Daisy Hill 0-3 Cheadle Town

Cheadle Town's unbeaten run stretched to four matches as they (eventually) coasted to an easy victory at New Sirs.

The first twenty minutes of this game were instantly forgettable with neither team garnering a significant chance on goal. Cheadle were the first team to wake the match up from its stupor when Arron Riley was put through on the right after 21 minutes only to see his shot roll just wide of the post. Johnny Hussain then saw a stinging left-foot shot tipped over the bar by the Daisy Hill 'keeper on the half-hour mark.

Cheadle then got the lead their efforts deserved after 39 minutes. Deano received the ball in the box with his back to the net. With a quick flick of his foot he made room for himself and curled a superb shot low into the corner of the net. Oddly enough it was all Daisy Hill after that as Cheadle seemed to lose concentration. Daisy Hill's increased possession forced a smart save from Mellor just before half-time, but to be honest, that was the only save that he had to make all match. Half-time, 1-0 to Cheadle.

Just as it was in the first half, the first 20 minutes of the restart was a scrappy, turgid affair. Daisy Hill had more than the lion's share of possession, which was mainly due to Cheadle gifting the ball to them far too often. Despite the territorial advantage, Daisy Hill just couldn't make it count and never really looked like scoring.

As the 71st minute ticked over, Cheadle suddenly stepped up a gear in the tacit realisation that their one-goal advantage just might not be enough. Johnny Hussain blasted over the bar when put through and three minutes later, Arron Riley got closer when he crashed a shot against the post. Deano was no luckier on the 80th minute when the 'keeper smothered his shot.

But this was going to be Deano's day. With five minutes to go he received the ball from the left and found himself in exactly the same position as he did five minutes earlier, except this time the 'keeper didn't quite get a firm hold of the ball. Deano dug the ball clear, made room for himself and posted the ball into a virtually unguarded net. Two-nil, and the breathing space that Cheadle deserved.

The victory was wrapped up good and proper in injury time after Deano was clumsily bundled over in the box; he stepped up to convert the penalty and collect his hat-trick.

In the end this ended up being a comfortable victory after it looked like Cheadle were going to make hard work of it. Deano's goal tally went into double figures, we saw our first hat-trick of the season and Cheadle can say they are unbeaten in 2007. This blog has a smile on its face tonight....

TEAM: Mellor, Heath, B Roberts, Cotterill, A Roberts, Smith, Riley (Stewart), McDonagh, Hussain, Martin, Lindon. Subs: Stewart, Flanagan, Brocklehurst