Cheadle Town 0-2 Chadderton (Match report no.2)

And now for Paul Lynch's match report - thanks Paul!:

If you want excitement then come down Park Road to Cheadle Town! I've just witnessed four sendings off (all Cheadle players and management!), plenty of bookings, a referee that lost the plot and completely spoiled the game, an alleged 'spitting incident', a penalty claim for Cheadle turned down, 2 goals for Chadderton, oh, and a football match in there somewhere!

The game started brightly enough and it was 'even stevens' for the first quarter of an hour, with both sides having openings but little to actually trouble the keeper's with. But that was to change on 23 minutes when Paul Ashton scored for Chadderton from a mix-up in our defence which gave Mellor, in our goal, no chance.

That gave us a bit of a jolt and we battered 'Chaddy' for the rest of the half, but their keeper - who must get a special mention - was absolutely outstanding and kept the score 0-1 for them. First he saved from a tremendous strike from Rob Brocklehurst, then Andy Lindon beat two players and tried his luck but another save this time tipped round the post, last but not least, Andy Mcdonald skipped past a couple of defenders and blasted towards the top corner only to see his shot tipped over the bar! Tremendous stuff!

Then just before half time, Trev and 'Hillsy' had to make our first substitution, with Brad Fallows coming on for Mike Myers; just after this Arron Riley headed over from a corner and Andy Mac shot wide and the ref blew his whistle for half-time.

The calm before the storm. We kick off the second half and we started as we had finished with Andy Lindon shooting at the keeper and him making another very good save! This time the ball rebounded to Dean Martin but he stumbled and the ball was cleared.

Just on the hour it was our keeper who had to be at his best to keep out a strike from 'Chaddy's' number 7, then at the other end Arron Riley went through on goal but slipped on a divet at the vital moment and the ball rolled through to the Chadderton keeper.

Then in the 80th minute, we were denied a penalty when Deano was pushed in the back in the Chadderton box; Deano called the ref a something or other and ended up being sent off! So we're 0-1 down and now have ten men.

Trev and Hillsy now bring on Scott Clarke for Adam Roberts who has a groin strain and just to make things worse, 'Chaddy's' number 12, Taylor (who looked well offside!) goes through unchallenged and chips Mellor into our net to make it 0-2.

This is where all hell broke loose as allegedly (and I didn't see the incident - but quite a few did!) the number 8 from Chadderton spat at one of our players and this incensed our club captain Barry Cotterill, who went over to remonstrate with the linesman, who he thought must have seen the incident, and ended up being sent off by the referee! Down to nine men and 0-2 down!

Then this spilled over to the other players and the Cheadle dugout, who then had Trevor, our manager and Scott Flanagan, one of our substitutes, both sent off by the referee, whom by this time had completely lost the plot and the game and by the shoving and pushing that was going on, had lost the players as well!

A real shame, because what had started as a bright but physical game, had developed into farce, as he blew the final whistle, he left behind a rather bemused crowd, who felt that there were no winners today and this game will not be one to remember in the history of both clubs I shouldn't think!

And by the way, the 'match' finished 2-0 to Chadderton.

TEAM: Mellor, Heath, Cotterill, A Roberts (Clarke), Hussain, Brocklehurst, Lindon, MacDonald, Riley, Myers (Fallows), Martin. Subs; Flanagan, Fallows, Clarke.

Scroll down for links to the pictures and Polardin's words of wisdom.....

Cheadle Town 0-2 Chadderton

Cheadle Town have exited the Division Two trophy with a somewhat chaotic home defeat at the hands of Chadderton. Here's Polardin's take on the game, with additional words from Paul Lynch to follow tomorrow [Sunday]:

The first half of this was a well-contested, end-to-end flowing football battle. The heavy pitch lead to some heavy tackles that the referee ignored; in doing so he lost the players' respect - the idea that you can foul because the referee doesn't care was very much the order of the day....

Despite two goalmouth scrambles where it would have been easier to score than miss, Chadderton did miss. Despite three first-half cracking efforts by Deano, Broky and Lindon, Cheadle couldn't score either. A bundled effort for Chadderton meant 0-1 at half time.

The second half started with the same momentum; it was beginning to be one of the best games I've seen. Then an offside denied Chadderton a 2-0 lead, followed by the save of the season by Mellor. Then a brawl in our box with both teams losing discipline that was ignored by the referee which led to incident after incident with every tackle veering on a fowl, and after every fowl, lots of verbals.

