Weekend Round-Up

About half of the Div 2 sides are done-and-dusted for the 2007-2008 season - there's still a few "stragglers" left to complete their fixtures...Cheadle Town included. So, from the top...

Champions New Mills finished off with a 5-2 home victory over Blackpool Mechanics, who have finished 9th. Fellow promotees Kirkham and Wesham signed off their season with a 0-1 defeat away to Leek CSOB, whose impressive recent form will see them finish 6th or 7th.

Ashton Athletic pipped Oldham Town to 3rd place by beating them 3-2 at home thanks to a last-minute goal. Chadderton are currently 5th - they inexplicably lost 1-6 at home to Norton United and no, that's not a mis-type.

Bootle still have three games left to play and could end up in that 5th place should they collect all nine points. They fell to a 1-3 defeat away to lowly Eccleshall.

Elsewhere, Castleton Gabriels thumped Holker Old Boys 5-1 and Stone Dominoes lost 2-3 at home to Darwen.

Our very own Cheadle Town will finish 14th this season, regardless of how they fair next Tuesday at Bootle.

Weekend Round-Up

If you're gonna win the Div 2 championship, then you might as well do it in style.

With a tricky-looking home fixture against Chadderton, you'd be forgiven for thinking that New Mills might have to forgo the panache and settle for pragmatism. Not so on Saturday as the Millers romped home 6-1 in front of 253 people. Congratulations to all at Church Lane.

What a week it has been for Kirkham and Wesham. Their inevitable promotion was converted into definite as they came back from a goal down at Castleton Gabriels to win 3-1. Just the FA Vase to go now....

With Chadderton's demise, Oldham Town seized the chance to reclaim 3rd spot with a 4-2 home win over Darwen. Ashton Athletic kept themselves in 5th spot by travelling to Norton United and giving them a thorough 4-0 seeing-to.

Elsewhere, Leek CSOB's steady climb up the table took them to the heady heights of 7th as they ran out 2-1 winners away at Ashton Town; Bootle allowed Eccleshall to race into a two-goal lead before clawing it back for a final 2-2 draw; Holker Old Boys moved to within touching distance of Cheadle Town by beating Daisy Hill 2-0 and Stone Dominoes defeated Padiham 2-1 at home.

Our very own Cheadle Town are still in 14th place with 30 points from 31 games. Although Ashton Town in 13th can be caught, it is unlikely as we'd have to win our last three remaining matches (all away from home) and hope that Ashton slip up; our main problem now is Holker who are just 4 points away from us.

Midweek Round-Up

Bootle's victory at Park Road on Monday night kept them within sight of a top-five finish: they are just one point behind 5th-placed Ashton Athletic (who can surge away again should they win at Daisy Hill tonight).

Monday evening also saw Chadderton regain 3rd place from Oldham Town with a 2-0 home victory over Eccleshall (which reduces their chance of catching us) and Kirkham and Wesham's promotion be temporarily put on-hold as they could only manage a 0-0 at home to Norton United.

A relevant result to us last night: Holker Old Boys getting a 3-2 win away at Ashton Town. This means that Ashton Town can still be caught...but Holker Old Boys can still catch us; they might close the gap further on Saturday as they have Daisy Hill at home.

Yep, we're still 14th...with 30 points from 31 games.

P&P Go Groundhopping

Cheadle have no game this weekend so, seeing as how the pair of us have nothing else better to do, Polardin and I trawled the fixture lists to see if there was any decent 90 minutes on offer within a reasonable driving distance.

After much deliberation and research, we've opted for Harrogate Town v Hucknall Town in the Conference North. Harrogate are handily - if not entirely comfortably - poised for the play-off places whilst Hucknall stand teetering over the relegation trap door; a defeat will mean they fall through it, thus joining Leigh RMI and Vauxhall Motors for a life in the Unibond Premier next season.

On a completely different but-still-football-related tack, Cheadle's pathway to the end of the 2007-2008 season has finally been sorted out. Our last four matches are as follows: our last home match of the season against Bootle next Monday (21st April), away to Castleton Gabriels on Tuesday 29th April, a trip to Ashton Athletic two days later (Thursday 1st May) with the season being wound up at a hopefully drier Bootle on Tuesday 6th May.

Speaking of Bootle, they moved into 6th last night with a 3-2 win at Daisy Hill whilst Kirkham and Wesham solidified their 2nd place with a 3-1 away win at Darwen.

