Cheadle Town 0-2 Norton United

A Dog Day Afternoon
Another sunny day brought high expectations of a return to winning form.Four games without a goal. Something must change. Within 5 minutes Heathy hit a wonderful shot from miles out knowing the sun was hindering the opponent keeper's vision, a great effort hitting the bar. But early optimism dissappeared behind a cloud. Other than a speculative effort testing their keeper, there was little other action in the first half. Perhaps the sight of our Peter Mellor air-kicking a backpass Robinson-style was the incident of most note, fortunately the angle on the pass meant a corner was conceded and not a goal. As early as half time the game looked like a 0-0 and even with the prospect of extra time we were already planning for the midweek replay trip.

If the first half was depressing the second soon got worse. Norton took control of most of the possession and all the action was around our goal. Several corners were conceded with Peter Mellor heavily engaged in action. Two weak appeals for handballs in their penalty area were all we seemed to be able to muster, with "arguably the best central defender in the league" Barry Cotterill having already left the pitch with a groin strain (that may mean he misses the next two games)

Resources seem thin on the ground for us right now. Two substitutions from Trevor did instil some urgency and pace into the team (AJ & a new signing Kevin Lee). However Norton were soon 2-0 up, both well taken goals from either of their strikers; one ironically called Deano...unfortunately the wrong one. The other a well taken shot.

Trevor made one more throw of the dice bringing on Housey. It seemed to be a message to make more effort and he certainly rallied a little passion. With the sun sinking and the game lost, there was just time for a little "handbags" right at the end. It was all smiles and handshakes I am glad to report on the final whistle. Good luck Norton - I hope you go on to win the cup.

We shall have to continue to play ourselves out of this bad period of form. I took our dog Maggie along today in the hope of bringing us some luck. Not sure I shall bring her again. Still it was a far better spectacle than Croatia v England.

Our first goal for 6 games will come this Wednesday. You just wait and see.