Maybe then it was, with hindsight, inevitable that when Deano was pushed in the box and it didn't result in a penalty, Deano would end up being sent off for dissent. In addition, handing Barry and our manager red cards while yet another brawl was being carried out in the centre of the pitch just seemed ridiculous. We were down to nine men and what was a great game was descending into farce. I almost forgot - during all this they scored again to put paid to Cheadle's Div 2 Trophy campaign for this season.

The only thing the referee did right all day was to blow dead on 90 mins, but in doing this he still managed to ignore the extra 10 that had been lost due to his erratic behaviour!

This could have been a 'game of the season' but in the end, the referee had his day...and it is him we'll remember and not the game....

Photos from the day can be seen by clicking here

Saturday's Opponents: Chadderton

Once more into the cup breach we step as the quarter-finals of the Division Two Trophy come around with a home tie against Chadderton.

With rain already here and snow allied with sub-zero temperatures forecast for the weekend, I'm not holding out much hope. Mind you, our groundsman works tirelessly and has managed to work a few miracles already this season....

Anyway, Chadderton. What more can I say about this lot that I haven't done twice already? Our league duties with them are done and dusted: a hard-fought and well-deserved 2-1 victory at Park Road back in October with a 0-3 reverse in a wet n' windy non-event just before the turn of the year.

Chadderton did exactly the same as us last weekend and progressed to the quarter-finals of the League Challenge Cup by defeating Div 1 opposition by the odd goal in five. Before that they have had a few games postponed, beaten Darwen 1-0 at home and suffered a 1-2 defeat away at Holker Old Boys.

I'm not at this one, so the match report will come courtesy of Paul Lynch with possible additional missives from Polardin.

Come on Cheadle!

Chadderton 3-0 Cheadle Town

Cheadle signed off 2007 with this defeat at the hands of Chadderton.

Without their entire midfield - Arron, Mac, Andy Lindon and Brocky - Cheadle were always going to find it that little bit more difficult. Conditions should never be an excuse for defeat, but I'm going to use them anyway: wind, rain, more wind, more rain...for the second time on-the-trot yours truly got a thorough soaking when visiting Andrew Street.

Chadderton made the brighter start and found themselves two goals to the good within the first 20 minutes of the match. After just nine minutes a short back-pass was seized upon on the left-hand side, with the resulting strike besting Mellor on his near post. Eleven minutes later and a left-wing cross was missed by the entire Cheadle defence, leaving a very grateful Chaddy striker to tap in unchallenged at the far post.

Had Mike Myers' stinging left-footed drive five minutes later had not been superbly saved then Cheadle would have got a foothold on proceedings and things may have been different, but it wasn't to be and Cheadle didn't seriously threaten the Chaddy net for the remainder of the match, if I'm being honest.

With my clothes soaked through and the wind threatening to give me my second bout of manflu in as many weeks, I retired to the car and watched the majority of the second half through my windscreen. I had a good enough view to see Chaddy's third goal on 65 minutes: a left-wing cross was beaten away as far as the 18-yard box and returned with interest by a curling shot past Mellor.

Fair play to Chadderton - they'll be in the top five come the end of the season for sure - but Cheadle just weren't at the races today. A result to "write-off" and forget about. Roll on 2008 and our next five consecutive matches, all at Park Road....

TEAM: Mellor, Clarke, B Roberts, Cotterill (Brokenbrow), A Roberts, Fellows, Myers (Bennett), Hussain, Flanagan, Martin, Buchanan. Subs: Brokenbrow, Bennett.

Saturday's Opponents: Chadderton

You know what, there just might be a game of football happening on Saturday.

And not that it's the easiest of returns-to-action for our very own Cheadle Town, either. Chadderton are sitting fairly pretty in 5th place, just four points away from a runners-up spot that would mean promotion this season.

Cheadle put in one of their best performances of the season thus far to defeat Chadderton in the fixture at Park Road way back in October and, whilst a league double would be difficult, it would be the perfect way to sign off 2007 before the string of five consecutive home matches starts...which ends with a Division Two Trophy tie against Chadderton!!

Come on Cheadle!

Cheadle Town 2-1 Chadderton

Two goals in five second-half minutes - allied with some damned hard work - gave Cheadle this impressive home victory against a decent Chadderton team.

