Sandbach United 1 Eccleshall 2

Andy Hockenhull said that his team lacked desire when his side fell to another defeat on Saturday.

After losing to rivals Alsager on Tuesday, Sandbach were looking to get back to winning ways when they hosted early strugglers Eccleshall.

The game off to a feisty start, tackles flying in from both players and with the recent sin bin rule announced, players were looking to not receive 10 minutes in the dreaded hot seat. But the referee was good, he let play flow which helped both sides get a foothold in the game.

Sandbach got off to the more positive start and they came close as William Goodwin drove into the box and fired a shot low, from the left side of the box past the keeper, however Lewis Dunn was on hand to clear it off the line relive his side of the danger. Goodwin who is from Chester has another opportunity after Crilly’s mazy run was halted by a defender on the edge of the box but Goodwin was there to pick up the pieces, but his shot once again, was blocked by the defender.

Hockenhull said that the forwards who played on Tuesday “didn’t do the job” which is why both Crilly and Goodwin were starting, and so far there were definitely positive signs from both the on loan Chester boys.

Sandbach we’re looking good, they had control of the game and were looking favourites to take the lead, they came close again through right back Nick Marley, PJ Hudson received the ball with his back to goal before laying it off to Marley who blazed over from the right side of the box.

A common occurrence for United last season was that they couldn’t take their chances, unfortunately this came back to bite them as Luke Lewis got the better of Ledwards as he drove down the right flank, as he got to the byline he squared it to Thomas Wakefield who tapped home from close range. It was another sloppy goal from Sandbach’s perspective and one that they could have easily avoided if they’d have taken their chances.

Sandbach were forced to bring off Elliot Ledwards after he limped off injured, Matty Pearson came on for his 101st appearance for United, he almost made an instant impact as he got to the byline down the right and drilled the ball low and hard, any touch on the ball would have made the net bulge, but no one could get on the end of his dangerous crossed and the danger was cleared.

At half time Sandbach were unlucky to be be a goal down, they had a few opportunities which they should have taken but the manor in which they conceded was very concerning.

After getting the so called “hair dryer” treatment from Hockenhull during the break, Sandbach started the second half brightly and were playing some good one touch stuff, however much like Tuesday they through men forward and left themselves with only 2 men back, and when Thomas Wakefield broke the offside trap and raced through on goal it looked like he was going to double his sides lead but O’Riordan was on hand to make a great tackle, however the ball fell kindly into the path of Baxter who was one on one with the keeper and he squared it to Louis Downs who was a yard out, with the full goal to aim at but he ballooned it over the bar. It was a golden opportunity for him to double his sides lead and potentially put the game beyond doubt.

It was a let off for Sandbach who knew that they had to act quick to ensure that they were chasing the game for much longer, however moments after missing that golden chance, Eccleshall had another chance that this time they took. Louis Downs redeemed himself after missing that sitter by playing a perfect pass in behind the defence to Luke Lewis who took it past the onrushing keeper before slotting it into the empty net.

It was another poor, poor goal from a Sandbach perspective, once again they had left themselves short at the back and then ultimately paid the price. Thankfully though there was still just over half an out of the game to play, plenty of time for United to bring it back.

Ten minutes later they pulled a goal back when a Nick Marley corner from the right was headed home by Stockton at the near post to give Sandbach a life line.

Sandbach now had the momentum and captain Chris Rowntree came close in the 69th minute as a bit of a goal mouth scramble lead to the ball falling to him on the edge of the box, he tried his luck but the keeper acrobatically tipped it around the post.

PJ Hudson was next to sting the palms of McCarthy in the Eccleshall goal as he burst down the left side before shooting from a tight angle but the keeper was on hand to palm his strike away to safety.

In the 89th minute Sandbach had a corner, the keeper came up from back. Marley’s header was towards the near post and it was glanced on by the Sandbach keeper, however it was amazingly cleared off the line by the Eccleshall defender who saved his side from losing two points, imagine the scenes if that header flies into the top corner!

Sandbach had one more chance, another goal mouth scramble lead to the ball once again falling who Rowntree however his pot shot was well over the bar.

The referee concluded another disappointing performance from Sandbach who had their chances but were very poor and didn’t really deserve anything from the game.

After the game Hockenhull said “we have played against teams in our last two games that have wanted to put their bodies on the line, wanted to make the last ditch tackles, however we didn’t, we lack desire at the moment and that is costing us defensively”