New First XI Management Team Appointed

Cheadle Town are pleased to announce the appointments of Danny Meadowcroft and Liam Brownhill as joint First XI managers.

Danny is already well-known to the NWCFL and certainly to Cheadle Town as he was part of the management setup at Barnton when they defeated us in the Division One play-off semi-final at the end of the 2015-16 season, adding the First Division Trophy and all to the cabinet that same season.

Prior to that, Danny’s footballing career has seen him ply his trade in the higher tiers of non-league, winning promotion two years in a row with Colwyn Bay and also playing for Chester, Droylsden, Northwich Victoria and Morecambe where he was part of the squad that won promotion to the Football League at Wembley in 2006-07.

Danny joins us from Congleton Town and will no doubt see his time at SK8 2AN as a “return home” as he started out down the road at Stockport County where he was captain for both youth and reserve teams.

Liam Brownhill joins us from Division One stablemates Wythenshawe Town and – like Danny – brings with him plenty of experience at the higher echelons of non-league having played for Trafford, FC United of Manchester, Ashton United, Chester and Droylsden.

His time at Bangor City also brought some European experience as he played in both legs of a UEFA Europa League Qualifying Round versus Zimbru Chisinau of Moldova.

Danny and Liam will start with immediate effect. Steve Piggott – who has done sterling work with the squad as interim manager – will be kept on as goalkeeping coach.

Cheadle Town 4-0 East Hull

A fortnight’s a long time in football.

After the funk of that horrendous run of 1 win in 22 matches, the past two weeks couldn’t have been any different. Progress in the FA Vase via two wins, progress in the league’s First Division Cup and the first league win of the season.

This particular victory wasn’t Cheadle Town at their recent best if truth be told but it was sufficient to comfortably dispose of a struggling East Hull and put us in the velvet bag for the First Round draw.

Ben Brooks knowing exactly when to smile

We dominated this one from start to finish and our first effort in anger came on the 9th minute when Paul Sunderland had a long-range effort tipped around the post.

Ben Brooks was then denied by a last-ditch tackle as he was about to pull the trigger before Pat Davin gave us the lead on the 18th minute; he was put through on goal down the left after great work by Andrew Lunt and, having seen his initial effort saved, managed to quickly re-adjust his feet and round the keeper before slotting home into an unguarded net.

On the half-hour we increased our lead with Pat Davin being instrumental once again.

He managed to work his way into the box with his close-range effort being pushed away to the feet of Ashley Woodhead; surrounded by bodies Ashley still had a lot of work to do but kept his calm by controlling the ball and then prodding home with the outside of his right boot.

Just five minutes later a reverse pass from Ashley Woodhead set his namesake Curran on his way down the right but his shot hit the side netting.

Just three minutes later our lead was extended even further. With the ball on the left side, Paul Sunderland cut inside and hit one towards the near post hoping to catch the keeper out; it looked as though he hadn’t succeeded but the keeper made a hash of his save and allowed the ball to squirm over the line.

Ashley Curran dealing with some close attention

The opening of the second half saw us put more pressure on the East Hull net.

Pat Davin fizzed a cross in from the left that nobody could get a leg to, Ashley Woodhead had an effort superbly blocked by the keeper at the near post and then clipped an effort inches over the bar and Ben Brooks was put through but just couldn’t lift the ball over the advancing keeper.

A mad five or ten minutes which saw a volley of substitutions, a yellow card for Ben Brooks and a red for Hamzat was broken by a penalty for us; Pat Davin duly stepping up to blast home our fourth of the afternoon.

And that was pretty much that in terms of chances bar Callum Knight’s effort on 75 minutes that was blocked by the keeper.

The draw for the First Round is made today [Monday 16th] and will be released at 1.00pm. The tie will be played on Saturday 12th October.

The turnaround in the players’ confidence over those past two weeks has been remarkable and Steve Piggott deserves the plaudits he is getting. The squad will fancy anybody in the draw now!

Onwards.

TEAM: Whiting, Machado Le Gal, Hamzat, Lunt (Naughton), Gaskin, Hatfield-Banton, Curran (Knight), Sunderland, Davin, Brooks (Johnson), Woodhead. SUBS: Johnson, Piggott (gk), Naughton, Knight.

