Cheadle Town 0-0 St Helens Town

"When you reach the last page, close the book" or so the Chinese proverb goes.

So that's that for another season. We'll analyse the 2017-18 term a bit further in the coming weeks but what a shame the end of this season had to end with something that was, well, all very "end of season".

The final line up of the 2017-18 season....

St Helens were the first to show after just 3 minutes, forcing Steve Piggott - making his final appearance between the sticks for Cheadle Town - to come out and make a stop.

Chris Sherrington then almost put one over for his brother Mike to get on the end of before Chris himself got himself on the end of a cross on the left only to blaze his effort high and not-so handsome over the bar.

Another frustrating afternoon for Danny Wood, his rib injury getting the better of him again.

St Helens' no9 was then clean through on the left but rolled his chance wide before Chris Sherrington was left cursing the firmer ground as a lob of his ended up bouncing over the crossbar.

Mssrs Christopher, McGreevy, Nield and Ratican then all went close with efforts before the half-time whistle.

The second half only saw two chances of note.

On 57 minutes Mike Sherrington found himself through on the left before lobbing the keeper only to see it roll wide before he then caught said keeper off-guard following a poor clearance on 72 minutes; his effort from range striking the upright, summing the afternoon up perfectly.

And that was that.

All done for another year

Again, our thanks to Steve Piggott for his many years as custodian. We look forward to having him as part of the coaching staff.

Our thanks also to First XI managerial/coaching team Antony Trucca, Chris Seaton and Paul Hodson and also to Megan Ratcliff who has been an exemplary physio this season.

Statistics, reviews etc. to come. Watch this space.

TEAM: Piggott, Nield, Ratican (Ambrose), Holt, Delaney, Dunn, McGreevy, Wood (Farrow), M Sherrington, Christopher (Cotton), C Sherrington. SUBS: Cotton, Farrow, Ambrose, Allcock (gk)

St Helens Town 2-3 Cheadle Town

Fine lines. "Sliding doors moments". Call them what you will. 

If you wanted a demonstration of such phenomena then the opening fifteen minutes of the second half of this match at Ruskin Park was perfect.

2-0 up at half-time we laid siege on the St Helens goal straight from the restart.

Chris Sherrington forced the keeper into an early save after cutting in from the left, Jake Ambrose was put through on the right only for his effort to get a deflection, a solid 30 seconds of continuous strikes on goal - pinball, if you will - yielded nothing and George Clarey struck the post twice.

On the next foray on the 60th minute a moment of "after you, Claude" meant that St Helens were able to break the full length of the pitch, put in a cross from the right for Brady to tuck home at the far post; from looking the most likely to score next, in the blink of an eye it was 2-1. And game on.

Two minutes later and their no11 dances through our defence to scuff the bottom of the post. We were having a minor wobble and desperately needed respite. 

That came two minutes later in the form of an over-enthusiastic challenge by St Helens' goalkeeper on Jake Ambrose as he broke into the box. You could argue that he didn't need to make it as the tight angle and distance from goal would have made it difficult for Jake to make anything of it, but it resulted in a penalty which Luke Pearson stroked home to restore the two-goal lead that we had taken into half-time.

For that, we had goals from Antony Trucca and Rick Whyatt to thank.

An encouraging start by us brought its reward after just 11 minutes, although we will be honest and give a nod to the howling wind that definitely played its part for it got hold of Luke Pearson's searching free-kick and aimed it onto the post, catching all unawares, with Antony on-hand to plant home the rebound from close-range.

St Helens' no11 then sent a long-range effort whistling past our post and a dangerous-looking cross just needed a better header.

Jake Ambrose was sent clear on the left but was just beaten to the ball by the keeper before we got our 2-0 lead moments later when Rick Whyatt latched onto a through ball down the right and finished.

Back to the second half and after we had restored that two-goal advantage thanks to Luke Pearson's penalty we had Danny Whiting to thank for it not being whittled down soon after, making an excellent stop with his feet after a corner was whipped in.

As the match entered its final eight minutes both sides had their chances once more.

George Clarey was through on the right and, despite rounding the keeper, either lost his head or completely misjudged his position as his effort went hopelessly wide. It wasn't his day.

