Cheadle Town 1-2 Leek CSOB

Unfortunately it wasn't Cheadle who found three points at the end of this rainbow as Leek completed the double over us with a 2-1 victory at Park Road.

Despite the defeat, it was quite an entertaining match, and one that got off to quite a busy start. Leek saw a looping header go over the bar after 3 minutes and Cheadle's Scott Flanagan saw a goal disallowed just two minutes after that. Arguably Leek were the more industrious and had the better chances: of note being a 15th minute mazy run by one of their midfielders who put his shot straight at Mellor.

On 25 minutes, Leek took a somewhat deserved lead. Rutter was put through and after holding off the challenge of a Cheadle defender, placed a smart finish past Mellor with the outside of his boot. Three minutes later and it could have been worse: a Leek turn-and-shot in the area clipping the top of the crossbar. Cheadle were definitely on the back foot. Half time, 0-1.

The second half started in the same fashion as the first, with Cheadle slightly having the edge this time around. Leek's forays into the box were being cut out with some crucial tackles, mainly from Barry Cotterill, with Cheadle showing a bit more enterprise and industry....

...which paid off after 60 minutes. A cross was whipped in and met by a header that crashed off the top of the post and spun up into the air; Scott Flanagan was the first to the ball when it returned to ground and bundled it past the Leek 'keeper. Cheadle's tails were up. During the next five minutes they had two of those mad scramble-in-the-box moments where the ball wouldn't go in.

Unfortunately their momentum was halted in its tracks after 65 minutes when Tarr - one of Cheadle's tormentors at Harrison Park - guided his free header past Mellor and into the top corner of the net.

Then in the last minute, the controversy as Arron Riley was put through and seemed to have his heels clipped in the penalty area. No penalty was given and any chance of retrieving a point from this game was lost....


Team: Mellor, McDonagh, B Roberts (Webber), Cotterill, A Roberts, Smith, Riley, Brocklehurst, Flanagan, Lindon, Stewart (Brokenbrow). Subs: Lee, Brokenbrow, Webber