Cheadle Town 1-1 Ashton Athletic

The points were shared in this enthralling contest that was every bit "value for money" from the first kick until the last. Unbiased opinion aside, Cheadle Town's industry and graft - particularly in the second half - deserved more than the draw they ended up with.

The first half was busy and evenly-contested by both teams who were going at each other like the clappers. The first close effort on goal came from Cheadle talisman Deano who struck the bar on 26 mins after a turn and shot. Some six minutes later and Ashton were in the lead. Mellor was sold an underhit backpass which put him right in trouble, the ball breaking to an Ashton forward who accepted the gift of the virtually open net in front of him. Ashton's tails were right up as they then forced Mellor to punch away a well-taken free-kick just two minutes later.

Cheadle got the break they deserved just five minutes before half-time with Deano's turn-and-shot in the area. As that went in I saw the linesman flagging furiously and thought that this just wasn't going to be our night, but as it turns out he would have given a penalty anyhow. Half-Time, 1-1.

The vast majority of the second half was the 'Cheadle Town Show'. There was a legitimate claim for a penalty turned down on 76 minutes when Deano was bundled down in the area, but apart from that, Cheadle put in a second-half performance that was a joy to watch and harked back to the kind of stuff that they played when they got this season off to such a good start. Ashton Athletic only started to show again towards the end of the match and could have pinched it if a low shot hadn't gone the wrong side of the post with only minutes to spare.

The team performance was the biggest plus-point from the night. In addition, given Cheadle's run of results of late, we might have accepted a draw before this match tonight...so I suppose it's a good point to start back on the right path again. And so onto Holker this Saturday.

Team: Mellor, Heath, Flanagan, McDonagh, Roberts, Lindon, Brocklehurst, A Riley (Stewart), Wakefield, Martin, Hussain. Subs: Lea, Stewart, W Riley

Photos: I only took three tonight, so it might not be worth bothering as I find it very hard to get any decent action shots at night as I'm reluctant to use the flash whilst the players are on the pitch. Anyhow, if you're interested, they're here.....