Up, Up and Away....

See, told you they'd go up.

Congrats to New Mills who secured their promotion to Div 1 last night with a 3-1 away win at Padiham. Just two more wins will bag them the championship and all - something I'm sure they're capable of.

Well done to all at Church Lane. That's us lot knackered for a local derby now....!

One, Two, Three: A Midweek Round-Up (of sorts)

[done in my best 'Bullseye' kinda voice]

Iiiiiiiin one - New Mills, twelve points clear and just one draw away to Padiham tonight from waving bye-bye to the rest of us.

Iiiiiiin two - Kirkham & Wesham, 6-0 winners at Ashton Town last night.

Iiiiin three - Oldham Town who picked up a useful 2-1 away win at Bootle, thus reclaiming third spot from their neighbours Chadderton (who still have two games-in-hand on them).

Iiiiin the category of "other" - a 0-0 draw between Castleton Gabriels and Norton United.

None of those results affects Cheadle's position - we're still so 14th it's untrue....

Weekend Round-Up

Only three matches survived the weather over the weekend - you wouldn't have thought we were in the throes of Spring, would you?

New Mills needed a last-minute goal away to Holker Old Boys to claim a 3-2 victory and move 15 points clear at the top; The Millers just need a draw away to Padiham on Wednesday night to seal promotion.

Oldham Town moved back into 3rd place with a 2-1 away win at Eccleshall whilst Blackpool Mechanics and Norton United played out a 0-0 draw at Jepson Street. The Mechs have only one more match to play, which means that they now have a three-week rest until the final day of the season on Saturday 3rd May!

Our very own Cheadle Town are still in 14th place with 30 points from 30 games.

Weekend Round-Up

It's surely only a matter of time before New Mills are confirmed as promoted. They remained 15 points clear at the top of the Div 2 table following their 2-0 home victory over Bootle, who incidentally are finding their chances of pinching that 2nd-placed spot even slimmer...especially now after Kirkham & Wesham strengthened their grip on it with a 2-0 away win at Ashton Athletic (who slip to 5th).

Oldham Town had a great chance of keeping themselves right in touch with K&H but managed to let Norton United walk away with a 3-3 draw. Chadderton also missed their chance to remain very interested after drawing 1-1 at home with Blackpool Mechanics.

Elsewhere, the clash between the bottom two ended in a 1-1 draw: Daisy Hill snatching the point with a last-minute equaliser away to Castleton Gabriels. Stone Dominoes claimed a 3-1 home victory over Holker Old Boys and Leek CSOB v Padiham was called off due to a waterlogged pitch.

Our very own Cheadle Town are in 14th spot with 30 points from 30 matches, 7 points behind Ashton Town in 13th and 8 points ahead of Eccleshall in 15th, so I think it'd be safe to say that 14th is where we'll end up.

Weekend Round-Up

There's no better place to start than to say well done to Kirkham and Wesham. They will be playing at Wembley on Sunday 11th May in the FA Vase Final where their opponents will be Lowestoft Town. K&H sealed their place with a 1-0 away win at Needham Market, thus taking the semi-final tie 4-2 on aggregate. Hopefully they will still be in party mood when we travel to Kellamergh Park this Wednesday evening....

On the league scene, the atrocious weather on Saturday afternoon wreaked havoc. Two matches were postponed anyhow (ours and Holker v Eccleshall) with a further three being abandoned: Ashton Athletic v Stone Dominoes (after 5 minutes!), Padiham v New Mills and Blackpool Mechanics v Chadderton.

Where the full ninety was played, just 18 people saw Castleton Gabriels lose 2-3 at home to Ashton Town (a result which puts them in 10th spot). Darwen won by the same scoreline at Norton United and Oldham Town were in netbusting mood again as they gave Daisy Hill a 5-1 pasting. That result cuts Daisy Hill nine points adrift at the bottom but more importantly thrusts Oldham Town into 2nd place (which won't last long if K&H win at Chadderton tonight).

Our very own Cheadle Town are making that 14th place their own at the moment. We're 7 points behind Leek CSOB in 13th and 7 points ahead of Holker Old Boys in 15th, who have two games-in-hand.

Weekend (Double) Round-Up...and the Week Ahead

Starting with Saturday's cup action....