A bit of “spot the ball”….

Staveley Miners Welfare 2-5 Cheadle Town

In lieu of a match report we will let a highlights video package tell the full story….

Club Statement

We announce that Cheadle Town have parted company with First XI Manager Will Griffiths.

The club would like to thank Will for all of his hard work and all that he has managed to implement in such a short space of time.

Will’s three objectives when he joined Cheadle Town just under a year ago were to improve the overall discipline within the squads, develop a culture of positivity and, of course, gain promotion.

He has done an excellent job with the first two of those objectives and we are disappointed that we couldn’t make progress with the third and continue with the aspirations we have for the club to move up the league pyramid; we need to be winning games and our start to the season has been very disappointing.

The club are in discussions with several potential successors and hope to have somebody appointed within the next 10 days.

Cheadle Town 0-7 Wythenshawe Town

From being “closer” to that elusive first win of the season to being as far away as possible within the space of three days.

Danny Whiting and our two mascots for the day lead the teams out

Let’s not make any bones about how the pattern of play developed in this match: Wythenshawe Town bossed it for 90% and were good value for their three points, running in seven goals. To wit:

13th minute: ex-Cheadle player Aaron Dwyer nipping in on the left after the ball wasn’t cleared to round Danny Whiting and tuck home

29th minute: Liam Crelin-Myers bundles home a corner from close range

48th minute: Jan Palinkas eases home a corner from close range

75th minute: the goal of the match; Aaron Dwyer cuts in from the left, rides a few challenges and unleashes a rocket in-off the underside of the crossbar that Danny Whiting could do absolutely nothing about

83rd minute: Aaron Dwyer down the left again, cutting the ball back for Scott Spencer to crash home

90+3 minute: Aaron Dwyer collects his hat-trick

90+6 minute: Wythenshawe Town’s second penalty of the day (they had already very kindly missed one in the first half) which is converted by Scott Spencer.

Ben Brooks

In amongst all of that was a hit crossbar, an offside goal and countless half-chances that Danny Whiting had to deal with; if it weren’t for him then the scoreline would have been much worse.

Our first foray on goal didn’t materialise until the 70th minute; Andrew Lunt putting in a lovely cross from the left for the head of Ben Brooks that went inches wide.

Just a minute later Ashley Curran hit a great first-time cross from the right for Brian Matthews to connect with but his header went wide and all. Brian was through again with two minutes of the match remaining but could only fire over.

Brian Matthews and Ben Brooks reflecting the mood at Park Road

A respite from the league programme now until the 10th September when we play the other Wythenshawe side. Between now and then two cup matches - away at Staveley Miners Welfare in the FA Vase and then at Cleator Moor Celtic in the First Division Cup - and two more opportunities to try and start to heal the wounds of this utter carnage.

Onwards.

TEAM: Whiting, Machado Le Gal (Curran), Hamzat (Naughton), Lunt, Johnson, Hatfield-Banton, Wallis, Shenton, Davin (Matthews), Sunderland, Brooks. SUBS: Matthews, Piggott (gk), Naughton, Phelan, Curran.

Barnton 1-0 Cheadle Town

Closer.

After this performance you get the feeling that the first win isn’t that far away. A solitary penalty was all that divided the two teams, coming on the 20th minute.

We had plenty of chances, the best of which came in an energetic opening ten minutes from us.

Paul Sunderland

With barely a minute on the clock Brian Matthews - with his first start since signing for us over the summer - found himself in space in the area only to volley his effort over the bar.

He was in again three minutes later, robbing the keeper but finding the angle too tight for him to do anything with the ball.

Ryan Shenton then had a glorious chance another two minutes later, latching onto a Pat Davin through ball on the right and seeing his fierce drive at the near post beaten away by the keeper.

Danny Whiting then had to foil a decent Barnton chance on 11 minutes, rushing out to swipe the ball away from the no11’s feet after it looked as though he was going to round Danny before Pat Davin had a chance for himself, heading over a Hopkins cross on 18 minutes.

Another Hopkins cross caused trouble on the stroke of half-time as he scuttled one across the face of the Barnton goal but there wasn’t a Cheadle limb on the end of it to turn it home.