From what should have been 4-1 and comfort, 60 seconds later down the other end it became 3-2 and nerves.

A corner whipped in from the left somehow completely evaded Chris Sherrington stood on the near post and was stabbed home from close range by Brady.

Straight from the kick-off substitute Remeece Brown twisted and turned in the box only to see his shot crawl inches wide of the post and there was time for Luke Pearson to send a free-kick just wide as the match came to its close.

A much-needed win after a run of four league matches without one. Next up for us is the visit of Stockport County this Wednesday evening in the Cheshire Senior Cup. Given the night-and-day comparison between our home and away forms, it almost seems a shame it's at Park Road....

TEAM: Whiting, Dunn, Pearson, Trucca, Shaw, Harrison, Clarey, Wood (Brown), Ambrose (Gardiner), Whyatt (Russell), C Sherrington. SUBS: Piggott (gk), Russell, Brown, Gardiner.

St Helens Town 4-2 Cheadle Town

Thursday night football. Hardly a novelty to those whose teams have been in the Europa League but something relatively new for us, the last occasion being at the end of the 2007-08 season when fixtures had to be shoehorned in (a 0-5 defeat at Ashton Athletic, in case you were wondering).

Most certainly not a novelty to us is coming away with a defeat having created enough chances to have been in a comfortable position by half-time.

As early as the 7th minute Mike Sherrington squared from the right for Nathan Tosum but the resulting effort was blocked by the keeper; one of those where a couple of inches either side of the keeper would have resulted in a goal.

Joe Shaw met a corner with a firm header on the 16th minute that was blocked on the line before we finally made our bright start pay on the 22nd minute.

Thabiso Magida's run down the left saw him whip the ball in and, following a fluffed effort and a ricochet, Mike Sherrington finally tucked the ball home with ease.

Mike was in again down the left just four minutes later but ended up blazing his shot over the bar after working himself into a good position before the hosts cast their first shot across our bows on the half hour mark; Steve Piggott somehow managing to get the finest of fingertips to a low, skidding shot and tip it onto the post.

Steve was called into action again right on the half-time mark, beating away a shot after a slip-up in defence but at the break, and albeit only 1-0 to us, we looked to be comfortable.

Alas, in the first 15 minutes of the second half, the wheels fell off.

And those "fine margins" that I seemingly mention every week were at play again.

On the 48th minute Magida's cross from the right fell perfectly to the feet of Nathan Tosum. After digging the ball out he looked to be in a good position to score but harmlessly planted his effort straight at the keeper. Straight down the other end St Helens get a penalty and covert it to level matters.

Three minutes later and Korie-Butler's speculative long-range effort somehow deceives Steve Piggott and finds the corner of the net.

Add another six minutes and a cross from the right finds Edwards unmarked on the far side of the box and with time to pick his spot and rifle in an unstoppable effort.

From 1-0 up to 1-3 down in the blink of an eye.

Matters were made worse by an altercation in the centre circle that saw St Helens Town reduced to ten men and, with the home crowd's hackles now well-and-truly raised, the hosts were spurred on to score a fourth on 66 minutes. Steve Piggott had made a good stop to parry a drive from the right but the ball span up onto the head of the onrushing Gillespie to nod home.

Mindful of the fact that we had clawed an unlikely draw from a similar position back at Park Road earlier on in the season, the home crowd went quiet when Matt German almost reduced arrears moments later and were no doubt biting their fingernails when Nathan Tosum tucked home Magida's cross on 75 minutes.

Matters would have been made very interesting had Liam Tongue's free-kick whistled a couple of inches the other side of the post on 77 minutes and Joe Shaw's effort at the far post on 84 minutes had not been excellently saved by the keeper.

No cases of lightning striking twice here.

In another 24 hours or so from now we go again at home to Ashton Town who are having a worse season than us, but have markedly just come away from City of Liverpool with a creditable draw....

Onwards.

TEAM: Piggott, Todd, Pearson, German, Tongue, Shaw, Hincks, Russell, Tosum, M Sherrington, Magida. SUBS: Crosthwaite, Wood, Morrison, Banda.

