Cheadle Town 0-2 Ashton Town

[sigh] Cheadle lost their last chance of any silverware this season as they were turfed out of the Div 2 Trophy with this 0-2 reversal at Park Road last night.

Chances were limited for both sides in the first period of the first 45 minutes, with Scott Flanagan lashing wide after a poor clearance from the Ashton 'keeper after 15 minutes being the only real opportunity of note. On the 30 minute mark, Cheadle had their best spell of the entire game and should have been at least a goal clear. Deano wrestled the ball off an Ashton defender but shot wide; two minutes later Arron Riley saw a long-range drive saved by the 'keeper and then - after a delicious cross from Andy Lindon and with not a single Ashton defender near him - opted for a stooping header. It was the wrong choice as the ball spun off the top of his head and rolled wide.

As is the case in football, sometimes you pay for not putting your chances away. And so it came to pass that, after 43 minutes, Ashton went ahead with a penalty. Half-time, 0-1.

And that was pretty much it from Cheadle as Ashton had the better chances in the second half. Mellor superbly beat away a shot on the hour mark and then saw an effort strike his post two minutes later after an Ashton forward was put through on goal. He could do nothing about Ashton's second on 75 minutes; a cross came in from the right and was met by a Cheadle defender (I think it was Cotterill) and Ashton's Bulloch, who got to the ball first and poked it past the advancing Mellor and into the corner of the net.

The game then went into a rather unsettled phase as discipline was lost around the pitch with minor squabbles, a situation that wasn't helped by one of the linesmen hell-bent on winding Deano up. The way he spoke to him was bang out of order: "shut up, Deano, shall I go and get my hanky?" was one of his lines, and don't be confused about his use of "Deano" either, thinking that this was a bit of "banter" between friends - the linesman doesn't know him from Adam! It was totally unnecessary.

Cheadle went out with a flourish right at the end. Deano saw his well-taken free-kick beaten clear by the 'keeper and from the resulting corner, one of those scrambles-in-the-box resulted in the 'keeper clearing a shot off the line.

But it was too late. The final whistle went and the last flickering light of Cheadle's season was switched off, as was the chance for me to return to Winsford armed with every ounce of controlled aggression that I can muster. Good luck to Ashton Town in the quarter-finals next February.

Merry bloody Christmas.

Team: Mellor, McDonagh, B Roberts (Stewart), Cotterill, A Roberts, Smith, Riley, Brocklehurst, Flanagan, D Martin, Lindon. Subs: Street, Stewart, Clark