Oldham Borough 2-3 Cheadle Town

Cheadle Town will go into the new year still alive-and-kicking in a cup competition as they edged out Oldham Borough in (what turned out to be) a five-goal thriller.

On a boggy pitch this game was never going to be a classic as such, but it still managed to produce those five goals. The first of them going to our very own Cheadle Town, somewhat against the run of play after Oldham Borough had applied the most pressure in the early stages: with 31 minutes on the clock, Joe Yoffe headed down to Arron Riley who advanced on goal and slotted home.

And that's the way it stayed until early on in the second half when Oldham Borough took only five minutes to get themselves the goal that they had threatened in the first 45 minutes. After forcing a great save from McDonagh they swung a corner in from the left that eventually - after we had failed to clear it - fell to their number 7 who poked it home into the far corner.

It was evident that Oldham's lively start to the second half was going to continue. With your opposition's tail up in such a situation you need a quick reply. Lo and behold we provided it - and how!

Just five minutes after Oldham's equaliser Neil Logan found himself 40 yards out on the right with nothing to do other than a simple pass to the side. For reasons best known to him he went for the speculative effort...that sailed in to restore Cheadle's lead. I fear the dressing room will not hear the last of that for a while.

That seemed to pop Oldham's balloon a bit as Cheadle got a better stranglehold on the game, going further ahead after 68 minutes: a corner from the right fell to Joe Yoffe in the area who collected, flicked, turned and rolled the ball into the corner of the net in one deft move.

Cheadle then looked comfortable right until a chaotic last two minutes of the match. Not for the first time today we were guilty of not clearing a ball properly, thus eventually giving an Oldham forward the opportunity to claw the scoreline back to 2-3. With virtually the last move of the match the Oldham 'keeper - upfield for his chance of heroics - somehow missed what looked an easy header which would have taken the match into extra-time.

At the fourth time of asking I've finally seen Cheadle win at the Whitebank, a win that was somewhat tempered when I got home to find out who we might potentially end up with in the next round. The draw was conducted in the Oldham Borough clubhouse after the match with our very own chairman Chris Davies picking the balls out of the hat.

I demand a re-draw. I don't mind losing, but not to them.....

TEAM: S McDonagh, Logan, B Roberts, Willans, A Roberts, Hussain, Riley, McCormack, O'Brien, Yoffe, Clorley. Sub: Cotterill