Cammell Laird 1 Sandbach United 1

Sandbach were seven games unbeaten in the league and they were hoping to continue this good form. The game itself took a long while to get going, Sandbach are a side who like to get the ball down and dominate possession however the surface was doing them no favours.

Aaron Knight has come back into the side in the past few weeks and after picking up the man of the match award in the last game he was full of confidence, after 21 minutes he almost took the lead for his side as he got to the right by-line and cut inside onto his left foot before dragging his shot wide of the near right post.

Three minutes later Sandbach came close again as Jordan Davies got down the right wing and sent in a low cross towards the near post to James Kirby but he could only poke the ball the wrong side of the post and into the side netting. After half an hour of the game played Sandbach had the first shot on target as a cross from Davies was cleared away but it only fell as far as Dean Twigg on the edge of the box who drove into the box before shooting towards the top left corner, but the keeper was on hand to palm the ball wide of the left post.

As the game progressed tackles were flying in and the referee had already booked three players inside the first half an hour. With ten minutes of the half left the game was even, both sides were looking comfortable on the ball, although neither had really looked like taking the lead. However with just 7 minutes of the half left Sandbach took the lead when Josh Lane played an outstanding through ball from inside his own half into the path of Jordan Davies who used his pace to get in behind the defence and race towards goal, as he got to the edge of the box the Laird’s keeper came rushing out, but instead of the lifting the ball over the keeper, Davies placed the ball past him and into the bottom left corner of the goal giving Sandbach the lead just before half time.

Moments after taking the lead Sandbach were unluckily reduced to ten men for the third game running after a disgracefully late tackle on Elliot Ledwards, Jake Chadwick was issued a red card for retaliation.

As the teams went in at half time the home side were very lucky to still have 11 players on the pitch. In the second half Sandbach were defending for dear life, a goal up and a man down meant that they would be try to hold onto to the lead for the next 45 minutes. The first 20 or so minutes of the second period consisted of little niggly fouls and long, overhit passes. As the game went on Sandbach were sitting deeper and deeper as they looked to hold onto what would be a massive three points. With just ten minutes to go the home side finally registered their first shot of the half when skipper Colm Lynch got into the box but blazed his shot from 12 yards well over the bar and into someone’s back garden, moments later substitute Caleb Jones got to the right by line and flashed a cross across the face of goal but it missed everyone and was eventually cleared away to safety.

Sandbach were being bombarded with long balls that they were dealing with easily, they looked solid at the back and didn’t look like conceding.

In the last minute of the five added on minutes, the home side got a corner and it went towards the near post where Matt Pearson who had been outstanding all game cleared the ball onto his own hand and the referee pointed to the spot. It was so unfortunate for Sandbach who despite going down to ten men had been solid all game and never looked like conceding.

Colm Lynch placed the ball down on the spot, composed himself and then placed the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal, sending Moss the wrong way and sparking scenes of jubilation in the home sides dugout. This was the last kick of the game.

As the game ended It was a tough pill to swallow for Sandbach who will feel as though they deserved a lot more. However, they worked very hard for all of the second half and they can take a lot of positives out of the game.

Match Report: Jack Beresford