Sandbach United 4 Ecclehsall 2

United faced Eccleshall in their last game of 2018, they were looking to end what has been a fairly positive year on a high. It didn’t Sandbach take the lead in this game as after just two minutes they went 1-0 up as a corner from the right lead to a goalmouth scramble, the ball eventually fell to Jordan Erdmann who fired the ball in from six yards to get his second goal in as many games. Andy Hockenhull would have been delighted to welcome back Billy Buckley to the starting eleven and he showed us what we had been missing out on when he doubled Sandbach’s lead after just 17 minutes when a Jordan Davies cross was headed away by Lewis Dunn but it fell onto the left foot of Buckley who volleyed the ball first time, it looked to be going wide but it took a deflection of the Eccleshall defender and found its way into the far right corner. It was a great goal from Buckley, and it showed just why he is regarded as one of the most influential players in the Sandbach side this season. Eccleshall didn’t know what had hit them, the two early goals must had come as a shot to the system and they tried to come back into the game as Louis Downs is played through and as he gets into the box he looks to fire the ball across goal and into the far right corner of the goal but thankfully Moss was on hand to tip the ball around the post and out for a corner. At half time Sandbach had a good lead but it was still all to play for in the second half. The second half took a long while to get going and it wasn’t until the 72nd minute until there was a shot in anger, and unfortunately for Sandbach it resulted in a goal for Eccleshall as Nwachukwu unleashed a shot from the distance that was well superbly saved by Moss as he tipped it onto the bar but unfortunately for him Louis Downs was on hand to head home the rebound from two yards out. Eccleshall we’re back in the game but three minutes later Sandbach doubled their lead once again as Aidan Haughton picked up the ball on the left side of the box before making his was towards goal, he somehow managed to evade the challenges of two Eccleshall defenders before shooting the ball past the keeper and into the bottom left corner. With just under five minutes of the game to go it was still very much in the balance and the next goal was massive and when Luke Walsh found space on the edge of the box it was looking dangerous. He then rifles a shot into the top left corner past Moss who was at full stretch. It was a life line for his side and with the scores at 3-2 with a couple of minutes to go Sandbach were on the back foot and they had to hold out in order to take maximum points from the game. Eccleshall has a corner in the 94th minutes and they threw all their men forward, the corner was easily caught by Ryan Moss who had the presence of mind to kick the ball upfield to Davies who had stayed up, Moss’ kick was long and it tempted the keeper to come rushing out to meet it but the pace of Davies was too much as he beat the keeper to the ball before placing the ball into the net from the right side of the box, making the scores 4-2 to Sandbach and ensuring that they get the three points. In all fairness it was a very good game however Sandbach, yet again should have had more than four.