Price: Price£1£1
Saturday 20th April 2019 3pm KO Hallmark Security League Division One South
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 & winners 2018/19
MEDIA Website : http://www.sandbachunitedfc.co.uk Twitter : @SandbachUtd & @SandbachFC_1st Instagram: @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 : Mike Senior Programme Editor : Jack Beresford Head Steward : James Blears Manager : Andrew Hockenhull Assistant Manager: Junior Brown Coaches: Roy Lane, Tony Ledwards, Goalkeeper Coach: Andrew Kimber Executive Committee : Paul Reel, Oliver Byron Ian Dolman, Will Newton, Steve Thomas, Peter Colclough, Sandra Buckle
SANDBACH UNITED – 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 90’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 – 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 £2 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.
Club history – Abbey Hey Abbey Hey FC was formed in 1902 in the Abbey Hey district of Gorton, some three miles away from the centre of Manchester. During their formative years and through the two World Wars, the club was disbanded and reformed on a number of occasions. Starting in the Church Sunday Leagues, they progressed through the Manchester Amateur Leagues during the intervening years but the club really came into it’s own in the 1960s after it took in the players of the Admiralty Gunning Engineering Department (AGED) following it’s closure. Alf Gentry, the Manager of Abbey Hey at this point, decided that with the influx of new players he would step down in favour of the AGED Manager, Danny Danson. Alf, who had been for many years the prime mover of the club, stayed on in a senior position and shared in the success that the club would have in the coming years. The new players made up the backbone of the club during the decade with some staying on after their playing careers had ended. Most notable of these was Allan Vaughan, who occupied the positions of Treasurer and Secretary. Ken Brown also stayed on; becoming manager after Danny Danson had retired, and won numerous honours culminating in 1978 with the club deciding to apply for a position in the Manchester League. The application was successful and the following year the club began playing in the 2nd Division of the Manchester League, achieving promotion in their first season. Reaching this position meant that the club had to find an enclosed ground suitable for playing their home games. The nearest ground available at the time was in Chorlton at Werburghs Road. The ground was owned by a car dealership (Lookers) but was being used by a local school. It was agreed that if Abbey Hey FC carried out some improvements, such as installing showers in the dressing rooms, they could rent the ground. After two years, Lookers reneged on the deal and the club was forced out, this time to a ground nearer home at Godfreys (the area was named after a prominent local Councillor, Godfrey Erman, who donated the ground to the local populace of Abbey Hey for their use as a recreational area).
Club history – Abbey Hey The next eighteen years were fairly successful with the club winning the Gilchrist Cup under Managers Jim Whittaker and Dave Denby and a League title but this ended when Abbey Hey FC were told that as from the start of the new season they would not be allowed to use Godfreys. This despite the large amounts of money that they had spent on drainage and despite assurances when they had taken over the derelict ground that as long as Abbey Hey had a football team this would be their ground. A temporary home, at the old English Steel ground, was arranged on a season to season basis with the owners at theme, Clayton Analine but after only 2 years, the ground was sold to a local builder who required the land to build houses on. During the two years the club were based at the ground, negotiations with Crossley Motors Ltd had been taking place to buy a disused ground they owned in Goredale Avenue, Gorton. Unfortunately, the land was not in good order and was becoming an eyesore with fences falling down and people using it for fly-tipping. Contractors working for the council had tipped 1,000 tons of hardcore onto the car park to prevent access to the ground. Matters had reached an impasse between Abbey Hey FC and Crossleys when Manchester City Council stepped in, They informed Crossleys that if an agreement was not made with the people that they were dealing with, the ground would be the subject of a compulsory purchase order. This tipped the scales in favour of the football club who were asked to make an offer for the ground which was promptly accepted. Legal representation and a bank loan were quickly arranged and in 1984 the club at last had their own home. The bank loan was paid off and the ground was improved including having the fly tipped hardcore removed from the ground. These improvements to the ground could only have been achieved by the hard work and dedication of the committee, who not only raised the money to carry out the improvements but also carried out 90% of the work themselves.
