Cheadle Town 0-7 Sandbach United

In football if you make mistakes then, more often than not, you will be punished; this was the lesson writ large at Park Road on Wednesday 12th September 2018.

At the risk of sounding ungracious we offered a helping hand with at least five of Sandbach’s tally.

Usually only a small percentage of those mistakes would go unpunished but Sandbach were devilishly efficient and we got the deserved cane on the backside every time we didn’t clear our lines or gave possession away all-too cheaply.

Danny Whiting was called to action just 17 seconds in when he had to get down smartly to make a stop and then had to push a shot around the post some moments later.

In between those two moments we had a glorious chance to open the scoring.

Sheer determination from Rhys Webb put him in a great position to round the keeper but his final shot was cleared off the line.

Joe Shaw makes an early exit

Rhys Clooney then used his strength to break down the right before firing just over the bar before our visitors got the first of their seven of the evening; a cross in from the right wasn’t cleared properly and was eventually bundled home by Allcock from close range. A really scruffy goal to concede.

Seven minutes later and they were two-up. Possession was stolen from us in our own third with the eventual cross in from the right being stabbed home at the near post by Kirby, the first of five he would net for Sandbach.

34 minutes and it was 0-3; again a cross into the box wasn’t dealt with and the ball ricocheted off Cheadle bodies straight at the feet of Kirby who swept it home.

Two minutes later, 0-4. Another cross not dealt with and the loose ball was gleefully popped home by that man Kirby again.

I’m pleased to say that our second half showing was much better, albeit we didn’t have a goal to show for our efforts.

Callum Knight fizzed a dangerous one in from the right that Rhys Clooney clipped just wide with Rhys then forcing a decent save from the keeper moments later. Tom Ratican then tried his luck from range but his shot was deflected wide.

Our decent spell was tempered by Tom Russell’s sending off for an alleged stamp on 56 minutes. We couldn’t really get going again after that and Sandbach took control of the game once more.

We had already cleared off the line before Sandbach scored their fifth on 70 minutes after the ball was given away on the halfway line with Kirby racing free down the right and slotting home for his fourth.

Danny Whiting then made three excellent stops before Sandbach got their sixth on 80 minutes - Cain converting a cross from close range - and then their seventh five minutes later when Kirby was put in on the left.

Luke Hincks’ long range effort when it was 0-6 didn’t even have the decency to give us a consolation, crashing off the foot of the post instead. It was that kind of night.

No banal “we’ll draw a line under it” platitudes here. It wasn’t good enough from a club that is looking to make a serious challenge this season. We need to be more consistent.

So, goals galore at the moment, not all of them in our favour. Those coming to watch us at the moment are getting their moneysworth, but we’d take a 1-0 win this Saturday at home to Vauxhall Motors in the FA Vase, thank you very much….

TEAM: Whiting, Neild, Ratican, Delaney, Dunn, Shaw (Russell), Abreu, Hincks, Webb, Clooney (Hewitt), Knight (Christopher). SUBS: Wallace, Russell, Christopher, Hewitt, Morrison (gk).

Cheadle Town 3-4 Sandbach United

And all for five of your English pounds sterling.

If you were a neutral attending Park Road for this one, then we hope you enjoyed it. Seven goals, two of them in the "own" category and the winning team netting in the 90th minute.

As you can tell from the scoreline that team wasn't us. When we look at the statistics at the end of the season they will tell us that we have scored most goals in the last 15 minutes of matches but also conceded the most in that period, too. The most irritating of habits.

The goalfest got going in the 10th minute as Sandbach's Jordan Davies was put clear on the right before drawing Danny Whiting out of his goal, rounding him and rolling home for an easy finish.

We then had to reshuffle the pack soon after wards as Danny Wood's injury sustained vs Holker came back to haunt him, with Will Holt taking his place in midfield.

As we approached the half hour, a couple of chances for us.

Jake Ambrose raced through on the left before firing across the goalmouth before Rick Whyatt then had a close-range effort chalked off.

Our equaliser came on 31 minutes. Joe Nield hooking the ball back across the face of goal, causing enough havoc in the area for a Sandbach defender to bundle home into this own net from close range.

On 41 minutes we took the lead. After Chris Sherrington had whistled a free-kick just over the crossbar moments before, Jake Ambrose scampered down the left and kept a cool head to finish neatly inside the far post.

Three minutes into the second half, the lead had gone.

A ball in from the right found Sandbach's Chris Smith and he was given two attempts to stab it home from close range.

The next significant action came on the hour mark and saw the visitors retake the lead. A stray pass was seized upon giving Sandbach the chance to break. All of a sudden it was three versus one, with the ball shifted to the left for James Kirby to finish.

The tide then swung back the other way, resulting in us drawing level once more on 77 minutes.

Tom Ratican was sent chasing a ball down the right and, under pressure from Tom, the attending Sandbach defender planted the ball inch-perfect past his own keeper who had come out to assist.

Joe Shaw then got onto the end of a cross a few yards out from goal but the ball just wouldn't sit for him before a Tom Ratican cross from the right by a meaty shot from Liam Delaney that was excellently saved by the keeper.

Unfortunately there was still time for the match to swing once more and on the 90th minute, from their own throw-in on the left, Sandbach raced through on the left and poked home for a win that will do their pre-playoff confidence the world of good.

From having around a dozen matches left to play, in the blink of an eye we're down to the final waltz this weekend....

TEAM: Whiting, Nield, McLaughlin, Delaney, Shaw, Dunn, Collinson (Ratican), Wood (Holt), Ambrose, Whyatt, C Sherrington (M Sherrington). SUBS: M Sherrington, Ratican, Holt, Allcock (gk).

