Sandbach United V Stockport Town by Sandbach United FC

OFFICIAL MATCHDAY PROGRAMME 2018/19 SEASON

Saturday 13th April 2019 3pm KO Hallmark Security League Division One South

Price Â£1

CLUB DETAILS Club Name : Sandbach United Football Club Legal Entity : Unincorporated Ground : Sandbach Community Football Centre Address : Hind Heath Road, Sandbach, Cheshire, CW11 3LZ Telephone : 01270 768389 County Affiliation : Cheshire FA Year Formed : 2004 Record Attendance : 1400 v Crewe Alexandra Legends (2014/15) Previous Leagues : Staffordshire County Senior League, Cheshire League Honours : Crewe & District Cup winners 2015/16, NWCFL Division 1 (Reusch Cup) Finalists 2016/17

MEDIA Website : http://www.sandbachunitedfc.co.uk Twitter : @SandbachUtd & @SandbachFC_1st Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Sandbachutd

CLUB COLOURS Home colours : Blue/White shirts, Blue shorts and stockings Home goalkeeper colours : Green shirt, Black shorts and stockings Alternative Colours : Maroon shirts, shorts and stockings Alternative goalkeeper colours : Yellow shirt, Black shorts and stockings

CLUB CONTACTS Club Chairman : Paul Reel Club Secretary : Will Newton 1st Team Secretary : Paul Chapman Programme Editor : Jack Beresford Head Steward : Roy Lane Manager : Andrew Hockenhull Assistant Manager: Junior Brown Coaches: Roy Lane, Tony Ledwards, Scott Hardie Goalkeeper Coach: Andrew Kimber Executive Committee : Paul Reel, Mike Senior, Ian Dolman, Will Newton, Darren Williams, Peter Colclough, Sandra Buckle

SANDBACH UNITED â&#x20AC;&#x201C; CLUB HISTORY Sandbach United Football Club was established in 2004 when Sandbach Albion and Sandbach Ramblers joined forces in their quest to improve the football facilities in Sandbach. Hence the R & A on the club badge. In January 2004, the membership of Sandbach Albion and Sandbach Ramblers voted in favour of amalgamation, with the aim of playing as a single club from the start of the 2004/5 season. Sandbach Albion was formerly known as Hays Junior Football Club and was founded in 1994, playing on the pitches of what was then Albion Chemicals. As health and safety issues became more prevalent in the 90â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, they left that site and for 5 years the senior home ground was at Sandbach Cricket Club. The younger sides played their games at junior schools throughout Sandbach. Sandbach Ramblers Youth Football Club was formed in 1995 to provide access to schoolboy football for the youth of Sandbach. Of course there had been a Ramblers team in the town before, Sandbach Ramblers were initially formed over 100 years ago, playing in the Cheshire County League and winning the Cheshire FA Senior Cup in 1914, before folding in 1975 reforming in 1979 and disbanding in the late 1980s.

SANDBACH UNITED â&#x20AC;&#x201C; CLUB HISTORY In 2006 Sandbach United formed the adult team, which initially competed in the Crewe and District League before moving to the Staffordshire Senior League First Division and then being promoted to the Premier Division for the 2008/9 season. In 2011, the club was awarded grants by the Football Foundation and the local council of over ÂŁ2 million to build a 3G pitch and 9 grass pitches, together with changing rooms and an education facility. The Sandbach Community Football Centre was opened early in the 2011/12 season. United switched to the Cheshire League in 2011 and won promotion to the Premier Division for the 2013/14 season before moving to The Hallmark Security League for the 2016/17 season. The clubs first season in the Hallmark Security League was better than they could have dreamt, winning the Macron Club of the Month in December, finishing in 6th place and the playoffs in Division 1 as well as being Reusch First Division Challenge Cup Runners up. Their goal keeper, Ryan Moss also collected two Reusch Keeper of the Month awards. In another first for the club, the 2017/18 season saw the club enter The FA Vase with a home 2nd Qualifying Round fixture against AFC Emley. The club has over 600 players and 40+ teams that operate from its Hind Heath Road base. United have teams playing in the Mid-Cheshire Youth League, and the Cheshire Girls League among others, and the age range covers adults and veterans teams right down to Soccer School for Reception and Year 1 children.

