Dinnington Town 2-1 Cheadle Town

Cheadle Town's FA Cup campaign hit the buffers today as they were edged out by a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Dinnington Town.

Dinnington were the quickest out of the traps in the first half and could have gone ahead after just four minutes but for a shot that flew just wide of the post. On the 11th minute they missed another chance to take the lead when a shot was crashed into the side netting.

It took 20 minutes for Cheadle to register their first chance when Johnny Hussain had a shot that went just wide. This marked the start of Cheadle's strongest period of the game as they finished the first half the better team and a goal to the good. Deano toe-poked a shot just wide on 24 minutes and then on 31 minutes, Andy Lindon had a header scooped off the line from a corner.

On 38 minutes the Dinnington 'keeper was forced to palm away a fierce shot from Brocky and save at the foot of the post from Deano on the 43rd minute. Sixty seconds later and Mac's cross from the right was met by a firm Arron Riley header into the back of the net. Half-time, 1-0 to Cheadle.

Dinnington got a grip of a rather slow-starting second half which paid off for them after 65 minutes when they drew level with a crisp strike on the edge of the box that gave Mellor no chance.

Dinnington's tails were up. With the partisan 370-strong crowd behind them, they kept on applying the pressure. If only Ben Roberts' 77th-minute shot would have gone in instead of cracking the crossbar then that may have taken the wind out of Dinnington's sails, but when Mellor was beaten to a through ball by an advancing striker with just five minutes to go, their recovery was complete and Cheadle's FA Cup adventure for this season was over.

When the final whistle went some of the Cheadle players sank to their knees, exhausted and broken from the day's efforts. Polardin and I knew how they felt. We've both seen Cheadle lose countless times beforehand as you know, but this was the most deflated we have ever been. We normally enjoy our "away days" and all, regardless of result, but today we didn't; it was the most uncomfortable and unsettled we've ever felt.

I digress. Cheadle have come to a roundabout in their season but I'm sure they'll drive straight on and get on with the task of tackling Congleton Town at Park Road in the Cheshire Senior Cup this Wednesday.

To the well-behaved, friendly majority of Dinnington Town fans, the best of luck in the next round and your quest to play Leeds United in the First Round Proper! To the small minority who thought it was acceptable to hand out some really nasty, threatening verbal abuse to some of our players' wives and girlfriends, stay at home next time - you are an utter disgrace to your local football club.

Photos from the day can be seen by clicking here

TEAM: Mellor, Heath, B Roberts, Cotterill, A Roberts, Brocklehurst, Riley, MacDonald, Lindon, Martin, Hussain. Subs: Flanagan, Brokenbrow, Buchanan

Saturday's Opponents: Dinnington Town

Cup Month: Chapter Five takes us over the Pennines and into the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham for an FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round away tie at Dinnington Town.

Just to give you an idea of where we're heading geographically, if you draw a triangle between Sheffield, Rotherham and Worksop, then Dinnington would be roughly in the middle. The place itself was originally a small farming community but began to grow rapidly after Dinnington Colliery was opened in 1905 and again post-World War Two as it was increasingly used as a commute to and from the three main cities mentioned before.

The local community was devastated by the closure of Dinnington Colliery in 1992; the building of a business park in its place has gone some way to leading a recovery.

Dinnington Town FC have only existed since the year 2000, but that doesn't mean to say that the club is only seven years old. Far from it. The name "Dinnington Town" is the sixth incarnation of the club that originally started out as Dinnington Main in 1908; they have been known as Dinnington Colliery, Dinnington Main Colliery, Dinnington Athletic and then Dinnington Colliery again before they folded in 1985.

DTFC play at the Dinnington Resource Centre which has undergone some recent upgrades to the changing rooms, players dugouts and floodlighting; it looks like a tidy little ground. They currently play in the Northern Counties East League Division One, which is the same level of the football pyramid as Cheadle Town, so it should be an even contest. i.e anything could happen! However, Dinnington Town are no mugs.

They had to start their FA Cup campaign in the Extra Preliminary Round at home to fierce local rivals Maltby Main; in front of a crowd of 602 (the largest match attendance in that round) they came out 2-1 winners. They then went to Rossendale United of Unibond League Division One (some two rungs above them in the pyramid) for the Preliminary Round and came away with a 2-0 win. They earned their tie against Cheadle after drawing with Penrith at home in a 2-2 draw and then winning 2-1 away in the replay.

For some reason it seems to have been a long week since our Vase defeat to Ashton Town, a defeat which could be quickly forgotten if we manage to come away from South Yorkshire with a win and the 13th of October to look forward to. To be honest we never expected to get this far, so this has been a real bonus...but we feel as though we've got one more round in us yet!!

We're carrying the flag for the NWCFL. Come on Cheadle!!!