Winsford United 1-0 Cheadle Town

Winsford United served up revenge for their Cheshire Senior Cup defeat in the coldest way possible as they scored in the 90th minute to bring Cheadle Town's miserable September to a miserable conclusion.

Trevor wasn't able to oversee the team's performance today as he had to attend to a family matter; also absent were Dean Martin and Vinnie Braine.

A first-half with few chances was marked only by the referee's inability to play the advantage rule properly. A Winsford player was fouled just outside the box, but the ref failed to play the advantage as the ball broke to a forward who smashed it into the net. Both teams went into the break at 0-0.

The game really sprang to life in the second half as Winsford started to really pressure the Cheadle goal. They should have been out-of-sight by the middle of the second period as two glorious chances went begging due to scuffed shots. Mellor contributed to keeping the score at 0-0 by making an excellent point-blank save on the hour mark.

With 75 minutes gone, Cheadle started to have their best period of the game and put the Winsford defence under considerable pressure; Arron Riley and Johnny Hussain forcing excellent saves from the 'keeper.

When a Winsford forward rounded Mellor and missed an open net with only three minutes remaining, I honestly thought that this could be Cheadle's day and were either gonna get a hard-earned draw from this game or commit daylight robbery and steal a win. My thoughts spoke too soon as that final, sickening killer blow came after 90 minutes had elapsed and we were entering injury time. God, do Cheadle need a win at Leek next Saturday...

I'm sorry to say that my enjoyment of a perfectly good football match was somewhat ruined by a young Winsford lad that seemed hell-bent on provoking some sort of undesireable reaction from me for the last ten minutes of the match. It's the first time that I have been asked "can I rip your flags down?" (why? because "he didn't like them") on my travels, that's for sure. Wherever we have gone, the adults have been magnificent, welcoming and always up for a chat (as was the case today). The attitude of some of the teenagers and kids towards us has been frankly disappointing, and it's really starting to p*ss me off.

Anyhow, I've taken some pictures from the match. Start here and then use the box on the right-hand side (where it says "Nine Below Zero's Photostream") to move through the pictures.