All of the latest news from the club
Widnes 2-1 Cheadle Town
Cheadle Town lost out by the odd goal again as their winless streak stretched to three matches
And bang goes our unbeaten record at the Select Security Stadium, albeit narrowly.
During the last 25 minutes of this match it looked as though we were capable of keeping it intact. As the 65th minute ticked over we sprang into life and almost clawed back a 0-2 deficit.
It was a dangerous-looking - and hastily-cleared - Chris Sherrington cross from the left that got us going.
From the resulting Luke Hincks corner all manner of mild mayhem ensued in the Widnes penalty box with the loose ball finding the feet of Liam Tongue, only for him to sky his effort.
Three minutes later Luke Hincks ploughed his way through the home defence before laying off to Chris Sherrington who sent in another dangerous ball that had to be dealt with quickly.
On the 78th minute we got our reward. Chris Sherrington was instrumental again, volleying the perfect cross from the left for Rick Whyatt to steal into the box and head home from close range.
Two minutes later Rick had netted what we thought was the equaliser but it had turned out he had literally given it a helping hand...and was booked for his efforts.
The introduction of isn't-he-usually-a-goalkeeper Dane Smith to the outfield gave us a bit of beef in the midfield but it sadly wasn't to be as the clock beat us.
But, as they say, the damage was done long before our impressive stint from the 65th minute onwards.
As early as the 7th minute John McIlwaine fumbled a corner from the left with Widnes' Chad Whyte gobbling up the loose ball at the far post with the hosts also sending a free-kick inches over and then hitting the post with a long-range effort before the half-hour mark.
They perhaps should have gone into the break 2-0 up but their no11 made a horrible mess of his chance when completely unmarked at the far post on the 38th minute.
In the opening two minutes of the second half, the perfect demonstration of the theory of "fine lines".
We had robbed Widnes of possession on the edge of their own penalty box but perhaps dallied that little bit too long with the ball with Rick Whyatt's resulting effort being blocked. One minute later, and up the other end, Widnes work a nice combination on the right before whipping a low ball in for Chad Whyte to sweep home his second of the match from close range.
A damaging defeat in more ways than one because, given the other results this weekend, in a blink of a mathematical eye the play-offs are now all-but out of reach for us.
With potential promotion and play-off contenders to face, we now become one of those teams where others look to us for favours. Good for them...but what we're concerned with now is the strongest possible finish to the season.
A trip to City of Liverpool on Saturday awaits.
TEAM: McIlwaine, Todd, Dunn, Russell, Tongue, Pearson (Crosthwaite), Hincks (Smith), Blackwell (Burton), Whyatt, M Sherrington, C Sherrington. SUBS: Smith (gk), Burton, Crosthwaite.
Widnes 3-0 Cheadle Town
Cheadle's League Cup campaign was halted at the first stop by Widnes in this 0-3 defeat
At the risk of repeating myself ad nauseum (see other match reports), fine lines n' all that.
Five minutes into the second half, and with the match delicately poised at 1-0 to Widnes, Mike Sherrington robs the Widnes keeper of the ball and rolls a shot towards an empty goal; said ball doesn't do what it is supposed to do and nestle in the net, instead cannoning off the foot of the post where it it then hacked away to safety.
Two minutes later Widnes are awarded a penalty. Kevin Towey launches it high into the roof of the net and the game takes on a completely different outlook.
Ho-hum.
Mike Sherrington was also cursed by the woodwork in the first half after he had found an angle down the right with Thabiso Magida also troubling the upright early doors with a looping volley.
Wrapped around those two efforts were equally good chances for the hosts.
They forced Smith into a good stop as early as the 9th minute and had put a close-range stooping header wide on the quarter-hour before taking the lead on 30 minutes; Lomax finally driving the ball home some moments after an earlier effort had struck the post.
At the 0-2 point we were then presented with another decent chance to reduce arrears.
Liam Tongue rose well to meet a free-kick at the far post with his header rebounding off the underside of the bar; the loose ball was met with an overhead kick but it was straight at the keeper.