Club history – Abbey Hey Jim Clark was to join during these turbulent times as manager, a position he was to occupy for the next 18 years. The club went on to gain success in the Manchester League during the late eighties and early nineties, winning the Premier Division Championship on five occasions during this period. In 1997, after finishing 2nd in the Manchester Premier Division, the club applied for membership of The North West Counties League. Following a ground grading visit by League Officials, the club was accepted into the 2nd Division for the 1998 season. Abbey Hey’s first season in the North West Counties League couldn’t have been more exciting. Although Fleetwood Freeport had taken the Division Two title, the runners-up place was still to be decided. On the last Saturday of the season any one of three clubs could have taken second place, but it was Abbey’s 3-2 win at Darwen that clinched promotion to Division One in their first season in the league. Promotion to the 1st Division meant that the club had to install floodlights. True to form, they designed, ordered, erected and wired them within a couple of months. The biggest job during the ground improvements was the building of the new clubhouse and dressing rooms. Planning permission was given with the majority of work once again being carried out by the clubs own members. To finance this project, low interest loans were taken out from The FA with the remainder of the money achieved through fund raising schemes. In their first season in the top flight, Abbey Hey had a tremendous start, topping the table at one point early in the season, but a drop in form saw them finish mid table. Still, a highly creditable first season in Division One and they had more than proved themselves worthy of their rapid rise from the Manchester League to the NWCFL Division One.
Club history – Abbey Hey 2000/01 again saw Abbey finish in a comfortable mid table position, proving that the season before had been no fluke, but the following season started with a run of poor results including some heavy defeats. The second half of the year saw an improvement which lifted the club away from any relegation threat but at the end of the season, manager Jim Clark decided to resign. This ended an eighteen year stint in management in which he had overseen many of Abbey Hey’s finest moments. Jim’s replacement for 2002/03 was Tony Hancock, previously Woodley Sports Reserve Team manager, who also brought Paul Kirkham from Woodley as his assistant. It was their first attempt at management at this level of football and Abbey Hey’s final position of 13th showed that they rose to the challenge. During the season, Calum Dempsey won the NWCFL player of the month award for September and goalkeeper Liam Higginbottom won the October safe hands’ award. However, at the end of their first season in charge, Tony and Paul left the club to retun to Woodley Sports as managers of the first team. There was some celebration as Abbey Hey reached their 100th birthday and also reached the 3rd round proper (last 64) of the FA Vase. The club has played in the FA Cup for the first time since the turn of the millennium, but have only won one tie, a victory over Bamber Bridge on penalties in 2002-03, to reach the First Qualifying Round for the only time. Jim Vince took over for 2003/04 but after a good start to the season, things went wrong. Despite only losing five out of their last ten games, the club ended second from bottom, only avoiding relegation due to the changes made to the non league structure. Jim Vince opted to resign and Chris Bailey took over knowing that a major team rebuilding job was required. In 2004 ten members of the committee were given long service awards for their 25 years of service in Grass Roots Football by The Manchester FA. The 2005/2006 season improved their best league finish by two places, but both the team and the club then started to struggle. A lack of both financial backing and foresight saw the club slowly drop down the league table in the following seasons until 2009/10 saw them eventually hit rock bottom.
