall Rhodes was acres clear and looked set to put us 2-0 up with an easy finish but an unselfish nature got the better of him and he rolled it to Jaryd Ahmed who finished the job; it was just a shame that he has strayed offside.

On 73 minutes Arnold Nsimbe put Niall in on the right with the shot flashing just wide. Arnold then found himself in an excellent position to the right of the goal minutes later but was denied by an excellent stop at the near post by the Poynton keeper.

And with four minutes to go Arnold had clear sight of goal yet again but his shot was high and not-so-handsome.

There wasn't that much fun and games to speak of for what went before that rather action-packed last 35 minutes of the match.

Rick Whyatt did drill home from the edge of the box after just five minutes but then the first half petered out with only two more efforts to record: Steve Piggott doing well to turn a long range effort around the post after 22 minutes and then our own Daniel O'Donnell firing inches over just before half-time.

With eyes slowly starting to focus on Bacup on Saturday 8th August there's two more pre-season workouts for Terry to gain some idea as to who will be stepping out for that first league match....