Atherton Collieries 2-5 Cheadle Town
A hat-trick from Deano and a double from Arron "Daddy Cool" Riley powered Cheadle Town through to the next round of the FA Cup with this imperious victory over Atherton Collieries.
Cheadle went at their Div 1 opponents right from the off and had a marvellous first 20 minutes that would see them race into a two-goal lead. To wit: 10th minute, Deano has a turn-and-shot in the box, only to put the shot into the 'keeper's arms; 14th minute, Andy Lindon sees his turn-and-shot palmed away by the 'keeper; 16th minute, Arron Riley's cross is turned over the bar by Mac; 17th minute, Andy Lindon has the ball rolled to him on the left, his shot flies just wide of the post; 19th minute, Johnny Hussain sends over a cross from the left that is headed home by Arron Riley; 20th minute, Johnny Hussain sends over another left-wing cross that bounces over a Colls defender and is gobbled up by Arron Riley who nods it past the 'keeper into the corner of the net.
To be fair to Colls, they had their chances too. On the 11th minute they planted a shot just wide and, after Brocky had surrendered possession in his own half, they blasted into the side-netting shortly afterwards.
When Cheadle had gone 2-0 up, Atherton had their best spell as we appeared to take our feet of the gas a little, the culmination of which was Atkinson having to palm away a fierce shot on the 24th minute. Half-time, 2-0 to Cheadle.
Cheadle came out of the traps for the second half and had the game wrapped up within its first six minutes. On the 47th minute Deano was unmarked as he smacked in a Lindon cross and four minutes later, Deano latched onto a head-down in the box to poke the ball in for Cheadle's fourth.
Atkinson was called into action again on the 70th minute as Colls went with four up front and started to enjoy the better possession; he somehow managed to get one hand on a goalbound shot. Two minutes later he could do nothing about an Atherton consolation goal as it was hooked over his body and in.
Just five minutes later Deano collected his hat-trick and wrapped the match up for absolutely absolute sure with a delicate lob over the 'keeper. We thought it had gone wide initially as the ball didn't nestle in the net...but what Deano had done was accurately find a hole that was in it! Our moans of despair turning into wild celebration will be one of our comedy moments of the season, I'm sure.
Atherton got another consolation with literally the last kick - or in this case, header - of the match but it couldn't take anything away from what was one of the best performances we've seen from Cheadle Town. It's the first time we've ever seen them score more than three goals, so to get five away to Div 1 opposition is no mean feat. As Polardin and I drove back from Atherton we still couldn't quite believe it.
Well done, lads. An excellent performance today. Onwards we go.....
Photos from the day can be seen by clicking here
TEAM: Atkinson, Heath, B Roberts, Cotterill, A Roberts, Brocklehurst, Riley, MacDonald, Lindon (Carpenter), Martin (Myers), Hussain (Buchanan). Subs: Carpenter, Buchanan, Myers