Widnes wrapped it up with minutes left when Lomax went on a jinking run on the left before cutting in a couple of times and rifling low to Smith's right.
That was chapter one in a triptych of cup fixtures. Chapter two comes this Wednesday evening when NWCFL Premier Division outfit Runcorn Town come to Park Road for the Cheshire Senior Cup.
TEAM: Smith, Todd, Flannery, German (Shaw), Tongue, Dunn, Hincks, Russell (Wood), Whyatt, M Sherrington, Magida. SUBS: Piggott (gk), Shaw, Wood, McLaughlin.
Cheadle Town 1-4 Widnes
Cheadle Town's abysmal run continued with another heavy defeat at home
All good things come to an end, right? How about all bad things coming to an end? Please.
This club has had worse runs. I personally remember Cheadle Town going eleven games without a win towards the front half of the 2006-2007 season, broken by an Aaron Riley (remember him?) strike midway through the second half to give us a 1-0 home win over Chadderton.
This latest defeat makes it seven matches without a victory in all competitions. Yes, not as bad as 06-07 but, and I say this with the utmost respect to Mssrs Riley, Hussain, Martin, O'Keefe, Roberts & Roberts et al, more galling as the current squad is the best I've seen tread the turf for Cheadle Town FC.
This squad will come good. It has to. It's too good not to and until it does there's nothing else we can do but wail and gnash a few collective teeth.
The first half of this particular encounter was breathless and provided good value for the everyday neutral.
With just 50 seconds gone Sam Noar dispossessed the Widnes keeper and put in a cross only for it to end up going out for a corner, from which Nathan Tosum struck the crossbar with his effort at the far post.
Straight up the other end Ben Jupp was forced into making a good block before Sam Noar made the Widnes keeper do the same down the other end.
Ben Jupp was on hand again to prevent the first goal, recovering well to save after a shot had taken a nasty deflection before we then went straight up the other end and took the lead, Sam Noar latching onto a through ball on the right and drilling home.
Sam was inches away from making it 2-0 on 18 minutes as he just failed to connect with a cross before Widnes got themselves on terms three minutes later when Jack Graham rifled home from the angle.
On 25 minutes Rick Whyatt's cross from the left was set for the head of Sam Noar but the keeper managed to snatch it away from him just at the last moment before said keeper then gifted the ball straight to Sam and then making a decent recovery to deny him what seemed to be an easy opportunity to score.
Nathan Tosum and Liam Tongue tried their luck from distance to no avail before Ben Jupp made another good block just before half time, coming out to smother.
Arguably Widnes had the better of the second half as they continually pressed the ball in our own half ('gegenpress', if you will) and put us under considerable pressure.
Joe Shaw was forced to make a key block in the area on 53 minutes with a (debutant) Waldron backwards header finding the feet of a Widnes forward whose attempted lob over Jupp was weak.
In the blink of an eye the match was over as a contest as Widnes bagged three goals in a seven-minute spell.
Chris Lomax got the first of a brace on 67 minutes with a neat finish into the top corner, struck from the angle on the right on 71 minutes with brother George sending in a looping drive on the 74th minute.
Sam Noar looked like he was going to reduce the deficit on the 83rd minute but was felled on the edge of the area before substitute and debutant Reece Webb charged in from the right on 86 minutes and forced a good stop from the keeper.
Thence went the final whistle and the accompanying bewildered looks, all-to-common of late.
And off we go to Barrow-in-Furness tomorrow [Saturday] for an away trip to Holker Old Boys and with it the start of a new month which is something to look forward to, because the one that has just passed has sure been bloody unpleasant.
Onwards.
TEAM: Jupp, Todd, Magida, German, Shaw, Waldron, Whyatt (Pearson), Tongue, Noar, Tosum (Webb), C Sherrington (Hincks). SUBS: Hincks, Pearson, McLaughlin, Webb, Horan.
Cheadle Town 2-0 Widnes
Cheadle Town extended their unbeaten league run to five games, brushing aside Widnes at Park Road Stadium.
Cheadle Town extended their unbeaten league run to five games, brushing aside Widnes at Park Road Stadium.
