Congleton Town vs 1874 Northwich

Recap

1874’s first venture in the Mid Cheshire Cup ended an early exit as they succumbed on the night to an enthusiastic and fairly well organised Congleton side.

1874 were without skipper Foy, their regular custodian Conkie, Duckworth, Mitchell, Stewart, Jones, Marshall and Coffin whilst the home side also took to the field with several regulars absent from their starting lineup.

However, the inform 1874 got off to the worse possible start when they went behind to a very dubious penalty in the second minute after keeper Rowley was adjudged to have fouled an onrushing attacker who needed no second invitation to fall to the ground. Banwiywabe scored from the spot with ease.

1874 didn’t really recover from this setback and in the 11th minute they found themselves 2 goals down as Moores netted after the 1874 defence failed to clear their lines.

Skipper for the night Bailey did his best to try and bring a spark to his teams’ play but this proved difficult as far too often his team mates’ passes went astray or players were caught in possession and 1874 rarely tested the home keeper in the first 45 minutes.

In all probability, Manager Ian Street would have had strong words in the dressing room before sending his charges out early for the second half and whilst they did seem to have a bit more about them in the opening exchanges they struggled to find a way through the well-organised home defence and in the 62nd minute their task became much harder after they conceded a third goal when Middleton netted with a good finish.

Peers and McGregor were both trying to get behind the Congleton back-line and they managed to do so on a couple of occasions but the final pass was not to a team mate until in the 70th minute when Welstead collected a cross ten yards out and quickly shifted the ball from his left to right foot before hitting his shot into the top corner to reduce the arrears with his first goal for 1874

However, any thoughts of a comeback were quickly thwarted when 1874 were naively caught out by a long ball out of defence down the middle that was collected in his stride by Healey who then proceeded to hit the back of the net from 12 yards out to send the home side deservedly through to the semi finals.

Meanwhile 1874 will have to step up a gear as they return to league action on Saturday away at Ashton Town