Cheadle Town 1-2 Worsbrough Bridge Athletic

Cheadle's fortune in the FA cup competitions ended today as Worsbrough BA got the better of us again in this disappointing 1-2 home reversal.

An essay on this match could easily be broken down into the following four sub-headings: 'The Tale of Two Halves'; 'Questionable Refereeing', 'The Fine Lines Between Success and Victory' and 'The Tribulations of a Goalkeeper: Steve McDonagh'.

In the 'Tale of Two Halves' it was us that owned the first period of play. We could have gone one-up with just 60 seconds on the clock but James McDonagh was unlucky to see a close-range effort blocked at his feet. Around eleven minutes later we would take the lead that our possession deserved: Paul McCormack won a header in midfield that found its way to Ben Brooks on the left of the penalty box, who finished superbly with a curling effort struck with the outside of the boot.

The first half also saw Ben Brooks in the centre of two incidents that bring the 'Questionable Refereeing' aspect onto the table. He was clattered with a horrible challenge that only saw the offender get a yellow card and also had his ankles audibly clipped when steaming in on goal for a stonewall penalty that wasn't given. What makes the first of those moments more galling is that Scott Clarke was sent off towards the end of the game for a challenge that was - whilst a touch agricultural - no worse than the one committed on Ben.

Within the first fifteen minutes of the second half we had witnessed the remaining two chapters of our essay.

With the scoreline delicately poised at 1-0 the next goal was always going to be crucial. Six minutes into the second half we almost got it: Paul Whalley crashing a shot off the post following a lovely team move....

...but ten minutes later our world would fall apart as what could have been 2-0 quickly became 1-2. Steve McDonagh had already awkwardly clawed a cross-shot onto the crossbar before he was picking the ball out of the net on 56 minutes when a cross was poked home from close-range. On the 64th minute he then made a dreadful hash of a free-kick, spilling the ball such that a Worsbrough attacker had the simplest of tasks of tapping home from centimetres out.

I've seen us respond in situations like this but it didn't happen today. Worsbrough came out with more purpose in the second half and just did enough to walk away with the victory, even if we did gift it to them somewhat. That said, I hope Steve McDonagh isn't too downhearted after today; these things happen to goalkeepers from time to time and he has sure saved our necks enough times in the past.

With the greatest respect to Worsbrough Bridge Athletic, I think I'm getting a bit sick of the sight of them in the FA Vase! Best of British to them at St Helens Town in the next round.

TEAM: S McDonagh, Clarke, B Roberts, Lindon, A Roberts, Whalley, D Brokenbrow (Riley), McCormack, J McDonagh, Clorley (B Brokenbrow), Brooks (S Hall). Subs: S Hall, Riley, Wood, B Brokenbrow.