MORRIS MAKES MASSIVE IMPACT AS CHEESE BREAK THEIR LEAGUE DUCK
CHESHIRE Cheese picked up their first Division One win of the season with a 4-2 home victory over Wolstanton Social Club.
Nathan Morris was the hat-trick hero for the hosts, who also had Gaz Whitmore on target.
Wolstanton are in a four-way battle to beat the drop now, but scored through Josh Fox and Ben Glover.
Moorlands Athletic’s fine run of form continued - and has fired them to the top of the table - after a 4-1 win at struggling Jolly Carter.
Matthew Deakin scored twice in the opening 25 minutes for the visitors and Luke Shelley added a third a minute before the break.
Jordan Forrest pulled one back for the hosts, but Jack Clews made it 4-1 on 68 minutes to send them top by three points although they have played more games than Canal Tavern.
In the Premier Division, Greenhoffs closed the gap on leaders Knave of Clubs to four points with a game in hand after beating Vale Hoppers 4-0.
The hosts frustrated the visitors for long periods, but lacked cutting edge themselves.
The visitors were out of the blocks quickly and opened the scoring through Marty Stanyer. Despite the early setback Hoppers stood firm and tried to be a threat of the counter, but they were still indebted to keeper Kieran Turner for two or three quality saves in the first half.
Greenhoffs continued to push forward in the second half but were again kept at bay until the 69th minute when they made their dominance count through Jordan Flatley.
The hosts were reduced to 10 men and Greenhoffs added a third goal after an excellent move finished by Ash Stanier and a late Jake Alcock strike made it 4-0.
In Division Two, Waterhouses missed the chance to go top of the table after being held 4-4 by The Kiln.
The hosts took an early lead when Kieren Millward found the back of the net via a header from a corner, but the visitors hit back in fine style to open up a 3-1 lead.
Two from Niall Mcglade and Matthew Mcdermott strike saw them ahead, but Ben Venables reduced the arrears for Waterhouses with a goal just before half-time.
The hosts levelled the game in the second period after a fine solo run and finish by Jamie Pointon, but once again the visitors refused to give in and retook the lead when a Niall Mcglade header saw him complete a fine hat-trick.
Waterhouses are right in the chase for promotion however and weren’t to be denied. They equalised 10 minutes from time courtesy of Adam Taylor to ensure the spoils were shared.
Portly Robin Hood moved six points clear of the Division Four relegation zone thanks to a 2-1 win at Burslem United.
Martin Podmore scored for the hosts, but goals from Thomas Lowe and Peter Hall gave the visitors all three points and a cushion between themselves and the bottom two.
White Hart Smallthorne pulled clear of the drop zone with a welcome 2-0 win over bottom club Bradwell.
Jonny Cartlidge and Nathan Berry grabbed the all-important goals to keep the home side on an impressive run of three straight victories as they look to recover from a poor start to the campaign.
Bradwell are still looking for their first League win of the season and now lie seven points from safety.
In Division Five, Sumner Athletic drew 3-3 at home with Keele University thirds.
Despite a slow start Sumner took an early lead when Dan Bertram finished well for 1-0. Keele, whose only win this season came against Sumner a few weeks ago stormed back to take a 3-1 lead before the break.
Nathan Fearon, Hayden Farrell and Lewis Brinsley all scored to leave the students in a commanding position.
A change of formation for the hosts brought around a swift change of fortune as Dan Bertram bagged his second of the game to reduce the arrears.
Trent Pearce went over in the box shortly after and the ref awarded a penalty which Pearce himself converted for 3-3.
A sin bin and a red card reduced Sumner to nine men shortly after yet they continued to look the more likely to claim all three points and Conna Brown thought he had won it late on only to be denied by a fingertip save from the Keele keeper.
FC Maybank opened up a fourpoint lead at the top of the table after a 3-2 win at Roaring Meg.
Two Chris Wright penalties kept the hosts hopeful of taking something from a game they needed to win to have a realistic chance of breaking into the promotion places.
Maybank, though, are unbeaten in ten League games now and a brace from Matt Rogalski and a Pat Thomas strike was enough.
Knave of Clubs cruised through to the last four of the Sunday Premier Cup with a 5-0 victory over Brereton Lions.
Knave took hold of the game early by making the most of the space down the flanks and found themselves ahead thanks to Owen Harrison finishing a well worked team move.
Mitch Marcisz doubled the advantage just a few minutes later as the hosts moved the ball left to right and Marcisz drifted past a defender to finish well.
The second half saw Brereton have a real go for 10 minutes, but they couldn’t create much thanks to a well drilled Knave defence.
Knave soon settled again and dominated the rest of the game. Owen Harrison’s work rate down the left never faltered and he always looked dangerous.
He had a header tipped over by the in-form keeper before making it 3-0 with a close range finish soon after.
Josh Halliday made it 4-0 as the hosts were lining up to score at times and Harrison completed his hat-trick on the rebound as the keeper again kept out his initial effort.
In the third round of the Sam Kimberley Trophy, Staffs Vics were beaten 3-2 at Boca juniors, while Keele University lost 2-1 at home to Bojollys.
Corey Chevin and Sam Purcell both scored twice in Mitchells’ 4-2 win at Newhall Arms.
The Potter won 7-2 at home against Queensberry in the Tatters Trophy second round.
A hat-trick from Wayne Rushton was the highlight for the hosts with Lee Mountford bagging a brace and Dan Stokes also on target.
An own goal completed the scoring while Dan Gripton scored twice for the visitors.
In the Division Two Cup first round, Halmerend won 4-1 on penalties against Stone Town after a 3-3 draw.
Karl Hewitt, Marc Barnett and Sean Vaughan scored for the hosts but previously unbeaten Stoke Town forced a shoot-out with a brace from Matt Guest and a Will Bossons strike. The hosts won the shoot-out 4-1 thanks to keeper Tom Dale saving twice.