Squad History â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Stockport Town Stockport Town Football Club began life back in February 2014 and developed a first-team squad in preparation for the 2014/15 season. Unfortunately the club failed to secure a place in the North West Counties League division One so led by manager, Calum Sykes, proceeded through a campaign of friendly fixtures. The club's first ever non-competitive match came against Stalybridge Celtic on 12th July 2014, and despite losing 5-0 at Stockport Sports Village, the club had begun its journey.

The club, nicknamed The Lions, spent the season playing against first teams and reserve teams from many different clubs including; FC United of Manchester, Ramsbottom United, Fleetwood Town U21's and Norwegian outfit, RolvsĂ¸y IF. The Lions endured a successful campaign competing in 35 fixtures home and away ending with statistics of Won: 17, Draw: 8, Lost: 10. The club also completed a 13-match unbeaten run in the middle of the campaign between 13th July - 13th October, including 9 victories. In May 2015 the club was accepted into Step 6 of the Non-League Pyramid and joined the North West Counties Football League - Division One. The club's first ever competitive fixture came on Saturday 8th August 2015 away at Hanley Town, a match in which Stockport were victorious 3-2, and in doing so recorded their first win in a competitive match. On 15th August 2015 the club competed in their first League match at Stockport Sports Village, with their opponents on that day, Widnes FC securing a 2-2 draw in front of a then record crowd of 78. Town competed in three competitions in their first ever league season including the NWCFL, League Challenge Cup and Cheshire Senior Cup. The club progressed to the semi-finals of the League Challenge Cup before suffering a 3-1 defeat to Barnton FC at SSV, meanwhile Hyde United knocked Town out of the Cheshire Senior Cup in the Preliminary Round.

Squad History â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Stockport Town As the season came to a close, the Lions secured a playoff spot in the First Division with a match to spare in the NWCFL. Town came up against Bacup Borough FC in the playoff semi-final at SSV but were defeated 2-0 as Bacup progressed into the 2015 First Division Playoff Final. The second competitive season for the club didn't go quite so well. Full of optimism in August, and favoured by many to win the league, the Lions got off to a slow start and were languishing in mid-table when Calum Sykes resigned as manager a week prior to Christmas 2016 moving on to manage New Mills and taking 9 players with him. In the interim period before the board were able to appoint a new manager, the team suffered its biggest defeat, a 10-0 crushing at the hands of City of Liverpool. The game did set another record, a gate of 196, at the time club record for a league match. In January 2017 Dave Wild was appointed alongside assistant Phil Carratt. Under Dave and Phil, the Lions went on a 12 match unbeaten run which left the club excited about what could happen in 2017/18. In addition the U18s lifted the North West Youth Alliance Division 2 title. The U21s didn't fare so well finishing 6th in the North West Development League. Nathan Neequaye, who'd left the club mid-season to join New Mills ended the season as top scorer on 17 goals. Izzy Miranda, a January signing for Dave Wild, was awarded Players Player of the Year with Daryll Grant winning Player of the Year. Jack McConnell, who made his first team debut as a 16 year old, scooped the Young Player of the Year Award. The Lions third season in the NWCFL was anticipated with much promise as the managerial duo of Wild and Carratt looked to build upon the finish to the 2016 -17 season with the signing of a number of established players from around the North West counties teams to add to a core of young U21 players. Despite occasional highs including the return to SSV of previous manager Sykes and his New Mills team who were subjected to a 6-1 mauling in front of a record league crowd of 212, the watchword for the league performances was inconsistency.