Cheadle Town 3-3 St Helens Town

“Unbelievable Geoff”, would have been the words to come out of mouth of the popular football pundit Chris Kamara if he was to witness Cheadle Town’s tremendous comeback at the weekend against St Helens Town. Three goals in injury time at the end of the 90 minutes ensured the points were shared much to the dismay of the visiting St Helens Town.
 
It was St Helens who took control with a goal on 9 minutes when Daniel Greene curled a spectacular shot from 25 yards into the top corner of the net. St Helens then doubled their lead on 21 minutes when Andy Gillespie had the easiest of tap-ins following a good cross from the byline.
 
It wasn’t until 25 minutes that Cheadle had their first chance which fell to Sam Noar who was played through but could only watch as his shot went wide of the post.
 
St Helens claimed their third goal and perhaps sealed the game on 32 minutes when Chris Lomax reacted quicker to rebounded shot to tap into an empty net.
 
HT: Cheadle Town 0 St Helens Town 3
 
Cheadle came out in the second half looking a lot more organised, but were let off by the woodwork as a St Helens shot rebounded off the inside of the post.
 
Cheadle continued to press for that elusive first goal as a number of tactical changes were made to the team. It wasn’t until 75 minutes that Noar had another great chance to score, but this time he was denied by the St Helens keeper who made a good save.
 
As the 90 minute mark passed, this was the time for Cheadle to attempt to salvage something from the game. First Noar finally got his reward as his pace beat their defender and he fired home for what we assumed to be a consolation goal.
 
Within the next minute a Jon McLaughlin deep cross found the head of Liam Tongue who headed the ball across the goal in to the corner of the net. And with the last kick of the game, keeper Jupp fired a long free kick into the St Helens area and it found the head of Joe Shaw as everyone watched in astonishment as the ball looped over the keeper and into the net.

Cheadle Town 1-2 St Helens Town

Begone, January 2016, and may another month like it never darken our door again.

This was the fourth straight defeat in all competitions, a sequence that has allowed the pack surrounding us in the league table to close in further and see the whites of our eyes. It's going to make for an interesting run-in.

Churlish as it is to cite refereeing decisions as the sole reason for failing to get a result, the one that was made deep into stoppage time had everybody scratching their head.

Tom Elford's pacey lump into the penalty area seemed to be completely missed by the St Helens keeper with the ball ending up in the back of the net and said custodian left in a heap with various other bodies.

Unfortunately for us the referee had decided that the St Helens keeper had been impeded in his efforts to catch the ball - an infringement that wasn't obvious to anybody wearing green - leaving everybody bemused.

An alternative sub-plot to this match was that St Helens should have been out-of-sight by then and the referee's curious decision at the end wouldn't have mattered either way. After going 2-1 up they squandered a host of chances to make the game safe, drilling wide with only Tom Elford to beat and, when they did manage to get the ball past Tom, forcing us into a last-ditch hack off the line.

When George Lomax went through on the hour mark and clipped past the oncoming Tom Elford to ultimately score the winning goal, it came sixty seconds after James Horan had seen a similar effort fingertipped past the post. Such are the fine lines in football at times.

That small passage reflected the mainly to-and-fro nature of the game...

...one that started poorly for us. After just three minutes Tom Elford seemed to have control of the ball from a St Helens corner in his hand one minute and was picking it out of the net the next; Gillespie marking his 100th appearance for the visitors by stabbing home with us protesting that it was from clean out of Tom's hands.

Chris Sherrington was then pivotal as we enjoyed a decent spell. He smacked a shot off the crossbar with 12 minutes gone before side-netting two minutes later after latching onto a cross.

Just before the half-hour mark St Helens missed a glorious chance to extend the lead. Michael Sacks miscontrolled a pass from Tom Elford straight into the path of a St Helens attacker with him thankfully planting it hopelessly wide.

James Horan was inches short of making decent contact with a Whyatt cross on the half-hour mark before we finally forced the ball home with five minutes of the half remaining. Luke Hincks' cross inviting all manner of Cheadle bodies to fling themselves at the ball with it eventually breaking for Chris Sherrington on the left of the box to slam home.