A similar situation occurred on 50 minutes when Pat Davin couldn’t stretch his long limbs enough to get on the end of a Brian Matthews cross and could only poke it wide.

Barnton almost stole a 2-0 lead just after the hour mark when a cross from the left was met by a stooping header by the unmarked no11 which thankfully drifted wide.

Our Ollie throwing some shapes

On the 72nd minute Brian Matthews took aim from range with the parried shot then met by Pat Davin who fired it goalwards only for the keeper to have made a recovery and palm it away.

Pat then actually had the ball in the net five minutes later but was deemed to have been offside when he bundled home an Ollie Hatfield-Banton cross home from close range.

We knew it probably wasn’t going to be our night on 81 minutes when substitute Jake Phelan put the afterburners on down the right to beat the onrushing keeper to the ball and stab it past him; it was surely going to roll in but for a last-gasp clearance.

Two minutes later Yannick Machado Le Gal sent a lovely cross in from the right that looked set for Ashley Curran to volley home at the far post but he sent it skywards.

This run will come to an end at some point, surely. We came ridiculously close tonight and should have come away with something. Onto the visit of Wythenshawe Town on Bank Holiday Monday….

TEAM: Whiting, Johnson, Hatfield-Banton, Lunt, Gaskin, Sunderland (Naughton), Curran, Shenton, Matthews (Phelan), Davin, Hopkins (Machado Le Gal). SUBS: Clarke, Piggott (gk), Machado Le Gal, Naughton, Phelan.

West Didsbury & Chorlton 2-1 Cheadle Town

No matter how many times you close your eyes tight and then open them again, this bad start to the 2019-20 campaign hasn’t gone away I’m afraid.

Another day, another dollar, another match where we haven’t been able to put a ‘W’ on the string of results. The start of an NWCFL season is always busy with two matches a week in August but perhaps it’s a good thing we go again as soon as Friday evening.

Uncharacteristically for us we took the lead in a match but then went on to lose it, coming oh-so close to coming away with a point towards the end.

Paul Sunderland

The opening 25 minutes of this match was as drab as the evening sky above it; neither team seemingly bothered to carve out a clear-cut chance for themselves.

But then came the first shot in anger as a West through-ball saw Danny Whiting facing a one-on-one situation; thankfully he did enough to put the player off and force him wide and the resulting cross was volleyed high and wide.

Three minutes later and Danny was called into action again, making a superb double-save to deny a long-range shot and then block the rebound.

On 35 minutes a Cheadle breakaway saw us take the lead. Pat Davin cut loose down the right and had acres of space to plant a teasing cross to the far post where an unmarked Ryan Shenton was waiting to nod home.

Unfortunately our lead only lasted six minutes. We failed to clear our lines effectively and the loose ball was piledriven from the right. Danny Whiting did very well to parry the shot but could do nothing about Matt Boland’s acrobatic volley from the edge of the box to draw the match level.

As half-time approached another fluffed clearance gave West the opportunity to snatch the lead, but Danny Whiting was equal to another fierce drive from the edge of the area.

Patrick Davin

We had a decent opening 15 minutes of the second half in which we had opportunities to regain the lead.

The West keeper had to tip a snapshot over the bar before he then almost gifted us a goal just before the hour mark; his rushed clearance allowing Pat Davin in whose tackle sent the ball into mid air with all manner of chaos ensuing. An Ash Curran header didn’t quite have enough power behind it and the West keeper was eventually able to recover the ball.

Just two minutes later Curran sped down the right and zipped a ball in for Pat Davin who slid in and stabbed the ball just wide.

West then had vast control of the remainder of the match , going ahead on the 64th minute after a long throw-in found Dylan Moloney who made space for himself in the box before rifling home.

The hosts then clattered the crossbar on 74 minutes before we had one last chance shortly afterwards to level matters; Pat Davin’s square ball finding Aaron Taylor on the edge of the area only for his side-footed effort to be saved by the keeper’s legs.

West kept pushing for the third in the final ten minutes and came closest on 83 minutes when a free-kick was headed onto the crossbar and somehow not bundled home in the resulting melee.

With little else to say it’s onto Friday evening and the search for that elusive first win of the season….