Kirkham and Wesham are just an avoidance-of-defeat away from Wembley. They came back from 0-2 down at home to Needham Market in the first leg of their FA Vase semi-final to win 3-2. Best of luck to them in the second leg next weekend.

We also have the line-up for the Vodkat League Trophy final. In the semi-final second legs, Maine Road went to Chadderton and thrashed them 6-0 thus winning on aggregate by the same scoreline; they will face Bootle who picked up an excellent 2-1 away win at Div 1's Winsford United, thus winning 4-3 on aggregate. If you're interested then that final will be played at the Tameside Stadium (home of Curzon Ashton) on Wednesday 30th April.

In the league there was an Easter double-header of action. New Mills are 18 points clear at the top thanks to two wins (9-0 at home to Holker at 4-0 at Leek). Kirkham are in 2nd place with six games-in-hand; they gained a hard-fought 4-3 win at Holker Old Boys on Easter Monday. Ashton Athletic's 1-1 draw at Oldham Town on the Saturday and surprise 1-3 defeat at home to Ashton Town keeps them in 3rd, with Oldham's subsequent 0-1 loss at Chadderton keeping them in 4th.

The two teams with loads of games-in-hand - Chadderton and Bootle - are in 5th and 6th placed respectively. I'm now ruling anybody below that out of the promotion race because they haven't got enough games left in their pockets to make a substantial push.

Our very own Cheadle Town look to be finishing no higher than 14th place; we are 10 points behind Ashton Town in 13th, but with a game-in-hand on them. A victory over Eccleshall this Wednesday and again at Ashton Town on April 5th would theoretically cut the gap to 4 points and give us a better chance of finishing higher; anything less and 14th is as good as our final league position is going to get, I'm afraid.

I'm not around now until Friday evening, so there'll probably be no match report for our home match against Eccleshall on Wednesday night - unless Polardin does the honours - nor any preview for Saturday's away match at Bootle.

In my absence, come on Cheadle!

Midweek Round-Up

We have our first finalists in the Division Two Trophy: step forward Kirkham and Wesham...although it took them extra-time to despatch of Ashton Athletic, winning 2-1 on the night and 2-1 on aggregate. Can K&H make it a Vase/Div2Trophy/Promotion treble?

Oldham Town are now third after battering us, one point and one game-in-hand behind 2nd-placed Ashton Athletic, whose geographical neighbours 'Town were pegged back to a 2-2 draw at home with Norton United after leading 2-0. To the best of our knowledge the police weren't called.

In the only other games to mention, Blackpool Mechanics and Bootle played out a 1-1 draw and Stone Dominoes held Chadderton to a 0-0 draw.

Official press release from the club coming this evening - stay tuned!

Weekend Round-Up

Game - and ultimately result - of the day was at Kellamergh Park where New Mills went and battered Kirkham and Wesham by four goals to nil. That leaves the Millers 13 points clear at the top of the Div 2 pack - surely all promotion bets are off now!

Below the Millers there is an almighty scrap developing for the second promotion place, although Kirkham and Wesham arguably are still in the best position in 3rd place but with four games-in-hand and only two points behind Ashton Athletic in 2nd, who picked up a 3-1 away win at Padiham over the weekend.

In 4th place are our opponents tomorrow night Oldham Town, 2-1 winners over Holker Old Boys. 5th-placed Blackpool Mechanics are still in with a slender shout but are running out of matches - they lost 2-3 at Leek CSOB.

With oodles of games-in-hand are Chadderton and Bootle in 6th and 7th places respectively. They both had League Challenge Cup (Vodkat League Cup) semi-final first-leg matches to contend with. Chadderton will take a 0-0 draw with Maine Road back to Andrew Street and Bootle will travel to Winsford United's Barton Stadium with a 2-2 draw under their belt. The sensible money is on a Chadderton v Winsford United final, it would seem....

Back to the Div 2 action. Eccleshall beat Ashton Town 2-1 and Stone Dominoes ran out 3-0 home winners over hapless Daisy Hill.

Our very own Cheadle Town are in 14th place with 24 points from 25 matches.

Weekend Round Up

Division Two wasn't short of goals over the weekend.

Leaders New Mills ran seven goals in without reply at home to Ashton Town and Padiham dished out a 5-0 battering to Darwen. Failing to get in on the act were three other matches with 1-0 victories: Bootle at home over Leek CSOB, Stone Dominoes at home over Oldham Town and Norton United away to Daisy Hill (where we assume no police were called). The match between Chadderton and Holker Old Boys was abandoned after 65 minutes due to a waterlogged pitch (if only Cheadle's match could have gone the same way...)