Squad History â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Stockport Town This situation was not helped in March by the managerial duo moving into management roles at Evostik club Mossley and the subsequent departure of a number of senior players.. They were replaced by Under 21s manager Jake Davies and his assistant Tom Upton who valiantly saw the club through to the end of the season as the club finished in 10 th position â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a long way of 9th and even further from the play-offs. Cup performances however were the highlight of the season with a string of eye catching results against higher league opposition including beating Maine Road, Runcorn Linnets and Abbey Hey on the way to the semi-finals of the Macron Cup and Hyde United and Winsford United on route to the final of the Cheshire Senior Cup. By reaching the final, the Lions became the lowest ranked club ever to reach the final of this prestigious cup and the first NWCFL team since 1984 to do so. Sadly for the Lions, there would be no cup glory as they came up against a very strong Nantwich Town side who ran out 3-0 winners. The season saw Ben Halfacre end the season as League 1 top scorer with 31 goals which added to his 10 goals from the previous season saw him eclipsing on the way the previous scoring record held by the aforementioned Neequaye. Izzy Miranda once again won the Player of the Year award with Robbie Wallis securing he Young Player of the Year award. The U21 team also enjoyed a successful if ultimately fruitless season. Despite leading the U21 league for spells, cup runs and a fixture pile up saw the team fall away to finish 3rd in the Division. The cups saw the team mirror the first team in reaching the semi-final of one trophy and controversially losing a pulsating cup final to a very strong Southport team in the other. Perhaps more satisfying was the emergence of a number of the team seamlessly making their first team debuts and establishing themselves in the first team squad. In the closed season, the Board decided to carry out a root and branch reorganisation of the club taking it back to the reason for establishing the club back in 2015 - i.e. giving Stockport talent a platform to play on at a high level.

Squad History – Stockport Town Off the pitch, the club have increased the size of its board to bring in new talents and skills including a high profile Championship footballer with the aim of raising significantly the profile of the club. A new headline sponsor has been secured as Kitlocker become our official kit supplier. Many other sponsors and advertisers have also been secured as the club extends its reach into the local community. Other strong partnerships with both professional organisations and junior football clubs are being forged. In terms of facilities, Stockport Sports Village – recently crowned National Sports Facility of the Year - saw a massive investment with the relaying of the base and a new state of the art pitch being laid. The club were fortunate to secure the services of Alan Lord as manager for the 2018-19 season and beyond. Alan brings a wealth of knowledge to the team with his role of Head of Youth Development at Stockport County forging closer ties between the two clubs and providing a platform for many of County’s youth players to gain experience at Step 6 level. Alan brings with him Bobby Lofthouse who will combine the dual roles of player and Assistant Manager and we are delighted that Jake and Tom have remained with the club as first team coaches. The backroom staff is finished off with our very popular and experienced physio Tanya. On the pitch, only two senior players remain from last season. However, a mix of U21s continuing the step up combined with successful trialists and contacts have seen the Lions build a young but fast and highly mobile squad for 2018-19 and there is considerable excitement as we wait to see how the team perform in the new style Hallmark League Division 1 South

Next Mills 1 Sandbach United 2

Jack Beresford reports

How they lined up:

NMFC: Morrsion, Cooper, Vinten, Russell, Bevan, Delaney, Swallow, Rothwell, Whyment, Ambrose, Brown SUFC: Green, McKay, Ledwards, O’Riordan, Rowntree, Allcock, Reid, Buckley, Kirby, Smith, Pearson After progressing into the final of the first division cup on Saturday, Sandbach’s attention now turned back to their promotion push as they faced 16th placed New Mills at Church Lane. The Millers began the game the better of the two sides and they had the first attack of the game when after just six minutes a long goal kick from Stuart Morrison went all the way through to winger Remeece Brown who was on the edge of the box, as Brown got in behind he just had Sandbach keeper Matt Green to best, however luckily for Sandbach, Green was on hand to tip Browns shot from just inside the box wide of the left post and away for a corner. It was an early scare for Sandbach who came into the game without a loss in ten games as they looked to race up the league and make a late surge for the promotion spots. Kieran Garner-Knapper has had a big influence on United’s promotion push and he came close to giving his side the lead as he used his blistering pace to race through on goal, as he got into the box the looked to shoot but the keeper saved well with his legs, preventing Sandbach from taking the lead. Moments later Sandbach came close again as Josh Lane’ low free kick from the right was met by Ryan Allcock who looked to flick the ball into the far corner, however unfortunately for him his shot was just wide of the post.

