Sandbach United looked to keep up their great run of form that has seen them unbeaten since August as they welcome Haughmond FC to Hind Heath Road in the NWCFL Macron Cup 1st Round.

The Ramblers started brightly with Kyle Foley forcing a diving save from the Haughmond goalkeeper, Isaac Hamilton. Following relentless pressure Foley got his reward as he stole a weak pass from Haughmond and almost passed the ball into the far corner to make it 1-0.
Sandbach who had the lions share of possession at this point soon doubled their lead, a beautiful through ball from Will Shawcross allowed to Foley to double his tally to put us 2-0 up.

Now in complete control Sandbach continued to control the game with Foley a constant threat down the Haughmond left with Kacper Mikulski also running them ragged on the right.

Tempers flared a little just before the break as Kieran O’Connell’s miss timed tackle saw him cautioned and Harrison Cunningham and the visitors Juan Miranda also seeing a yellow flashed in their direction for the aftermath. Unfortunately, we later learned that the challenge caused a leg break to Scott Grant and everyone at the club a speedy recovery.

As the referee drew the half to a close, Sandbach came in with a 2-0 lead that could easily have been 4.

The second half started much the same with The Ramblers on the front foot, 2 minutes in Shawcross tested the goalkeeper again who managed to smartly tip his goal bound effort over the bar.

The third goal never looked far away, and it came on 51 minutes when Harrison Cunnigham found himself unmarked at the far post to tap in from close range for his second of the season.

Middleton was again called into action just after the hour as Joe Bevan saw his effort saved well after a one on one but within a minute it was that man Foley again who sprinted clear of his marker before lashing the ball into the roof of the net to complete his first Sandbach United Hatrick.

Haughmond tried in vain to get back into the game and on the 75th minute had there only really meaningful attempt on goal that was comfortably saved by Craig Ellison.

Sandbach managed the remaining few minutes well, running our more than comfortable 4-0 winners.

It was definitely Foleys day today and as a twist of fate it will be Foley in the second round as we have drawn Foley Meir away in the 2nd round to be played on 11 October.

Sandbach will look to continue their excellent form next week but face another in form team as we travel to Stockport Georgians who are sitting pretty in 3rd place.