Match Report

Cheadle Town 3

Lindon 9
Martin 52
Braine 59

FC United of Manchester 3

Torpey 27
Carden 33
Chadwick 90

Attendance: 3,373

---

Stockport is blue. Not today it wasn’t! Cheadle Town switched our league match with them to Edgeley Park after previously hosting us at Ashton in the cup. A very good crowd was present to witness a thrilling encounter which could have been won by either side. In retrospect a draw was probably the fairest result. This is a draw that felt more like a win to those of us calling ourselves FC United fans and probably felt more like a defeat to the Cheadle fans present. It never fails to provoke an extreme emotional reaction when you either score or concede a significant late goal and on this occasion we walked away feeling some elation having seen our team come back to claim a point at the death.

It all might have been so different if Adie Orr’s shot in the 5th minute had rolled inside of the left post rather than against the face of it. It was a nice move building up to the chance with Joz Mitten holding the ball up well near the left touchline close to halfway. Joz laid the ball back to Steve Torpey who spotted the pass in an instant. His through ball was perfectly weighted and Adie’s run had been exquisitely timed so the United number 11 was in acres of space as he moved in on goal. His cool finish looked goal bound but alas the post intervened and the danger was cleared.

Cheadle went right to the other end and might have punished United as Andy Lindon struck a shot from distance that bounced in front of Barrie George. Consequently the United stopper only managed to parry the shot but reacted just quickly enough to block the follow up effort from Rob Brocklehurst and concede a corner kick.

In the 9th minute Cheadle did take the lead, Dean Martin was faced up by Rob Nugent, playing at left back. The Cheadle Town number 9 did a step over and then broke outside of Nugent before driving in a low cross that Lindon met no more than a yard from goal with a spectacular looking diving header at the far post. I doubt that the Manchester City supporting Lindon will ever score a goal that will bring him more pleasure. 1-0.

Just before the quarter hour mark and Brocklehurst tried to score with an outrageous freekick from his own half. The driven effort was expertly placed near to the top left corner of goal but it was calmly caught by George in the United goal. Brocklehurst would try this trick again in the second half with an almost identical outcome.

There was then a 3 or 4 minute spell of action where the ball itself was a bit superfluous. Firstly McConnell went through Torpey who was astonished that the referee did not award a freekick. Within a minute Torpey had a lunge at McConnell which the referee deemed worthy of not only the freekick award but also a caution for the United left winger. Two minutes later McConnell exacted his revenge on Torpey and also found his way into Mr. Jones’ notebook. Honours now even both sides returned to normal action and the ball was again the main focus of attention.

On 27 minutes Torpey hoped to make his point in the best possible way by punishing another Cheadle foul challenge, this time on William Ahern. The freekick was placed some 25 yards from goal well right of centre. Torpey strode forward and got the ball up and down remarkably well with sufficient power and placement that Whittle could not stop it from entering the goal near to the bottom right hand corner. 1-1.

In the 33rd minute Torpey provided United’s second goal. Spencer played into Mitten who again held the ball up well and laid it off to Torpey who drove goalwards. It seemed that the chance had been lost as the defence marshalled Torpey away from goal but somehow the tricky winger spotted and executed an eye of the needle pass to Carden who had stolen in behind the defence. Carden finished calmly from 8 yards out for his 4th goal of the week. 1-2.

United threatened to extend the lead in the minutes leading up to halftime with Whittle, in the Cheadle Town goal, doing well to keep the score line at 1-2. He saved from Orr who shot from a narrow angle after a neat build up involving Carden and Spencer. Just prior to the break Orr was fouled just outside of the area on the left side, the resulting freekick seemed to require a cross from a tightish angle but Dave Brown tried his luck with a powerful drive that Whittle again pushed over the crossbar.

The Cheadle Town halftime talk seemed to do wonders as they came out in the second half and looked the better side for 20 minutes. I’m not certain what Trevor Howard’s message was but it certainly did the trick. Cheadle evened the score on 52 minutes as a speculative cross in from the right side looked to be comfortable for Carden to clear but the goal scoring hero of the last week saw the ball pass under his boot and fall perfectly for the Cheadle number 9 Dean Martin who side footed home beyond George from only 8 yards. 2-2.

