Vauxhall Motors 2 v 1 Cheadle Heath Nomads
Without four senior players through suspension and illness, Vauxhall had to dig deep to wrestle all three points from this latest NWCL fixture to return to the summit of the division.
Mick McGraa’s side got off to an absolute flier, scoring inside two minutes of the start when Joe Brandon cut in from the left before delivering the perfect cross for Ryan Cox to deftly head into the far corner of the net.
But the visitors were not without efforts themselves and drew level after 13 minutes when Richard Tindall was left in acres of space I the inside left channel and fired home beyond the home keeper Ryan Crump from twelve yards out.
Vauxhall went close again at the far post through Brandon before seeing another effort ruled out for offside. Nomads also went close when Kyle Foley smashed an effort wide of the target as the sides continued to exchange chances.
Then on 32 minutes, the Motormen regained the lead when a powerful bullet header from Lewis Willingham from ten yards out was hooked out from beyond the goal line only for the ball to cannon back off Cox to confirm the score. It was the midfielder’s first goal of the season.
The second half was generally scrappy with few chances, though Brandon did play in Danny Cross who almost converted from an acute angle. But the visitors, for all their possession, rarely troubled the home goal in this period, while Glenn Rule and substitute Louis Gorman went close to clinching this latest win, their 15th league victory from sixteen games, to go one point clear of FC Oswestry at the top but still with four matches in hand on their nearest rivals.
Vauxhall: Crump, Scarisbrick, Drummond, Gardner, Mitchell, Willingham, Brandon, Rule, Cox (Noon 65), Cross, Hamm (Gorman 72) Subs not used: Eaton, Edgar.