Cheadle Town 1-2 Leek CSOB

Cheadle Town suffered their first league home defeat of the season in this ill-tempered match against Leek CSOB.

The match finished minus three players: Johnny Hussain seeing red for Cheadle in a mass brawl on 55 minutes that also saw a Leek player walk...who then saw another of their charges get sent off later on in the second half. In my opinion the brawl was always on the cards; an inevitable by-product of some shoddy refereeing. Missed fouls, baffling bookings and two nailed-on penalties for Cheadle pretty much summed it all up.

Anyhow, in a game of very limited clear-cut chances, Cheadle were the better side for the first 45 minutes. Arron Riley was put through on 25 minutes but shinned his shot at the crucial moment - the ball rolling agonisingly rolling against the foot of the post.

Two minutes later, that missed chance wouldn't matter as Cheadle took the lead. A Mike Myers cross from the right should have been meat and drink for Andy Lindon to finish, but he spurned his opportunity; luckily the ball fell to Mac who slammed it home.

Mac's ambitious left-footed shot that was just tipped over the bar opened the bidding for the second half, but Leek drew level on 50 minutes when a shot was drilled low and hard across him and into the corner of the net.

The match went totally flat after the mass fisticuffs with neither team garnering any decent chances. However, with just six minutes or so left on the clock, Leek's nine men took the lead after a thunderous free-kick was arrowed past Mellor. Cheadle had a few goalmouth scrambles in the minutes leading up to the final whistle, but it just wasn't to be.

Disappointed? You bet I am. It feels as though we're "back to square one" again after today's defeat; thank God for the quick opportunity to put it all right on Wednesday night against Oldham Town. To add insult to injury, when I got to the ground I discovered that I hadn't put the battery in my camera, so I've got no pics for you. Sorry.

Bugger it all. I'm off for a drink.

TEAM: Mellor, Clarke, B Roberts, Fellows (Buchanan), A Roberts, Brocklehurst, Riley, MacDonald, Myers (James), Lindon, Hussain. Subs: Moore, Buchanan, James