CFL romp to victory in Jeff Walton Memorial Cup

By Kat McEvoy

Cheshire League defeat Manchester 3-1

Cheshire League fight back, from an early goal, to take the trophy home.
An early setback proved little worry for the men in red, as they dominated the game and deservedly took home the Jeff Walton Memorial Cup.

Cheshire were dealt a blow in the lead up to the game, losing 3 players to injury, most notably, the impressive talisman for the league over the last few games, George Burgess, of Whaley Bridge. But, strong as the league is, they went into the game full of confidence.

It was Manchester who dominated the early stages, imposing themselves physically, and seemingly collecting every loose ball. Without creating a clear chance, you could sense it was coming, when in the tenth minute, as a long throw was poorly dealt with in the Cheshire defence, and Jonny Hunter put Manchester in a deserved lead, looping a header over the stranded Tyrer.

Almost against the run of play, Cheshire drew level on 16 minutes, as good work from Lee Vaughan resulted in the ever impressive James Pickford tapping into the empty net.

A further blow followed for the men in red, as skipper Ste Jenyons was forced from the game with a pulled hamstring, being replaced by Lee Mannion. This forced a slight reshuffle of players positions, and it was Mannion who was immediately at the heart of the play, starting a good flowing move, which resulted in a glorious chance for Dave Owens, but it was met with a super save from Ince in the Manchester goal.

Cheshire began to turn the screw, Lee Vaughan up front, and Clarke and Owens in the wide areas were causing all kinds of problems, and it was Vaughan who had the next chance, skipping through two challenges and shooting well, low to the ‘keepers right, but Ince was a good match for it, palming away strongly.

Manchester had seemingly lost their way in the game, allowing Cheshire to play keep ball until the half time whistle.

Shortly before half time, Sean Lynch, of Knutsford FC, pulling his calf, was replaced by Nathan Williams of Eagle Sports, at left back.

Half time 1-1.

It was the men in red who burst out of the blocks in the second half, and it took only 8 minutes for them to take the lead, as Danny Clarke was found superbly by Phil Yuille, and the wide man beat his man well and found Dave Owens, who made no mistake with his finish.

Manchester were rattled, and 9 minutes later they fell a further goal behind. This time it was the very lively Lee Vaughan, racing onto to a James Pickford pass, beating his man, on the left of the box, and slamming low past Ince to make it 3-1.

A change in shape for the whites put more pressure on the Cheshire backline for all of the remainder of the game. Manchester began to play with much more purpose and put some telling passing moves together, but rarely managed to threaten Tyrers goal, as they were, time and again, thwarted by the Cheshire backline, superbly marshalled by Coleman and Wilson.

A whipping free kick from George Powell almost brought Manchester back into the game, but skimmed just wide of Tyrers post, leaving the ‘keeper beaten.

A series of long throws and high balls into the box followed but the score remained 3-1, and the trophy goes home with the Cheshire FL side!!!

Manager Jimmy Bush –
“I loved that. We showed a bit of steel there. The first twenty minutes we were getting bullied. They were very physical and managed to get to every first and second ball. I wasn’t very happy with that to be honest, and we fully deserved to be a goal down. You have to have faith in these lads though. They’re very good footballers, and they made it work, showed a lot of heart and dealt with their physicality. From the moment the equaliser went in, we completely controlled it. I’m dead proud of them, there. The middle hour of the game, we were superb, they couldn’t get near us, and we soaked up all they had. It sets us up nicely for the big one vs Isle of Man in the National Cup. We have a training session at the Etihad next Monday, and hopefully we’ll have all the players fit and available, but we’ve shown the strength of players in this league already, we have the quality available. If we can play like we did tonight vs Isle of Man we will give ourselves a chance to get through. We’ll be ready”

Where next?

Ted Stubbs receives FA award for 50 years service Greenalls PSO recognise a club hero!
Press Report 24/10/15 Styal sink Malpas!

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