The home side then took the lead for the second time after they took full advantage of another defensive mistake. This time William Ahern was covering back but missed his tackle on Carpenter. The United number 7 looked favourite to get to the ball first but as Ahern went to ground in the tackle Carpenter stayed strong and got the break of the ball. Carpenter took the ball to the byeline, looked up and squared to Braine who tapped in from close range for his 5th goal in 4 games for Cheadle Town. 3-2.

FC United were stunned back into action by this turnaround and threatened on numerous occasions to get the goal back but could not find a way through the Cheadle massed ranks. Mitten made way for Patterson who looked hungry when he came on. Torpey shot wide from distance. A Chadwick knock down from a Torpey corner failed to find a team-mate. Patterson went on a mazy run but then shot weakly with his left foot from 18 yards, Whittle saved comfortably.

With 20 minutes remaining Ahern was withdrawn and Paul Mitten was brought on. By this stage Chadwick had gone up front as a target man leaving Dave Brown and the 2 fullbacks to cover any Cheadle breaks. Mitten very nearly provided the key to unlock the Cheadle backline as he got to the byeline and crossed in from the right, Carden rose well and headed firmly but wide of the target from only 10 yards out. All this going on as the Cheadle number 10 Braine was down suffering from cramp apparently. He was given lengthy treatment and then substituted at which point he seemed a little aggrieved, he removed his shirt and stomped back towards the bench. He was offered numerous kind words from the travelling supporters as he watched the remainder of the match topless.

A minute after Braine had been substituted United were given a lifeline. Torpey ran through in the inside left channel but looked to have wasted the chance before tumbling to the ground under challenge from Cotterill. The referee pointed to the spot without hesitation and Cotterill’s protests were sufficiently loud and long that his name was added to the referee’s notebook.

Patterson spotted the ball up and strode forward looking confident. The penalty was powerfully struck but marginally offline. The ball thundered into the inside of the left post near to it’s junction with the cross bar, spun across goal, beyond the right hand post and then out of play for a Cheadle Town goalkick. Cheadle must have thought that their luck was in, particularly after another let off in the last 5 minutes.

A nice build up on the United right involving Patterson and Torpey saw the former play in to Orr who looked odds on to score. The ball bounced up for him to strike from only 8 yards out and in a central position. He struck it cleanly but Whittle had alertly closed down the space and somehow blocked the effort. The rebound fell for Patterson who saw his goal bound shot blocked in the 6 yard box before the ball was cleared.

All seemed lost but United won a corner on their right flank in the 90th minute. Torpey fired it in but it was cleared out to the opposite flank. Dave Brown chased it down, kept it in and then dropped his shoulder to wrong foot the covering defender before turning onto his left foot and delivering a high cross to the far post. David Chadwick, captain courageous, had eyes only for the ball and paid no heed to the goalkeeper advancing to intercept. Whittle may, however, have been aware of Chadwick’s thunderous presence as he failed to get to the ball as United’s number 5 rose to head home from 6 yards to the delight of the travelling Red army. 3-3.

At this point many were thinking that United could go on to snatch a winner in stoppage time but mysteriously Mr. Jones only saw fit to add just less than one minute. This seemed incongruous as, during the second half, there had been 5 substitutions, 3 yellow cards, 3 goals and a penalty kick plus numerous occasions when treatment was given on the pitch. The people around me were all expecting at least 3 minutes extra and most would not have been surprised had the officials decided to play 4 or even 5 minutes.

Torpey was again exceptional, he really is a class act (apart from his haircut, clearly). Chadwick and Brown are beginning to look like a partnership and Cullen again did well at right-back. Patterson looked ‘up for it’ when he came on, certainly more so than in recent weeks. All in all a thoroughly entertaining game which will have been enjoyed by all of those present.

(with thanks to FC United supporter Wayne Clark for the match report)