Runcorn Linnets 3-2 Cheadle Town

Four minutes in, already one-nil down to a much-fancied Runcorn, six first-team regulars missing, this could have been a long, long night.

Au contraire. When Cheadle Town put together a lovely move ending with Arron Riley's superbly-placed equaliser after 26 minutes, an "unlikely" result looked on the cards, especially seeing as how CTFC were starting to punch their weight in the match at that moment in time. A Runcorn header just before the half-time mark meant that Cheadle were chasing the game again.

An utterly colourless second half was kicked into life with nine minutes to go when a Runcorn striker spotted Melly off his line and unleashed a dipping scorcher into the back of the net. Four minutes later Tosin Onibudo prodded home after the Linnets 'keeper fumbled the wet ball and all of a sudden the it was game on again. It wasn't to be, thus condemning CTFC to their first league defeat of the season.

I can't finish this post without highlighting one very notable fact. The referee was our friend "the referee from that night in Nelson". The same referee that booked a load of CTFC players that evening, the same CTFC players that were suspended tonight as a result. He's rapidly falling off my xmas card list.

And so onto Alsager on Saturday for the FA Cup Preliminary Round. Another tough encounter...

Photos from the evening can be seen by clicking here