For the opening period of this match it looked as though Chadderton were going to make it a very long 90 minutes for us as they looked the more lively and seemed to be first to everything. After just 6 minutes Mellor was forced to tip a long-range effort around the post and was grateful to collect a tamely-scuffed shot after 13 minutes when a Chadderton goal looked absolutely certain after a right-wing cross.

Then Cheadle decided to get in on the act and make it the thoroughly-enjoyable match it ended up being. Deano took a chance on the volley after 21 minutes but blazed his effort over the bar and Arron Riley saw a header skid across the face of the net from a corner just six minutes later. The tit-for-tat action continued on the half-hour mark when Ben Roberts made an excellent last-ditch tackle to prevent another certain-looking Chadderton goal. It remained goalless as both teams went into the break.

The energetic pace of the game didn't stop in the second half either, but it would be Cheadle's continuous graft and industry that would bring home the wages come the final whistle. Mike Myers blasted into the side-netting on 57 minutes after a great run from Scott Clarke with Cheadle then finally getting their noses in front on 71 minutes: a through ball on the left was missed by two Chadderton defenders leaving Arron Riley through on goal; he didn't miss.

Five minutes later and Cheadle were further in front. A cross from the left by Johnny Hussain was collected by Deano and despite the attentions of two Chadderton defenders, he had the composure to produce one of those clever lobs that seem to take ages to fall into the net.

Cheadle being Cheadle they made life difficult for themselves - and their supporters - by letting their opponents back into the game. With just four minutes remaining, a free-kick from the right was headed in at the far post. However, there was to be no repeat of last Saturday's lead-loss the Cheadle held on for the three points.

This was a very impressive, workmanlike victory over the best team that Polardin and I have seen come to Park Road this season, made that little bit more valuable by the fact that it was a game-in-hand; Cheadle are now 13th in the table with 10 points from 8 matches.

TEAM: Mellor, Clarke, B Roberts, Fallows, A Roberts, Brocklehurst, Riley, MacDonald, Myers, Martin (James), Hussain. Subs: Moores, Flanagan, James

Tomorrow's Opponents: Chadderton

The boards of the Park Road theatre of football get trodden on again tomorrow evening as Cheadle face a tricky league match against Chadderton.

The signs that Chadderton were going to do alright this season were there for Polardin and I to see at the end of last term as they comfortably beat Cheadle 3-0 in a wet and windy night at Andrew Street.

The takeover that was in process at that point was completed at the start of this season and the input of new owners Tony Bhatti and Craig Halliwell has certainly had a positive impact at the club as they come to Park Road sitting pretty in 3rd place and with a 100% away record; their only two defeats all season have come at home to New Mills and Padiham, so they're no mugs by any means.

Off the pitch, Chadderton are having a rough time of it to say the least. Their ground has been repeatedly vandalised and broken into by local youths (who else?) over the past week with one incident involving local youths (them again) throwing stones at players that were taking part in a training match and vandalising the stand at the same time. This has come about due to a dispute over "public space" which, to cut a long story short, means that Chadderton FC have to leave their gates unlocked because the land is designated as "open access".

Local youths being local youths, once the story about the first case of vandalism that contained the words "unlocked gates" hit the local papers they did the predictable thing and descended on the club in their cancerous droves, thus resulting in the ridiculous spate of destruction at Andrew Street over the past week or so. Add to this the local councillor appearing in the local press cleaning the sign outside the ground that declares it as open space and you get the picture of a local football club being set upon by the very people who should be supporting it.

They are considering relocating to another site if this nonsense continues. I don't blame them.

Back to the match. This is a great chance for Cheadle to put the disappointment of Saturday behind them and clock up a result against one of the teams that will probably be "there or thereabouts" at the top of the table come the end of the season. Here's hoping that we can be the team to break Chadderton's immaculate away record.

Come on Cheadle!

Chadderton 3-0 Cheadle Town

Cheadle's last away match of the 2006-2007 season ended in a wet and windy defeat as Chadderton ran out convincing 3-0 winners.

I normally make spoken notes into my mobile phone with each chance or incident that passes in the match so, when I do these match reports, I get the idea of the pattern of the game. On listening to them again, I realise how dominant Chadderton were in terms of chances on goal.