Sandbach United 4-1 Cheadle Town

Damn you, half-time.

There we were, taking good care of ourselves, level at 1-1 and enjoying the lion's share of the ball when you had to come along and completely disrupt our momentum, so much so that our second half performance was as woeful as it gets thus allowing our opponents to run away with the match.

We started the first half terribly, allowing Sandbach's Jordan Davies to poke home under Whiting's body from the edge of the area after just two minutes but then got a real foothold, going so far as to earn ourselves a penalty just four minutes later.

Not for the first time this season the ultimate golden opportunity from twelve yards wasn't converted but you can't really blame Chris Sherrington; he drilled hard and low down to the corner but was thwarted by an excellent stop from the keeper.

Unperturbed we drove on. Rick Whyatt netted on 17 minutes after a clever knock-down by Luke Cotton but it was given as offside before Luke himself would draw us level ten minutes later, lashing home after a Pearson free-kick from the right had deflected into his path.

Two minutes later a superb cross-field pass from Liam Delaney found Callum Collinson on the right whose cross was narrowly clipped over by the onrushing Rick Whyatt before Rick got his head onto another cross just before half-time, heading just over this time around.

In the second half Sandbach really started to trouble us down their own right-hand side.

Danny Whiting had to palm away a whipped cross just three minutes into the restart with him then making a world-class stop to tip over a fierce drive from the edge of the area on the 55th minute.

On the hour mark Sandbach hit the post after cutting in from the right and leaving Whiting rooted to the spot with the shot with them then taking the lead just a minute later.

Sandbach's Jordan Davies went down the right and evaded a number of challenges, leaving him free to square the ball where Luke Walley was waiting for an easy tap-in.

With 75 minutes gone Sandbach got a penalty of their own which James Kirby slotted home.

Danny Whiting then had to beat away another drive from the right before a carbon-copy of Sandbach's second goal - same scorer and all - put the tie well-and-truly out of reach on 80 minutes.

Annoyingly we don't have a match this weekend to put things right. We'll just have to wait for the visit of Eccleshall next Wednesday evening. Rain, rain, stay away....

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

Sandbach United 1-3 Cheadle Town

Can we play away from home every week?

Maintaining our 100% start on the road and a win where we conceded first - statistically rare for us - made it a useful weekend for our First XI.

Our latest 'W' in the form column came down to two things: yet another rousing second half performance and a Mr Daniel Whiting between the sticks, who did everything he could to ensure that we didn't have the same mountain to climb as we did against Prestwich in midweek.

My Twitter notes recorded at least five occasions where he stopped what the Opta statistics bods would class as "clear goal-scoring opportunities", or something.

The pick - or should I say picks - of his custodial heroics came on 22 minutes when he blocked a far post effort at close quarters, did the same again on 35 minutes when a Sandbach player was clear through, just before half time when he palmed away an awkward effort at his near post and then on 56 minutes when he had to race out to deny another one-on-one situation.

With Mr Whiting making more than a decent fist of doing what is expected of him, the onus fell on those at the other end of the pitch to do the same.

It took them a while to get going. It wasn't until the 22nd minute that we had our first decent effort on goal; Rick Whyatt nipping in at the near post to connect with a Danny Jones cross only to see the keeper nip it off his toes.

As the first half started to draw to a close we began to find ourselves in half-decent positions, especially Jake Ambrose, but our reluctance to shoot and/or the final ball was letting us down.

A poor start to that half meant that we were going into the break a goal down.

Sandbach's ruse of direct balls to their good-in-the-air front two allied with their pacey no10 paid dividends as early as the 3rd minute.

They had already struck our crossbar before they broke quickly from our free-kick, worked the ball down the left channel before pulling it back for an easy tap-in for Pearson.

We definitely had a goal in us in this match. Fortunately after coming out for the second half we managed to bag three!

Our first breakthrough came just before the hour mark when Danny Jones slotted Rick Whyatt in for a calm finish into the far corner.

At this point it was pretty much anybody's game: end-to-end stuff but, oddly enough, nothing clear-cut for either team.

And then came one of those "sliding doors" moments around the 72 minute mark.

Coming out to collect a lofted ball Danny Whiting's heart must have been in his mouth as he was met by the sight of Joe Shaw coming towards him and heading the ball past him. Both could now do absolutely nothing about the ball's final resting place. Thankfully for us, it was wide of the post.

A minute later Sandbach clipped our crossbar from where we went up the other end and got ourselves a corner...

...which was struck in, daisy-cutter style, from the left to Joe Shaw at the near post whose attempt to flick it in managed to distract everybody enough to allow Rick Whyatt the easiest of goals from a yard out.

Rick Whyatt (centre) lies in wait....

Hugs all round!

Sandbach, perhaps having run out of gas, luck or just tacit admission that whatever they did was going to be foiled by Whiting, didn't feature for the remainder of the match.

Joe Shaw powered a Wood free-kick just over the bar before we extended our lead with eight minutes of the match remaining.

Not for the first time Jake Ambrose found himself in a good position on the right where his effort was blocked. The loose ball found the feet of Danny Wood in the area who, with Sandbach bodies in his way, was patient enough to pick his spot and plant home.

Back to Park Road we go this Wednesday where we seek that (thus far) elusive home win against NWCFL newcomers Abbey Hulton United.

TEAM: Whiting, Dunn, Fleming, Russell, Shaw, Brocklehurst (Delaney), Ambrose, Wood, Jones, Whyatt, C Sherrington (Clarey). SUBS: Clarey, Hincks, Delaney, Allcock (gk)