TEAM: Whiting, Machado Le-Gal, Lunt, Clarke, Johnson, Gaskin, Phelan, Shenton, Davin, Sunderland, Curran. SUBS: Naughton, Piggott (gk), Hopkins, Rezayan, Taylor.

Stockport Town 2-2 Cheadle Town

There’s no rest for the wicked during the first four weeks of the NWCFL season.

The fixtures come thick and fast and no sooner had we licked our wounds from the 0-2 defeat on Saturday, it was time to head up the A560 for footballing tea and biscuits with the neighbours.

Whilst we created nowhere near the glut of chances at the weekend, we still came away with ourselves on the board, both goals-wise and points-wise. Such is football.

Enter!

A lively encounter saw the first chance go the hosts’ way within the first minute when Kiarno Samms was in on the left only for him to blaze his shot over.

Callum Knight then saw a first-time shot from the edge of the area saved before Ethan Hennessy got to a loose ball at the far post, pulled the ball back across the face of net but saw nobody around to prod it home.

The to-and-fro continued. Pat Davin got his tall frame to a free-kick that was tossed into the area and headed it just wide before the hosts went straight down the other end and volleyed over a great chance.

On 26 minutes Ethan Hennessy picked up a pass from Callum Knight on the right before advancing on goal thanks to a lovely touch and firing high inside the near post; the Stockport Town keeper was equal to it with an excellent stop.

Andy Lunt gives chase

Finally a breakthrough just after the half-hour mark.

Hamzat’s ranging cross from the left looked to be just too much for Patrick Davin in the box but he somehow managed to launch himself at it enough to plunge home a powerful header into the corner.

Straight down the other end Danny Whiting had to be alert to prevent an instant equaliser, getting down to his left at the near post to block a snapshot from a corner before we attacked once more a minute later, Ben Brooks laying it square for Aaron Taylor to drive in from the edge of the area only for a deflection to take the sting out of the shot.

Just as it looked as though we would be going in at half-time with a lead to our name, we conceded a penalty when Ebbie Rezayan got caught in two minds whether to boot a cross clear or stoop low and head it away; the latter option didn’t work and he ended up handballing it.

After what probably was a last-minute re-wording of Will’s half-time team talk, we came out for the second half on the front foot as we looked to regain our lead.

Patrick Davin’s pinged cross for Callum Knight on 47 minutes looked to be a golden opportunity lost as he screwed his resulting shot wide but Patrick would duly regain that lead for us some ten minutes later with a superb effort.

Receiving the ball inside left he used quick feet to dance past two or three of Stockport Town’s rearguard before unleashing a fierce, crisp strike with his left foot into the top corner of the net.

Mr Patrick Davin - safe to say he had a fairly effective evening!

Patrick almost got his hat-trick on 72 minutes when he connected with a Rezayan volley across the goalmouth but it was one of those where he didn’t have enough time to react to the opportunity and ended up putting it over.

After that it was the hosts that easily had the best of the closing stages.

They consistently prodded and poked away at us and the luck that we were pushing looked to have held firm on 85 minutes as one of their forwards, unmarked at the far post, blazed a volley over.

Alas, three minutes later, it ran out.

We failed to clear our lines once more with the loose ball being met with a long-range piledriver that Danny Whiting could only push wide. There to mop up the rebound was Cheadle Town FC’s anathema, thorn in one’s side and general bogey Kiarno Samms who gleefully tucked home.

The drama didn’t end there either. In injury time both sides had clear cut chances to win the match.

Samms almost went home with all the glory as he picked up a loose ball in our area and fired one inches wide of the post.

Straight down the other end Ben Brooks tore down the left and checked back before dinking a cross to the far post; there was Aaron Taylor, looking poised to head home a winner but, lacking the height of a Patrick Davin who had just been substituted, just couldn’t quite get enough purchase behind his header and it ended up going harmlessly wide.

A fascinating encounter and, when all is said and done, probably a fair result.

We go again this Saturday (see what I mean about August!) when we play our first league match at Park Road of this season. St Martins are the visitors.

TEAM: Whiting, Hamzat (Kyobe), Phelan, Lunt (Clarke), Johnson, Rezayan, Hennessy, Taylor, Davin (Russell), Knight, Brooks. SUBS: Clarke, Piggott (gk), Russell, Kyobe, Kuzakwawo.