The signs were somewhat ominous after 8 minutes when Chadderton had a goal disallowed after a striker had been put through with a teasing pass. On 16 minutes the woodwork denied them as a lobbed shot crashed off the Cheadle crossbar.

It took Cheadle 20 minutes to create their first real significant chance on goal, but what a chance it was. Heathy made great work down the right wing and put in a cross to the far post that Macca should have buried; instead he skied it into the proverbial 'Row Z' and the chance of a foothold in the game was gone.

Chadderton kept pressing and forced Cheadle 'keeper Danny Smith into a spectacular tip over the bar. On the 37 minute mark, Chadderton finally broke through as a cross was sent in from the left and slid home at the far post. Half-time, 1-0 to Chadderton.

A horrendous start to the second half resulted in Cheadle being cast further adrift. On 48 minutes, Neil Logan missed a clearing header allowing a Chadderton striker through on goal. He didn't miss.

Ironically, Cheadle then had chances to draw level in the next five minutes. First of all Macca saw a shot skid just wide of the post and then a couple of minutes later he put a header wide and all.

On the hour mark, it was effectively game over as a cross was put in from the left with a Chadderton striker sidefooting home from the centre of the area. It would have been four on 70 minutes had a shot of theirs not hit the post and rolled across the goal-line. Chadderton had many other half-chances and Cheadle had some good passages of passing play but I'd given up on making my spoken notes by then as I was getting very wet.

That rain - which had started to fall just after the second goal went in - fell steadily but failed to dampen our spirits as we cheered the lads on for the last time away from home this season. I think we even managed to raise a smile from the bench and from some of the players with our newly-concocted songs.

Ah well, you can't win them all. The pie, peas and gravy at Chadderton were lovely, though....

TEAM: Smith,D Brokenbrow, B Roberts, Cotterill, Logan, Brocklehurst, Riley, Heath, Flanagan, McDonagh, Hussain. Subs: Howse, Hill, S Brokenbrow

Tonight's Opponents: Chadderton

So this is it. The last away day of the season. The final waltz.

We'd have much preferred to have our final away day on a Saturday afternoon in the (hope of) April sunshine, but foul weather and fixture tinkerage has sent us to Chadderton on a potentially damp Tuesday evening.

Not that it will stop us roaring the lads on for one last time away from home; far from it - we intend to go out with as much noise as our vocal chords will allow. It's also my last Cheadle match of the season as Premiership duties - something that will be less of an instance next season - deny me from the final match at home to New Mills on Saturday.

So, what of Chadderton? Quite a lot, actually, as they have had one hell of a second-half to the season, one that's going to mean they finish in the top five of the table. This is going to be another very tough match for the lads, but if they show the same spirit and guts it took to beat Chadderton back in November, then they could come back to SK8 with all three points.

Come on Cheadle!

Chadderton v Cheadle Town - POSTPONED

If you're on here looking for a match report then forget it...today's game was postponed, meaning that it'll be three weeks since Cheadle players kicked a ball. That is, of course, if the weather doesn't lay claim to next week's match at Padiham.

Enjoy your weekend.

Tomorrow's Opponents: Chadderton

This fixture has been moved around more times than the completion date for Wembley Stadium.

The original fixture at the beginning of the year was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, whilst tomorrow's date was originally brought forward from the 17th. Following this? Good.

Chadderton are on a rich vein of form at the moment. They are unbeaten in their last four matches (one of them a 7-0 thumping of Norton United) and sit proudly in fifth place in the table for their efforts, 35 points from 21 games and only six points from third place...and they'll want their own back for being the team that gifted us to the end of our three-month winless streak last autumn/winter.

I'm not at this one as I'll be at Eastlands watching City unwittingly enter a relegation dogfight against Wigan Athletic; hopefully Polardin will make the journey to Andrew Street to cheer the boys on.

Hopefully the weather will behave itself and Cheadle can get another game under their belt tomorrow. Wouldn't another league 'double' be nice and all?

Come on Cheadle!

Saturday's Opponents: Chadderton

I'm putting this post up a day early because I'm in London all weekend and thus won't be around on Friday to do it. This also means that I won't be at the match, so I'm relying on Polardin to cheer the boys on his lonesome.

Anyway, Chadderton. I shall hark back, if I may, to Wednesday 22nd November when Cheadle's miserable three-month run was brought to an end with a 1-0 win at Park Road thanks to Arron Riley's late strike. On this occasion it's Chaddy that are on a bit of a bad run; granted, it's nowhere near as bad as ours was, but any club would argue that one win in four league games is a bad run.