Those results mean that New Mills' lead at the top is back to 12 points over 2nd-placed Kirkham & Wesham (more on them in a moment), with the Fyldemen having five games-in-hand. Oldham's defeat keeps them in 4th place behind Ashton Athletic with Blackpool Mechanics now up to 5th after their thrippling of Cheadle.

Back to Kirkham and Wesham. They kept the NWCFL flag flying high in the FA Vase after beating Coventry Sphinx 1-0 in their replayed quarter-final match. They now face Suffolk team Needham Market in the two-legged semi-finals towards the end of the month.

Our very own Cheadle Town are in 14th place with 23 points from 24 games.

Weekend Round-Up

The NWCFL still has a representative in the FA Vase - just. Kirkham and Wesham will have to travel down to West Mercia for a replay after they drew 3-3 at home with Coventry Sphinx.

We should have also known by now who one of the Division Two Trophy finalists should have been but the second leg of the Bootle v Chadderton semi-final was washed out.

In the Div 2 league matches, Ashton Athletic did what Cheadle couldn't - and moved into 2nd place - by beating Eccleshall 3-0 at home. Oldham Town kept themselves in the promotion hunt (and did Cheadle a favour) with a 3-1 away win at Holker Old Boys.

Elsewhere, Castleton Gabriels were denied an away win at Darwen by a last-minute equalising penalty in a 1-1 draw; Leek CSOB beat Ashton Town 3-1 and Norton United were held at home to a 0-0 draw against Blackpool Mechanics. No doubt the police were called to that one for reasons best known to the Norton club secretary.

Our very own Cheadle Town are in 14th place with 23 points from 23 matches and are only 8 points away from 10th place (currently held by our "friends" Norton United). What a difference a week (and two wins) makes!

Weekend Round-Up

Both of the Division Two Trophy semi-finals are delicately poised going into the second legs.

Ashton Athletic drew 0-0 at home with Kirkham and Wesham and it took a goal seven minutes from time to give Chadderton a 1-0 advantage over Bootle.

In Div 2, New Mills have gone back to being twelve points clear after collecting a 1-0 away win at Blackpool Mechanics. Ashton Town kept Daisy Hill at the bottom by beating them 3-0 at home and Holker Old Boys continued their steady climb away from the foot of the table by hammering Darwen 4-0.

In the only other game of the day, Padiham were defeated 1-2 at home by Stone Dominoes.

The league table doesn't make good reading for our very own Cheadle Town. With our three point deduction sticking, Holker picking up form and our 1-2 defeat at Eccleshall, the situation is thus: 15th (fourth from bottom) with 17 points from 21 matches. Ugh!

Weekend Round-Up

We'll start with the quarter-finals of the League Challenge Cup.

Joining Maine Road in the semi-finals are Chadderton, who recorded an impressive 3-0 victory at Oldham Town; Bootle, equally impressive 2-0 away winners at Div 1 Squires Gate and finally our old 'friends' Winsford United who beat Div 1 high-flyers Salford City 2-0. The draw for the two-legged semi-finals is as follows:

Maine Road v Chadderton
Bootle v Winsford United

Whilst all of this was going on, there was some Div 2 stuff. Result of the day has to be Kirkham and Wesham's 8-0 panning of Castleton Gabriels, a result which puts them back into 2nd place, still 12 points behind leaders New Mills but with 3 games-in-hand. Speaking of the Millers, they scored four goals in the last 15 minutes of their match at Ashton Town to record a 4-0 victory.

Ashton Athletic made good use of Oldham Town's cup exploits by overtaking them into 3rd place with a 2-1 away win at Stone Dominoes.

Elsewhere, Blackpool Mechanics' excellent run continued with a 2-1 away win at Darwen, putting them into 5th place; Eccleshall dumped Daisy Hill at the bottom of the table by beating them 3-0 on their own patch; Holker Old Boys grabbed another 1-0 home win (and hauled themselves level on points with Cheadle), this time over Norton United and Padiham and Leek CSOB played out a 2-2 draw.

Our very own Cheadle Town are in 14th place with 17 points from 20 matches.

Weekend Round-Up

First of all, a massive pat-on-the-back to Kirkham and Wesham who are still flying that NWCFL flag high in the FA Vase. They are through to the quarter-final stage after a 2-0 away win at Crowborough Athletic; they now face Coventry Sphinx at home on March 1st.

