New Sandbach forwards George Kattah and Venancio Monteiro made the Sandbach bench as Brian Barton returned to lead the Ramblers front line. Tom Morris also captained the side as Declan Swan looked to ensure his side avoided a third straight defeat.

The visiting side started stronger, and Sandbach were fortunate that a well worked set-piece routine in the 3rd minute was headed wide.

Sandbach settled after a shaky start, and found great success with Niall Cope’s wonderful range of passing often picking out tricky winger Oli McDonough, who got the better of his full-back several times in the opening half.

Sandbach and Stockport then traded decent saves from their goalkeepers, as Dimeji Willan made himself big for a crucial stop before McDonough then saw a powerful dipping effort parried away, once more set up from an excellent Cope pass.

Some half-hearted appeals for a penalty for Sandbach were swiftly waved away in the 35th minute after a rocket strike was blocked by a Georgians defender close to the arm, but the Ramblers pressed on and saw another McDonough shot that rippled into the side netting, just the wrong side of the post.

Sandbach ended the first half well on top, and continued that dominance into the second half. They were rewarded in the 50th minute when Kieran Alley took advantage of some telling pressure on the Georgians defence and nipped in on goal before sliding past the goalkeeper.

More Stockport saves kept them in it as substitute Mark Holdridge, Stanley Tatters and Barton all saw strong efforts on goal saved well.

Stockport equalised against the run of play in the 67th minute as a cross-cum-shot from the left wing dipped over Willan and nestled in the top right corner.

Sandbach’s dominance faltered for a few minutes after seeing their lead vanish in a moment after almost half an hour of pressure on the Stockport goal, however they soon resumed their attacking play and were unlucky to see a powerful Tatters shot roll inches wide of the target.

Substitute Monteiro made an immediate impact as he rode several challenges to keep a Sandbach attack alive in the 88th minute before the ball eventually was worked out to Alley who fired into the back of the net.

Sandbach’s attacking play throughout the game had been highly impressive, but too many times the Georgians goalkeeper had kept his side in the contest. This was rewarded seconds before the full-time whistle when Sandbach failed to clear their lines properly and saw a hopeful cross to the back post headed in by Georgians Harry Wynn.

It was a cruel blow to Sandbach as they had seen so many dangerous attacks thwarted by a mixture of bad luck and outstanding goalkeeping, however Stockport commendably stayed in the contest until the very end and secured a valuable point on the road.