Can Cheadle take advantage, continue their decent run, move within one point of Chaddy and complete a league "double"? You bet yer buns they can!

Come on Cheadle...and look after those flags, Polardin!

Cheadle Town 1-0 Chadderton

For the six-nil battering at Alsager, the 1-1 draw against Blackpool Mechs where we dominated the game, the energy-sapping 2-4 defeat to Stalybridge Celtic, the 0-1 FA Vase loss at Padiham, the sickening last-kick defeat at Winsford United and trying not to dish out a kicking to a Winsford kid who was in my face all afternoon, wondering why it took over an hour to travel 30-odd miles to Leek and then watch a 0-2 defeat, the 0-2 at home to Norton where the team just "didn't turn up", being threatened to be thrown out of the ground by a referee at Holker, seeing a game go tits-up after having the lead at Castleton, missing our first away point at Bootle, missing Heathy's 40-yarder and only getting the last 20 minutes of the Runcorn home match because of the traffic.....the redemption cometh.

And the fact that it came with only five minutes remaining made the victory all that sweeter; Arron Riley's net-bound swivel-and-shot in the box was met with relief not seen at Park Road for a long time, I can bet. Myself, Polardin and Ian "Sweeney Todd" ended up jumping all over each other as if Cheadle had just won the European Cup. It meant that much.

As is so often in football, "if it weren't for such-and-such", the result could have been so different. Tonight's such-and-such was Peter Mellor, who made a superb strong-handed save on 43 minutes and then a remarkable double-save on 50 minutes to keep Chadderton out.

Cheadle had their chances, though. Scott Flanagan saw a shot skid past the post on 11 minutes, Deano had a turn-and-shot saved on 20 minutes and then five minutes later, Matt Smith saw a looping header agonisingly creep past the post. With 79 minutes gone, it was one of those "it's not going to be one of those nights is it?" moments as Deano, on a one-on-one with the 'keeper, poked his shot wide of the net. Six minutes later and Arron Riley made sure it was all forgotten.

On the balance of play, Cheadle Town deserved to shade this one; then again, I'm bound to say that, aren't I? Ian "Sweeney Todd' proved to be our lucky home mascot again - he's never seen Cheadle lose at Park Road! Credit to Chadderton who played their part in a very entertaining (end-to-end at times) game.

Never, ever has the post-match pint in the Fletcher Moss in Didsbury tasted so good. The (almost) three-month hoodoo has packed its bags and gone....

Pictures: because it was a night match, I didn't take many, but if you want to see the "University Professor" of a linesman we had tonight, click here and make your way through the pics by using the boxes underneath where it says 'Nine Below Zero' photostream. More of Mr Professor in a later post......

TEAM: Mellor, Heath, B Roberts, McDonagh, A Roberts, Smith, A Riley, Brockenhurst (McDonald), Flanagan (Stewart), D Martin, Lindon Subs: McDonald, Stewart, Street

Tomorrow's Opponents: Chadderton

It's another home match for Cheadle Town tomorrow night as they pick their footballing wits aginst Chadderton.

I've found it very hard to find any written history on Chadderton and their official website really isn't up-to-scratch to be honest, but I've managed to glean the following bits n' pieces from looking elsewhere.

Like Cheadle they were one of the founder members of the NWCFL back in the early 1980s. The 1988-89 season saw them promoted to Div 1 after finishing third, but their stay only lasted one season as they then finished bottom the following season. They were promoted again - despite finishing 11th in Div 2 - in 1991-92. Their stay in Div 1 was a little bit longer this time, lasting six seasons, the highlight of which being a 3rd place finish in 1992-93.

They got their feet entangled in the ground-grading red tape when at the end of the 1997-98 season they were demoted back to Div 2...despite finishing a respectable mid-table in Div 1! They have been in Div 2 ever since and have finished mid-table or in the bottom-half for the past five seasons.

As far as this season goes, they currently lie 9th and have a boatload of games-in-hand to play; decent results in all of them would put them right up there with the front-runners. They have only lost once this season (away to Padiham) out of nine games, so this isn't going to be easy for Cheadle Town. However, that elusive win just has to come sooner or later for us...surely??

For the love of God, come on Cheadle!