Sandbach United 1 Vauxhall Motors 1

United were in good form leading up to the game being unbeaten in their last 5 games.

The conditions weren’t brilliant for football, the wind was playing havoc for both sides. However, it was in Sandbach’s favour in the first half.

Despite having wind the on their backs United were on the back foot from the start of the game, 12 minutes in Vauxhall had the first chance of the game as Dan Cross raced down the left flank and then pulled the ball back to Drysdale who side footed the ball towards goal from 30 yards, the ball deflected off Sandbach captain Bradley Cooper and looked to be heading for the bottom right corner but Ryan Moss was on hand to tip the ball around the post.

It took 25 minutes for Sandbach to have their first real chance of the game as good perseverance down the left flank from Aidan Haughton allowed him to steal the ball back in the opposition half and then get to the by-line before cutting the ball back to Kieran Garner-Knapper who was unmarked on the penalty spot with virtually half the goal to aim at, but the Sandbach winger pushed the ball wide of the right post. He really should have scored, a reoccurring issue of Sandbach’s is that they aren’t very clinical in front of goal, this would have frustrated manager Andy Hockenhull who would have hoped that his sides missed chances won’t come back to bite them in the latter part of the season.

Three minutes later Sandbach were almost made to rue this missed chance when David Webb found space in the midfield, he found Joe Brandon on the edge of the Sandbach box, he then took a touch to get outside of his man before shooting straight at Moss from just inside the area.

In all honesty the first half was pretty dull, the weather was making things very hard for both teams to play football, any long balls were either holding up in the wind or being over hit.

Five minutes after the restart the away side took the lead, a free kick from around 25 yards was arrowed into the top right corner of the goal by the left foot of Ben Holmes. It was an outstanding strike and one that gave Sandbach keeper Ryan Moss absolutely no chance.

Immediately after this goal manager Hockenhull made a double substitution, he bought off Billy Buckley and Aidan Haughton and replaced them with Jordan Davies and Ryan Allcock.

Davies made an instant impact as he set up United’s equaliser in the 60th minute. The Welshman received the ball with his back to goal on the edge of the box, he then played the ball to the leagues October player of the month, James Kirby on the left of the box who chested the ball into the box and then volleyed home in “Di-Canio-esque” style, levelling for his side.

Sandbach now looked on top and they looked to take the lead as Kieran Garner-Knapper used his pace to drive down the right side, as he got into the box, he beat two Vauxhall defenders and found space, he then unleashed a shot but unfortunately it was straight at the keeper, he didn’t realise just how much time he had.

In the 76th minute the away side had a very good chance to take the lead as Joe Brandon played the ball in behind the defence to David Webb who checked his run to beat the offside trap, Brandon’s pass was a perfect weight for Webb who fired the ball from the right of the box straight at Ryan Moss, it was a very good opportunity for Vauxhall who really should have taken the lead.

Although the scores were tied neither team really looked as though they wanted to score a winner, they both looked as though they would be happy with a point, however in the 90th minute Sandbach were dealt a real blow as midfielder Chris Rowntree was sent off. Although Sandbach only had 10 men the game fizzled out to a 1-1 draw which was a probably a fair result. Vauxhall had been the better side in the game however United stood firm and did well to battle for a point.

Match Report: Jack Beresford.