After a disheartening draw away against Barnton, in which the Ramblers had plenty of chances to put themselves ahead, Sandbach were keen to get back on form with a win against 9th placed Stafford Town. With only three points separating the two sides, it was evident that both teams were desperate for the victory to close down the gap to the top 5. Joel Dovey made his first start in goal for Sandbach due to Danny Hamlett’s absence, whilst Christopher Rowntree captained the hosts for this fixture.

Sandbach started slowly, in similar fashion to at Barnton, and seemed unable to get the ball through a well-organised Stafford defence. Callum Chapman also picked up an early yellow card with a late tackle outside of the box, before Stafford forward Josh Oultram darted just offside as he burst through on goal.

Sandbach began to take control of the game as the first half wore on. Whilst the reverse fixture between these sides resulted in a 4-2 victory for Saturday’s visitors, there seemed to be no sign of a repeat of that free-scoring nature as several passes ran astray for both teams. Against the run of play, Stafford’s Ryan Taylor played a great ball across the box where it was met by Declan Arber, who blazed the ball into the side-netting from a good position.

Sandbach carried their form from the first half to the second, yet still couldn’t find that goalscoring finish. With Stafford’s attack faltering, in part due to the unfortunate injury sustained by Oultram that ended his game at the half-time interval, Sandbach continued to dominate and eventually made their efforts count in the 63rd minute.

Jack Hart struck a powerful shot on target from outside of the box that Stafford keeper Henry Smith couldn’t hold on to. Barton was well alert to the situation and pounced on the spilled ball to tap home the opening goal.

After Billy Buckley was sent to the sin bin for the Ramblers, Stafford looked to make their numerical advantage count, and did so. Substitute Kyle Ashman found himself in a great position down the left wing before picking out Joshua Wilson on the edge of the six-yard box, who slotted home an equaliser.

When Sandbach returned to their full complement of players on the field, their dominance resumed not long after. It was Buckley who created the winner for Barton on 83 minutes, when he carried the ball well down the right flank before driving a low cross to the unmarked Brian Barton, who tucked home his second and restored the Ramblers lead.

Sandbach saw the game out well and took home an important 3 points as they look to improve on their 7th-place in the NWCFL table. Interim manager Declan Swan was happy with his team’s performance, saying “Heads could’ve gone down after their equaliser, but we battled until the end and I think we deserved the three points.” The Ramblers remain in 7th position in the league table with a game in hand on Cheadle Town, whilst Stafford Town drop to 9th. Sandbach now face 2nd-place New Mills at Hind Heath Road on Saturday 15th January.

Sandbach: Dovey, Roberts, Rowntree (C), Chapman, Barker, Cope, Buckley, Hart, Barton, Hatton, Fitzpatrick.

Subs: Pearson, McDonell, Pope, Jones, Holness.

Stafford: Smith, Swingwood (C), Taylor, Wood, Vangucci, Blagbrough, Scott, Arber, Oultram, Wilson, Danilian.

Subs: Duffy, Ashman, Stafford, Max Gibbs-Boddie.