Goals from Thabiso Magida and Luke Pearson sealed maximum points for Cheadle, who moved into second position in the First Division following this victory.
After a cagey opening, the first chance fell to Cheadle on 19 minutes when a Luke Hincks cross fell to the feet of Darrhyl Mason who struggled to have a shot before the ball was cleared by the Widnes defence.
On 27 minutes, Widnes striker Campbell-Joseph found himself free in the area and his half-volley was shot straight into the hands of Joshua Samberg.
Christopher Sherrington came close to score on 30 minutes when his free-kick from 25 yards out was well saved by the Widnes keeper.
HT: Cheadle Town 0 Widnes 0
Cheadle opened the second half on the attack and they were awarded a penalty on 58 minutes when the impressive Mason was tripped following a blistering run into the box. Magida stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way.
Cheadle should have extended their lead on 65 minutes when Richard Whyatt picked up the ball unmarked, but could only shoot wide of an unguarded goal.
The game was sealed on 88 minutes when substitute Luke Pearson kept the ball in play and pulled it back before unleashing a shot into the back of the net.
Widnes 1-1 Cheadle Town
Cheadle Town remain unbeaten in the league after this 1-1 draw on a rather difficult evening in Widnes.
Every now and again when the final whistle goes you puff out your cheeks and feel grateful for coming away with a result; this was one of those occasions.
For large parts of this match we were just simply not, as the footballing vernacular goes, "on it". Granted that we defended very well to keep Widnes at bay but we were frustratingly content to give the ball away cheaply in the other two thirds of the pitch and create our own problems; we showed promise in small patches...but they were far too infrequent for the coaching staff to be anywhere near satisfied.
That said, and here's the real positive to take, to play well below what you are capable of and still come away with a result says something.
In tacit recognition of the kind of night we had, our goal was as scruffy as they come. With a minute remaining of the first half Chris Sherrington's shot looped up over the Widnes keeper who had to reposition his feet to tip it onto the crossbar; he could then do absolutely nothing to stop the combined onslaught of Mssrs Rawlings and Whyatt piling in, with the latter eventually bundling the ball home.
To the neutral our 1-0 half-time lead would have raised an eyebrow as it was Widnes who asked all of the questions.
After an uneventful first 19 minutes the hosts squandered their first great chance when one of their forwards had a free header from a corner but planted his effort wide. A minute later and Steve Piggott had to get down smartly to stop a drive from the edge of the box.
Shortly before half-time the hosts then went on a breakaway with their no11 latching onto a cross but side-footing his effort wide when in a good position.
We had managed to continue soaking up and clearing anything that Widnes threw at us in the second half but finally relented shortly after the hour mark, an unmarked Davies hooking home at the far post following a cross from the right wing.
Widnes then had their tails up and went for the kill, forcing Steve Piggott into an excellent stop after 69 minutes.
That seemed to kick us into life a bit as we then created a handful of half-chances in the remaining 20 minutes of the match.
Luke Hincks went on a lung-busting run from midfield to feed the ball through to Chris Sherrington on the left but the angle died on him and his shot flew over. Newly-introduced Dean Nolan then sent in a cross from the right that Rick Whyatt was close to connecting with but it was poked away in the nick of time.
Down the other end Nathan McAuley had to hack a corner off the line on 76 minutes before Liam Tongue then got himself onto a Luke Pearson corner to stab just wide of the post.
Luke himself then had a moment of madness as he, thinking the ball was running out of play, allowed a Widnes player to rob it from him and descend on goal; luckily the resulting shot was straight into Piggott's arms.
Widnes then came within a post-width of winning the match on 85 minutes as their no7 made space for himself in the box before swinging a shot in, only for it to cannon off the woodwork.
We actually could have pinched it in injury time but our free-kick, in a good position on the edge of the box, was wasted and that was that.
And so onto Saturday when we entertain Daisy Hill....
TEAM: Piggott, McLaughlin, Pearson, Trucca, Tongue, McAuley, Mason, Hincks, Rawlings (Nolan), Whyatt, Sherrington (Magida). SUBS: Dixon (gk), Kennedy, Magida, Rathburn, Nolan, Horan.