Saturday's Opponents: Ashton Town

Polardin is too depressed to offer any words of wisdom on Wednesday's 0-8 drubbing and my other source of match reports, Paul Lynch, didn't go, so if you don't mind I'll sweep that match under the carpet, pretend it never happened and move swiftly on.

Ashton Town. Another match I can't attend; given the fact we've shipped 22 goals in our last 4 away matches, perhaps that's a blessing in disguise. It also means I'm still yet to visit Edge Green Street on my Cheadle travels.

Up until very recently, Ash' Town were the team we were hoping to catch in the league. Not any more. They are now 10 points ahead of us thanks to a run of four matches undefeated, the last three of which have all been victories with the most notable being a 3-1 away win at Ashton Athletic.

We've already had more than our fair share of Ashton Town this season. We played them twice in near succession back in September where we knocked them out of the FA Cup with them reciprocating by shoving us out of the FA Vase with a last-minute winner. Then came the league match at park Road where a Cheadle Town squad down to its bare bones put in an excellent performance to collect the three points.

At this point I usually start with "As for Cheadle....", but I really don't know what to offer. I'm stuck. I'll take a draw, put it that way....

Come on Cheadle!

Last season: Ashton Town 3-2 Cheadle Town