In the Div 2 league matches, New Mills' lead at the top is back to 11 points after they won 3-0 at Daisy Hill and their nearest pursuers, Oldham Town, lost 1-3 at a resurgent Blackpool Mechanics. Ashton Athletic are two points behind Oldham in 3rd place after they drew 2-2 at home with Norton United.

Elsewhere, Eccleshall are still bottom with just 9 points and 2 wins to their name after they were defeated 2-3 at home to Darwen; Padiham's rather indifferent season continued with a 0-1 defeat at Ashton Town, a match that was stopped for 30 minutes as Ashton Town's Jonathan Bullough suffered a compound fracture of the leg and was ambulanced off to hospital; Leek CSOB beat Castleton Gabriels 3-0 at home and Stone Dominoes versus Bootle match ended up goalless.

Our very own Cheadle Town are in 14th place with 17 points from 20 games, 13 points behind Norton United in the 10th place that would mark a half-decent finish. With the games-in-hand we have, it's possible....

Weekend Round-Up

As you all know it was the quarter-finals of the Division Two Trophy over the weekend and, as our very own Cheadle Town bowed out at the hands of Chadderton, the current holders - New Mills - were knocked out after a 1-2 defeat at Bootle. I'm sure the Millers won't mind that much as they now concentrate on promotion....

Kirkham and Wesham's inaugural season in the NWCFL goes from good to better as they edged out Ashton Town by a single goal to nil. The snow got the better of the Oldham Town v Ashton Athletic tie which will now be played on Tuesday 12th.

The draw for the two-legged semi-finals is as follows:

Chadderton v Bootle

Oldham Town or Ashton Athletic v Kirkham and Wesham

There were a couple of Div 2 league matches and all. Daisy Hill and Padiham saw out a 1-1 draw whilst Norton United won The Potteries derby by beating Eccleshall 1-0.

Weekend Round-Up

Plenty to mention, so let's crack on....

First of all, the FA Vase. Congratulations to Div 2's Kirkham and Wesham who made it through to the Fifth Round after a convincing 3-0 home defeat of Studley (from Warwickshire). They travel to East Sussex to face Crowborough Athletic in the next round.

A bit closer to home, Cheadle will join Chadderton and Oldham Town from Div 2 in the draw for the quarter-finals of the League Challenge Cup (or Vodkat League Cup, to give it the official name). The results were as follows:

Chadderton 3-2 Ramsbottom United (aet)
Darwen v Bootle was postponed
Maine Road 2-1 Glossop NE (aet)
Oldham Town 6-4 Colne (aet)
Squires Gate 1-0 Norton United
Trafford 0-3 Winsford United
Salford City v Atherton Collieries will be played tomorrow night [Tuesday]

My money is on us drawing Chadderton again...although my personal pick would be away to Maine Road. Draw details on here by Saturday morning.

The cup action meant that New Mills could re-stretch their lead at the top to 11 points with a home win over Stone Dominoes; they duly obliged with a 3-1 victory. Blackpool Mechanics moved up to 6th with a 3-1 away win at now-bottom Eccleshall and Leek CSOB produced an eyebrow-raising 4-0 hammering of Ashton Athletic to move up into 11th place.

Our very own Cheadle Town are in 14th place with 17 points from 19 games.

Weekend Round-Up

There are no more teams without a defeat in NWCFL Div 2 any more for this season. New Mills were the last members to leave this select club and turn off the lights as they fell to a 2-3 home defeat to Oldham Town. This means that The Millers' lead at the top is now eight points, with their conquerors now in 2nd place.

Kirkham and Wesham's game at Stone Dominoes was called off, thus meaning a drop to 3rd place. Still in the chasing pack in 4th place are Chadderton after their 1-0 home win over Darwen. Ashton Athletic are also still interested in the promotion chase - they brought Holker Old Boys' recent revival to a shuddering halt by beating them 5-2.

Elsewhere it was a goalfest at Bootle as they beat Norton United 5-3 and Padiham got themselves a 3-0 win at Castleton Gabriels (ex-Cheadle striker Vinnie Braine bagging a couple).

Our very own Cheadle Town are back in 13th place with 20 points from 18 matches with a "possible points" total of 68...which roughly means a best possible final placing of about 9th come the end of the season.