match date: Mon 5th April

posted by: W Dodd - Tuesday 6th April, 2010

Cheadle prove to be Irlam's bogey team.

Irlam’s mini-revival in Vodkat Division One was halted on Bank Holiday Monday when a resurgent Cheadle Town side again proved to be the Silver St outfits downfall in a game of few chances.

Cheadle, arriving off the back of a surprising victory away to Wigan at the weekend showed no signs of fatigue, whereas the home side, missing the benefit of their weekend fixture, called off at Eccleshall due to a waterlogged pitch, were punished for a slow start to the game.

First chance of the game fell to Chris Palmer for Irlam, who just failed to get on the end of a neat through ball which was scooped away at the last second by Cheadle keeper McDonough.

The stalemate only lasted six minutes though, and hesitant defending around Irlam’s 18yrd box saw Cheadle midfielder Sam Hall hit a clean strike leaving Irlam’s Jamie Brewer little chance to keep the ball out as the visitors took a one goal lead.

Things got worse on 30 minutes, when a similar move around Irlam’s area allowed Cheadle winger Ben Brookes in to drive a low shot, again giving Brewer no chance as Cheadle extended their lead.

Despite the scoreline the contest was an entertaining affair, with Matty Williams in the thick of the action making life difficult for defenders and Irlam forward Dean Tymon keeping the Cheadle players on their toes with his intelligent play.

The award of a penalty soon after to Cheadle for a foul in the area had the potential to end this match at 3-0, but Irlam keeper Jamie brewer had other ideas, and a magnificent diving save high to his left kept the score at 2-0 and seemed to galvanise the whole Irlam team.

In the 36th minute, Irlam’s Shane Davies sprung Cheadle’s offside trap and powered through to get one back, much to frustration of the Cheadle players who appealed for the offside.

Almost immediately on the restart, Irlam won back possession and a cross into Cheadle’s box again found Davies for Irlam, whose overhead kick saw the ball in the back of the Cheadle goal before keeper Mcdonagh could react, and had people remembering City’s Dennis Tuert’s goal against Newcastle in the 1976 League Cup Final.

2-2 at the break saw Cheadle cursing their luck at throwing away such a strong position, whilst Irlam must have felt they had the upper hand having come back so well.

Predictably, the game became a more tactical affair in the second half, with both sides unwilling to commit too many bodies forward, but on the 75th minute the stalemate was broken in fine style.

Cheadle’s no 9, James Mcdonagh shrugged off his challenger on the half way line, hitting a defence splitting ball wide onto the left, where Brookes picked it up. With the focus on preventing the move developing down the left, no one picked up the 50 yrd run from Mcdonagh, who made it into Irlam’s area just in time to connect with the cross into the box to slot the ball past a stranded Brewer in the Irlam goal.

The last 15 minutes of the game saw Irlam apply tremendous pressure as they tried to get back into the game, but the final whistle came too soon, leaving the home side cursing their luck after such a promising comeback.

Irlam are again at home this weekend where they host Norton UTD from Staffordshire.

Kick off is 3pm at Silver St.

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