Saturday's Opponents: Ashton Town

Here it comes - cup month.

Saturday: Ashton Town in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup. Next Saturday: St Helens Town in the 1st Qualifying Round of the FA Vase. The Saturday after that: Bacup Borough or Atherton Collieries away in the 1st Qualifying Round of the FA Cup...but only if we beat Ashton Town. The Saturday after that: Ashton Town (again) in the 2nd Qualifying Round of the FA Vase at home...but only if we beat St Helens Town. The following Wednesday: Congleton Town at home in the 1st Round of the Cheshire Senior Cup. Got that? Good.

It'd be nice to have that "cup month" but first we've got to overcome the first item in that paragraph: Ashton Town.

They were nowt but a regal pain in the arse for Cheadle last season. We only got one league point from them (a 2-3 defeat away and a 3-3 draw at home) and they also put us out of the Division Two Trophy after an oft-postponed fixture that was finally switched to Park Road; on one of the most miserable evenings I have had following Cheadle Town, in front of the lowest crowd at Park Road last season and on a bitterly cold night in late December when most (sensible) people were in the warmth of their homes flicking through their double-editions of the Radio Times, Cheadle might as well have not turned up and surrendered to a 0-2 home defeat.

If you read the first paragraph again you will see that Ashton Town have been granted a second opportunity to be betes noire par excellence on Cheadle's season as they could potentially put us out of two cup competitions in a space of a month. But what goes around, comes around. It's Cheadle's turn this season...and it would be a perfect time to get that first win under our belts.

Come on Cheadle!