Cammell Laird 2-0 Cheadle Town

Let’s get the negative statistic out of the way first.

This was the first time that Cheadle Town had lost their first competitive match of the season since the 2007-08 campaign. Funnily enough that was a 0-2 away defeat and all (at Padiham, in case you are wondering) but my memory serves me correct enough to recall that it was nowhere near as frustrating as this one.

Yannick takes a tumble

After a shaky start in which we conceded in the 3rd minute, we laid siege to the Cammell Laird net with the ball always managing to find an outstretched limb in its path.

The match was barely three minutes old when we conceded our first of the season.

Cammell Laird broke down the right and Danny Whiting looked to be winning the race to a threaded through-ball but then hesitated slightly, allowing Lairds’ Ollie Nugent to nip the ball around him and slide home from an angle.

That was to be the home side’s last meaningful shot on goal until the 88th minute when they got the second; Danny Whiting had pushed a fierce shot out wide, only to see it returned square and tapped home by Michael Furlong.

Patrick Davin making his presence felt

In between those two goals, more so in a concentrated spell in the first half, we had chance after chance.

On the 11th minute both Ben Brooks and Ashley Woodhead saw efforts blocked at the near post with Aaron Taylor then picking up a cross from Patrick Davin and seeing his drive spin off the keepers legs and harmlessly over the bar.

Patrick got in on the act a minute later, using his quick feet to garner himself a shot, only to see that effort stopped right on the line.

It continued. Patrick then rifled one straight at the keeper with a fluid passage of play setting Yannick Machado Le Gal in on the right only for his effort to be blocked at the near post.

Let’s dance

On 35 minutes Patrick Davin then tried the audacious, craftily flicking an Ashley Woodhead cross narrowly over the bar before Aaron Taylor’s neat turn-and-shot on the edge of the area was saved on the line.

A Patrick Davin free-kick that cannoned off the keeper’s legs (he would have felt that) was the last Cheadle shot in anger before the half was out and, bar a moment where Le Gal just couldn’t connect onto a Woodhead free-kick early in the second half, the final half-decent chance we created for the rest of the afternoon.

A frustrating afternoon but if half the chances we created end up in the back of the net for our next league match then we will be bringing home three points.

Onwards.

TEAM: Whiting, Hamzat, Machado Le Gal, Clarke (Knight) (Rakundo), Gaskin, Johnson, Woodhead, Rezayan (Kayode), Davin, Taylor, Brooks. SUBS: Knight, Piggott (gk), Phelan, Rakundo, Kayode

NWCFL Fixtures for 2019-2020 Released

The full fixture list for the First XI’s forthcoming campaign in the First Division South was released this morning at 10.00am.

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A quick guide to the season’s fixtures; you can click on the image for a larger version

We start our season away on the Wirral with a trip to Cammell Laird on Saturday 3rd August with the following weekend seeing our first home match at Park Road when St Martins come to visit.

Our main derby match versus Cheadle Heath Nomads has yet again been arranged for Boxing Day with us having home advantage this time around during the festive season; the return match is on Easter Monday.

Other matches of note include an early midweek visit to West Didsbury & Chorlton on Tuesday 20th August and the two matches versus Abbey Hey - in early November and early April.

Please note that all dates are subject to change. Keep an eye out on Twitter for any changes throughout the season.

NWCFL ‘Domestic’ Cup Draws Made

The start of the 2019-20 season must be near; the league have made the draws for their two ‘domestic’ cup competitions: the Macron League Challenge Cup and the First Division Cup.

As far as the League Challenge Cup is concerned, we were granted a bye to the 2nd round where we will face a trip to Wythenshawe Amateurs or Chadderton.

For the First Division Cup we face a long trip up the M6 to face Cleator Moor Celtic in the 1st round. Should we be successful in this tie we will then travel to Alsager Town for the second round.

Watch this space for further news re fixtures as the start of the season draws nearer.

The FA Vase draw for the Preliminary Rounds is usually done in early July and the league fixtures are released mid-July.

2019-20 Pre-Season Training Has Begun!

The first league match may not be until Saturday 2nd August but our squad are already being put through their pre-season paces!

The first workout of the summer took place at Park Road today!