Club history – Abbey Hey In 2009/10 Abbey Hey was half way through the season with only 4 points to their name and in the basement position in the league after 25 games. However, following the appointments of Barrie Walker as Manager and Andrew Harris as Assistant Manager in November 2009, Abbey Hey made several new signings with the likes of Jon-Paul Lewis, Gareth Wager, Daniel Cocks, John Hardy, Darren Evans, Lee Knowles and Nathan Finnigan joining the club. This signalled a turn in fortune for the club as they picked up 30 points in the 2nd half of the season however it wasn’t enough and they were relegated from the North West Counties Premier Division. Walker and Harris made the decision to blood young local talent, realising that this would serve the club well in the future but that it would take time to reap its rewards. Abbey made a slow start to life in the NWCFL First Division 2010/2011 and departed all cup competitions at the initial stages. However, October signalled a change in fortunes and wins at Atherton Collieries, Daisy Hill and Wigan Robin Park pointed to a brighter 2011. The introduction of quality players such as Antal Tompos, Luke Gibson and Martin Pilkington started to pay dividends though the results did not always reflect this. Unfortunately, the team’s home form was to be their downfall as far as progressing up the league table although the team were usually beaten only by the odd goal. The 2012/13 campaign started better than anyone at the club could have imagined as the team went unbeaten in the league for the first 3 months. Although unsuccessful in the FA vase, they would eventually reach the latter stages of the FA Cup qualifiers and a plum tie at FC Halifax via fantastic wins at St Helens Town and Sheffield. Rarely stepping out of the top two in Division One, Abbey continued to rack up league wins whilst also moving thru the Challenge Cup, Div One Trophy and Manchester Premier Cup rounds. The first team success was also matched by the newly introduced youth team set up. Both Under 17s and 18s topped their respective Youth Alliance Divisions during the year and impressed many with their style of play and application. As the months progressed a few of the older youth players started to appear in the first team, boding well for the future. Come April and a win at Northwich Villa eventually sealed promotion back into the top flight of the NWCFL ladder.
Wythenshawe Amateurs 0 Sandbach United 2 How they lined up: WAFC: Haslam, Howard, Bradshaw, Worth, Parr, Lillie, Wright, Hevingham, Aikenhead, White, Boyles SUFC: Booth, Walker, Clayton, O’Riordan, Evans, Rowntree, Thompson, Moscrop, Garner-Knapper, Baker, Wlliams First team coach Jason Doggett praised his sides “excellent performance, and said his players played with pride, passion and fight” as they ran out 2-0 winners away at Wythenshawe Amateurs. The teams met on Tuesday for first of two games in five days against one another, The Ammies ran out 3-1 winners thanks to two quick goals in the second half. So, this time Sandbach were on the hunt for revenge.
United we’re forced to field a very Young’s side due to injuries, unavailability and various players leaving the club. In fact 11 of the 14 squad members were under 19 years old. The game began with the hosts having the upper hand, and they had the first opportunity of the game after just seven minutes. The pace of Travis Boyles hurt Sandbach on Tuesday and it looked as though it was going to be case again on Saturday as he got in behind following a long ball over the top. As he got into the box down the right he shot but didn’t connect properly. This made harder for Booth who had to readjust before saving well down to his left. Sandbach’s young lads had real pace and looked dangerous going forward. Harry Walker and Lucas Baker linked up well down the right side before Walker flashed a low cross across the face of the goal, however unfortunately for Sandbach the outstretched Tom Williams couldn’t quite reach it at the back post.
Sandbach had come into the game in the last few minutes and when they took the lead it was no shock to anyone. When a low ball in from the left side fizzing in, Lucas Baker was on hand to tap home into the empty net and give his side the lead on the eve of his birthday. Going a goal ahead was huge for United as it gave them a platform to build on. They now had a lead to protect and they could afford to get bodies behind the ball. The home side we’re trying to exploit the pace of Travis Boyles but their long balls were holding up in the wind making them relatively ineffective. As the first half came to an end it was safe to say that it was far from a classic but the only thing that mattered was that Sandbach were ahead and they were looking solid at the back. Sandbach started the second 45 very positively. Kieran Garner-Knapper had two good early opportunities. The first was a low cross that flashes across the face of goal and just evaded the outstretched toe of Sean Moscrop. His second opportunity was one that he will be disappointed with as he went through on goal but blazed well over from just inside the box. With half an hour of the game to go the home side we’re pushing for an equaliser as Sandbach we’re sitting deep to stop the long ball over the top. Wythenshawe were able to come forward and try their look out wide. When a cross came in from the left it went over the head of Adam Clayton at the back post and well nicely for Briody who sliced his volley well wide of the goal from the right side of the box. The home side we’re throwing everything at Sandbach, which meant that when Sandbach won the ball they could break, and with the pace United had they looked a real threat. When Moscrop got in behind and raced towards goal he really should have scored, however he fired his shot straight at the keeper to keep the game very much in the balance. In fairness to Sandbach’s very young defence they were holding firm, throwing their bodies on the line and dealing with everything that Wythenshawe had thrown at them.