Sandbach were poor in the first half and if it wasn’t for some poor passing from the home side they could have found themselves a goal down. Their task was made a lot harder with ten minutes of the half to go as Ryan Allcock was shown a straight red card. The referee blew up for a fouls against the Sandbach man for a tackle that was worse nothing more than a yellow card, however Allcock felt like he was fouled too and the nasty scar on his leg would suggest he was right. The referee got sick of Allcock’s protests and branded a straight red card for whatever have been dissent. In all honestly it was a baffling decision from the referee who had potentially ruined Sandbach’s chances of getting anything from the game. Half time couldn’t come fast enough for Hockenhull and his men, it was a chance for them to regroup and change things tactically. Maybe a master plan was being devised in the changing room as a big second performance was needed. Whatever was said at half time didn’t have the desired affect as United went a goal down in the 48th minute as Remeece Brown’s deflected cross fell nicely for Robert Swallowed who guided the ball Into the far left corner, leaving Green with no chance and making Sandbach’s second half task even harder. It was turning out to be one of of those games for Sandbach as no matter what they tried the ball just wouldn’t find the net, they must have thought their luck was out when Harry Cain tried his luck from long range but the ball cannoned off the post and fell kindly for the keeper who was able to grab the ball and clear any danger. As the second half ticked on Sandbach were finding it tough to find the net. They came close once more as Harry Cain saw his shot well saved by the keeper from the close range. Time was running out for Sandbach and manger Andy Hockenhull bought on youngsters Tom Williams and Lucas Baker, he also added Matt Pearson to his side to add some attacking threat. Tom Williams made an Instant impact as he got on the end of Josh Lane’s deep cross from the right, Williams fired it back across goal, onto the head of captain Chris Rowntree who headed back across goal and into the far corner, levelling the scores for Sandbach with ten minutes to go.

Sandbach has the momentum now and the looked the more likely of the two sides to take the lead. Six minutes after levelling, super sub Matt Pearson our his side in the lead. A corner from the right fell nicely for the sub and he cut outside towards the byline down the right side, before cutting back inside and then emphatically rifling the ball into the roof of the net from 10 yards, leaving the keeper with no chance and sparking scenes of jubilation on what had been a very frustrating evening for United. Despite going down to the ten men early on and then going a goal down Sandbachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s have turned this game around and snatched all three points right at the death. This is the sort of the of fight and passion that the manager would have wanted his team to show at half time, their never say die attitude will be a big factor in their late promotion push. The win for Sandbach sees them go 11 games unbeaten and in all honestly they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t look like losing soon.

SANDBACH UNITED 1ST TEAM WOULD LIKE TO THANK

SANDBACH UNITED 2018/19 STAFF ANDY HOCKENHULL Manager

DONNY BROWN Assistant Manager

ANDY KIMBER Goalkeeper Coach

ROY LANE Coach

TONY LEDWARDS Coach

PAUL CHAPMAN Secretary

CHRIS CADMAN Match Announcer

JACK BERESFORD Media

STEVE THOMAS Treasurer

SANDBACH UNITED 2018/19 SQUAD RYAN MOSS Sponsored by Syd Thompson

BEN CADMAN

ELLIOT LANE

RYAN ALLCOCK

HARRISON BOSTOCK

BILLY BUCKLEY

JAKE CHADWICK

ADAM CLAYTON

BRAD COOPER

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SANDBACH UNITED 2018/19 SQUAD KIERAN GARNERKNAPPER

AIDAN HAUGHTON

JAMES KIRBY

JOSH LANE