St Helens forced Tom Elford into a decent save at the start of the second half with Chris Sherrington just unable to shape his body in the right way to get the shot off following a cross, enabling the St Helens keeper to make the block.

Straight down the other end again and St Helens had the ball in the net following some sloppy play from us, but thankfully it was given offside, before a smart move from us resulted in Liam Tongue's effort from range being saved.

All of this in the first five minutes of the second half!

Tom Elford had to make another smart save at his near post on 56 minutes with us then managing to somehow flash the ball right across the goal-line with no takers to prod it home.

We did have the ball in the net in the last ten minutes but it was to be the second offside decision of the day...before the confusion that then reigned in stoppage time.

After spending the whole of January at Park Road, February starts with two trips on the road to Rochdale Town and Hanley Town before Stockport Town and Atherton LR make the visit to SK8 2AN. Here's hoping that a different month brings different results.

Onwards.

Footage of the match, courtesy of David Wright.

September Preview

In writing this preview to our fixtures in September it has dawned on me that one wasn't written for August, for which we apologise.

September is traditionally when the FA Vase kicks in, and that's where we start....

Saturday 5th
Staveley Miners Welfare (away)
FA Vase 1st Qualifying Round

The road to Wembley starts here.

Find Chesterfield on a map, run your finger north-east on the page and you'll very quickly come across Staveley, home to our opponents in this years' FA Vase campaign.

As the team's moniker would suggest, Staveley's history lies heavily within the mining industry with several pits situated around the area. Staveley Miners Welfare is also the name of a building on Market Street so, should you ever find yourself in Staveley looking for a football game, specify which "Miners Welfare" you're looking for as you may be directed to the old market hall!

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The "other" Miners Welfare in Staveley

The football club was founded in 1962 as a Sunday League outfit with their history in the Northern Counties East League starting only as recently as the 1996-97 season.

We find them in the Premier Division which technically puts them one level higher than us in the pyramid system, so we're expecting a testing afternoon at Inkersall Road.

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SMWFC's Inkersall Road ground

What we're also expecting - and what we have been promised by those at SMWFC via a series of tweets - is a warm welcome, good playing surface and quality food and ale.

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Pies and pints at the ready!

Hopefully what sounds like a good away-day already will be complemented by a win and a place in the next round at Handsworth Parramore or AFC Liverpool.

Wednesday 9th
Eccleshall (home)
NWCFL First Division

Assuming that no replay will be required we will then be in action at Park Road against Eccleshall. We haven't faired too well against our Staffordshire opponents at Park Road of late (see below) with them running out winners by the odd goal in four of their last five visits here. Can we put that right on Wednesday 9th?

Last five seasons at Park Road....
2014-15: lost 2-3
2013-14: won 3-1
2012-13: lost 1-2
2011-12: lost 1-2
2010-11: lost 1-2

Saturday 12th
Ashton Town (away)
NWCFL First Division

Towards the start of last season we travelled to Edge Green Street and were defeated by a single, late goal thus prolonging our stuttering start.

We've started much better this time around...and so have Ashton Town at the time of writing so this should be an interesting contest.

Last five seasons at Edge Green Street....
2014-15: lost 0-1
2013-14: lost 1-4
2012-13: won 2-0 (LC1 replay), drew 3-3
2011-12: drew 0-0
2010-11: won 2-1

Saturday 19th
St Helens Town (away)
NWCFL First Division

At the time of writing St Helens Town are just above us in the league table so by the time this fixture comes around the result could mean a swap-of-positions. One of the relegatees from the Premier Division last season this could prove to be another testing away day.

We haven't faced St Helens away in recent seasons (not since the turn of the century) but it will mean a first return to Brocstedes Park - where they groundshare with Ashton Athletic - since the end of the 2007-08 season.

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Brocstedes Park

Saturday 26th
Stockport Town (home)
NWCFL League Cup 1st Round

Aren't cup draws wonderful? There's always a nice little local issue in there somewhere and the First Round of the NWCFL League Cup has delivered.

This will see the return of Nathan Neequaye, our top scorer from last season who now wears the red-and-white stripes of our geographical neighbours.

A tie away at Premier Division Alsager Town awaits the winners.