Cheadle Town 1-4 Congleton Town

It's over. All gone...but we enjoyed it nonetheless. Cup Month for Cheadle Town bowed out tonight with a 1-4 defeat at the hands of Congleton Town in the Cheshire Senior Cup.

A simple tale of two halves, this: first one to Cheadle, second one to Congleton, although it was our visitors that almost drew first blood when they saw a header from a corner cleared off the line after just 9 minutes.

Two minutes later and it was almost advantage Cheadle: a cross from the left saw Carl Buchanan sliding in only for his effort to rebound off the chest of the Congleton 'keeper. Cheadle went that little bit closer on the 12th minute when - after a legitimate penalty claim went unanswered - the ball fell to Deano who cracked his shot off the bar.

Two minutes later and that miss wouldn't matter as Johnny Hussain curled a left-footed beauty over the top of the 'keeper's head from the edge of the box. Admittedly with the help of the fortunate run of the ball, it was no less than Cheadle deserved for their efforts, with Dave Bennett in particular causing plenty of trouble down the right wing. One of his teasing crosses was to result in a disallowed goal on the 20th minute mark; Deano being flagged for offside after he smashed it into the net.

On the 38th minute, Adam Roberts stopped a certain Congleton goal when he slid in with a great saving tackle to ensure that Cheadle went in 1-0 up at the break.

Second half, cue Congleton as they took control and ran riot with a four-goal salvo. The only Cheadle effort to report in the second half was a 46th minute Deano chance that flashed across the face of the net.

Somewhat deservedly, Congleton drew level when a cross from the right was collected and finished off with a stinging shot over Atkinson's head. They then went ahead in strange circumstances on 62 minutes: a free-kick was swung into the area and met by the jumping Atkinson and a Congleton forward. Atkinson got a slight touch to the ball and everybody seemed to stop...except the ball that still managed to sail into the net; his claims of a foul went unheard.

Six minutes later and the tie was effectively over. Johnny Hussain lost possession in midfield and Congleton worked the ball forward, the final move being a headed ball to the right of the box that was slammed home with ease.

In between that goal and their fourth - an 88th minute Heath own-goal after a right-wing cross hit him - Congleton managed to hit the crossbar and so could have walked home with a bigger margin of victory, but that would have been harsh on Cheadle.

Special mention to the drafts from the reserves that played tonight: Scott Clarke - who we already know is a decent player - Rory O'Donohue and David Bennett who all played excellent matches tonight and look good prospects for first team inclusion again at some point in the near future.

Onto Saturday and league business, where three points are a must.

TEAM: Atkinson, Clarke (Heath), B Roberts, O'Donohue, A Roberts, Brocklehurst, Bennett, Buchanan, Riley (Brokenbrow), Martin, Hussain (Myers). Subs: Myers, Heath, Mellor, Brokenbrow

Tomorrow's Opponents: Congleton Town

Cup Month: Chapter Six - a Cheshire Senior Cup home tie against fellow Cheshire-ites, The Bears of Congleton Town.

Congleton Town were founded in 1901 and joined the Cheshire County League for the 1920-21 season. They stayed there until the mid-1960s when they left that league and joined the Mid-Cheshire League.

That's when the honours started rolling in as between then and 1978-79 they had won the championship three times and collected runners-up medals three times and all (and one of those was only because of goal average!).

Like Cheadle, they were one of the founder members of the NWCFL, entering at Division 1 level. They were unlucky runners-up in the 1985-86 season when they lost out on goal difference but got their promotion wish two seasons later when they joined the new Northern Premier League (commonly known as the Unibond League nowadays) Division 1. They graced that league for 14 seasons before being relegated back to the NWCFL Div 1 in 2001-02, where they have been ever since.

Their alumni makes impressive reading for those in the football know. Chris Adams went on to play for Altrincham, as did Rod Thornley (who is also the current physiotherapist for England). Another name I know is Ronnie Jepson who would go on to play for Huddersfield Town, Bury and Burnley, to name but a few clubs. There's a whole rack of other names I don't know on their website under the 'Ex-Bears' section - feel free to have a look for yourself to see if there's anybody you recognise.

The "prize" for the winners is a quarter-final home tie against the current holders, Cammell Laird...who incidentally walloped Cheadle Town on their way to strolling the NWCFL Div 2 league in 2005. 9-0 and 7-1 to Cammell Laird, I believe. Good God.

Time to forget about Saturday and move on to new business. Come on Cheadle!