With just minutes to go Sandbach once again we’re able to counter-attack, Sean Moscrop races towards goal before finding Garner-Knapper on the edge of the box, he then squared to Williams who was in the box and unmarked. Williams shot past the onrushing keeper and as his strike came off the underside of the bar it looked to have crossed the line. However, the referee thought otherwise and waved away the Sandbach protests. The referee added four minutes of injury time. Which was plenty of time for the game to see another game. With Sandbach players suffering from a lack f match fitness it was really a case now of backs to the wall, old fashioned defending, which in fairness had worked for them all game. The hosts were giving all the had to try and snatch an equaliser late on. In the second minute of Injury time Sandbach make the game safe and added a second goal very much against the run of play. Adam Clayton Brilliantly won the ball on halfway before finding Goal scorer Lucas Baker who this time was the provider as he found Garner-Knapper in the box who kept a composed head and spotted past the keeper to send the bench, players and fans into absolute delirium. Moments later the game ended Sandbach had earned a valuable three points. The fight and passion that they showed for the full 90 minutes was incredible and left everyone involved with the club with a beaming smile on their faces. After the game Doggett said “Today meant something to the boys our club should be proud of them. Thanks to everyone that supported us & to all the volunteers working hard behind the scenes”
SANDBACH UNITED 1ST TEAM WOULD LIKE TO THANK
SANDBACH UNITED 2019/20 STAFF ANDY HOCKENHULL Manager
DONNY BROWN Assistant Manager
ANDY KIMBER Goalkeeper Coach
ROY LANE Coach
TONY LEDWARDS Coach
Jack BERESFORD Media
Steve Bould Coach
MIKE SENIOR Secretary
STEVE THOMAS Treasurer
SANDBACH UNITED 2019/20 SQUAD SAM BOOTH Goalkeeper
ALEX ATTON Goalkeeper
MATT ELLSON Goalkeeper
ADAM CLAYTON Defender
RYAN ALLCOCK
Kieran GARNERKNAPPER
Midfielder
Forward
DECLAN O’RIORDAN Defender
MATTHEW PEARSON Defender
SANDBACH UNITED 2019/20 SQUAD JACK HART Midfielder
LUCAS BAKER Midfielder
LYNDON CAMPBELL Midfielder
CALLUM EVANS Midfielder
CHRIS ROWNTREE Midfielder
SANDBACH UNITED 2018/19 SQUAD OLI JEPSON Defender
Upcoming fixtures
Player sponsor If you’re interested in sponsoring on of our players just let us know, either ask a volunteer or message us on our socials and we’ll be sure to provide more information
DEAN TWIGG Midfielder
North West Counties Division One South league table
Todays fixtures
Matt ELLSON
Ryan LIVESY
Ryan ALLCOCK
Darryl GRANT
Sam BOOTH
Luke DUNFORD
Thomas MCGRAIL
Leighton EGAN
Connor HOOK
Aaron FLEMING
Adam CLAYTON
Joshua DICKIN
Oliver JEPSON
Grant SPENCER
Lucas BAKER
Luke DICKIN
Robbie HATTON
Martin PILKINGTON
Kieran GARNERKNAPPER
Callum McGlynn
Jack HART Joe THOMPSON Harry WALKER Alex ATTON Declan O’RIORDAN Matt PEARSON Chris ROWNTREE Sean MOSCROP Dean TWIGG Tom WILLIAMS
Oliver HOLT Dane SMITH Dillon KIRKMAN Elliot FENTON
Cards
Goals
Cards
Goals
Manager Andy Hockenhull Assistant Manager Junior Brown