Sandbach United 5 Athersley Recreation 1

Jack Beresford reports on the Buildbase FA Vase first round qualifying match.

Sandbach took on Athersley Recreation from the Northern Counties Eastern League in the first qualifying round of the FA Vase. In the league Athersley hadn’t won all season and their poor form continued as Sandbach beat them 5-1, a brace from both James Kirby and Kieran Garner-Knapper and a late goal from Ryan Allcock meant that United progress into the next round.

Sandbach manager Andy Hockenhull said that his side were due a win after losing both of the last two games 1-0 despite having all the possession and plenty of shots on goal. However, his sides first half performance was much like the previous two games.

The home side started brightly and after 15 minutes they had their first real chance of the game when a cross from deep by James Kirby was met by Harry Cain at the back post, but his shot was well saved by the keeper.

Goalkeeper Ryan Moss became the first ever Sandbach player to make 100 senior appearances for the first team, and he was called into action in the 28th minute when a free kick from Lee Garside was well saved down low to Moss’ left.

Hockenhull said he tweaked the formation from last week as he looked to be more attacking and wanted to take the game to the opposition, but United were struggling to find that final ball that would split the defence, Billy Buckley took matters into his own hands as he struck a somewhat speculative shot from 30 yards that almost caught the keeper off guard however he did well to claw the ball out for a corner as Buckley’s shot looked destined for the top corner.

As far as first halves go it wasn’t the best, Sandbach had been on top but couldn’t put the ball into the back of the net. Hockenhull was again left frustrated at half time at his sides inability to put the ball in the back of the net.

The second half looked like a totally different game than the first as both teams came out of the blocks looking to break the deadlock, Athersley had the first chance of the first half when in the 54th minute a goalmouth scramble saw the ball fall to Garside whose shot was well saved by Moss in the Sandbach goal.

Hockenhull had nothing but praise for Kieran Garner-Knapper after the game as he said that his blistering pace caused the away side issues, in the 64th minute Garner-Knapper used his pace to full affect ,as he was played through on goal he raced onto the ball, and drove towards the goal after muscling the Athersley defenders out of his way he then poked the ball under the onrushing keeper and into the back of the net putting Sandbach into the lead.

Sandbach would’ve liked to push on after scoring their first and looked to add more goals to put the game beyond doubt, however five minutes after scoring the away side equalised when the ball was played towards the right by-line by Declan Dawson as he looked to find the run of Jack Briscoe who looked as if he had fouled Lane, but despite the Sandbach appeals the referee waved play on allowing Briscoe to cross the ball, the cross was cleared as far as Athersley captain Ryan White who thundered the ball off the crossbar and into net.

Sandbach were furious that a foul wasn’t given but the referee and his officials took no notice of their appeals and allowed it to stand.

The Sandbach manager was disappointed that his side let Athersley back into the game as his side had been in control of the game from the first whistle. Hockenhull was however delighted at the character that his side showed to retake the lead seven minutes later.

Garner-Knapper was set free down the right-hand side, he used his blistering pace to get to by-line and send in a low cross that was met by last season’s top scorer James Kirby who does what he does best and slotted the ball home at the near post giving Sandbach the lead once again.

Hockenhull described midfielder Ryan Allcock as a quality player in his post-match interview and last seasons player of year showed the 104 people in attendance just why he is so highly regarded by his manager. In the 77th minute he won the ball back in midfield and played a beautifully weighted pass in behind the defence to Garner-Knapper who again used his pace to full effect as he beat the keeper to the ball, before taking it around him and slotting into the empty net making the score 3-1 to Sandbach and putting his side in a good position as they looked to progress into the next round.

United were running riot and they added a fourth with four minutes of the game to go when yet again the pace of Kieran Garner-Knapper worked a treat for the home side when a long ball down the right looked easy for the keeper to clear, but Garner-Knapper beat the keeper to the ball leaving him in no-mans land. Knapper was then able to cross the ball, it fell to Cain at the back post who just had the defender on the line to beat, Cain took his time before firing the ball straight at the defender on the line, but luckily for him Kirby was on hand to fire the ball into the net, sparing Cain’s blushes and make the scores 4-1 to the home side.

Athersley heads had dropped and Sandbach were looking to use the last five minutes of the game to gain some confidence after finding goals hard to come by in recent weeks, they had time to add a fifth goal when Kirby latched onto a long ball from midfield, Kirby who had space and time down the right was able to pick out Cain on the edge of the box, who then flicked the ball past the defender and round the corner to Ryan Allcock who placed the ball into the bottom corner topping off a superb second half display for his side.

Sandbach were excellent in the second half, every attack they had seemed to lead to a goal. Scoring five will be a massive confidence booster for the forwards who manager Andy Hockenhull described as being frustrating in recent weeks. The win for Sandbach sets up a second qualifying round tie against Atherton LR.

On Wednesday evening the Sandbach Youth side make their first ever appearance in the FA Youth Cup when they take on Chester. The match kicks off at 7:30 at Sandbach and admission is only £2

The second qualifying round of The Buildbase FA Vase will be played on Saturday 15th September when Sandbach travel to Atherton LR.

Match Report: Jack Beresford

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Click here to view the match programme.