Sandbach United 1 FC Oswestry 3

Sandbach faced Oswestry on the first day of the season, they lost 2-0 so they were hoping to do better. However, United’s plan got off to the worst possible start as they found themselves a goal down after just four minutes when a cross from the right was directed past Sandbach keeper Ryan Moss by Chris Rowntree. As the ball looked to be going into the net Oswestry winger Lewis Jarman fired the ball home from just a yard out.

It was the worst possible start for Sandbach, but fair play to the away side who had looked lively from the first whistle. Sandbach looked as though the early goal that they had conceded had given them some fire as they began to take control of the game. In the 20th minute they levelled the game when Sean Jones deflected a low cross from Kieran Garner-Knapper into his own goal. It was an unfortunate way to concede however Sandbach had got themselves back into the game and they did deserve to be level.

Sandbach were on the front foot after equalising and they came close again as another dangerous cross from Garner-Knapper was met by the head of Aaron Knight but it was straight at the keeper. With nine minutes of the half to go Oswestry went down to ten men as Edward Moss was sent off for a horrific two footed tackle, the referee showed no hesitation is showing the red card. There was limited appeals from the away side who knew that Moss deserved to be shown his marching orders.

At half time the scores were 1-1, and with Oswestry a man down, Sandbach knew that the game was there for the taking. However, much like in the first half Sandbach conceded an early goal. After just two minutes of the game restarting the away side went ahead for the second time. A corner from the right lead a goal mouth scramble and the ball eventually fell to O’Reilly at the back post, he saw his close-range shot saved but it fell to Lewis Parry who fired the ball past the bodies on the line and into the net from six yards out. Despite having the man advantage Sandbach still left an opposition player free at the back post which would have frustrated manager Andy Hockenhull.

He would have been seething moments later when his side conceded another goal. In the 51st minute Michael O’Reilly scored to make the scores 3-1 to the away side. David Howarth did well to hold the ball up on the edge of the Sandbach box before laying the ball off to O’Reilly who fired a low shot towards goal that took a slight deflection which meant that the ball found the bottom right corner of the net, leaving Moss helpless in the Sandbach goal.

With just four minutes of the second half gone Sandbach suddenly found themselves 3-1 down against a team with ten men. In all fairness Sandbach were second best to every ball, which dearly cost them in the long run. They only had one shot in anger in the whole second half and that came when Knight came inside onto his left foot but dragged his shot wide of the right post from the edge of the box. It was a poor display from United who were left shocked by the two early goals in the second half. The game eventually fizzled out and bought a poor display from the home to a close. Full credit to FC Oswestry who were outstanding with ten men for most of the game.

Match Report: Jack Beresford

For more match photos click here.