North West Counties

League Division

One South

Cheadle Town 0

St Martins 1

St MARTINS got back to winning ways in the league following their midweek defeat.

It was a tight game, with the hosts coming into the game on the back of two consecutive wins.

Brendon Price’s second half goal was enough to separate the two sides.

Both sides attacked well from the first whistle and Karl Bailey came close for the visitors after 20 minutes of play.

Bailey got on the end of a quick counter-attack, but wasn’t able to finish and his effort went narrowly wide of the post.

Both sides found it difficult to create clear-cut chances with two in-form goalkeepers guarding their clean sheets.

The score remained level as the teams headed in for half-time, and when they returned to the field, it was Town who started the stronger side.

The best chance for the hosts came when Nathan Ntalu went through on goal, but Austin was on hand to keep the scores level with a great save.

After 70 minutes, Price went through on the Cheadle goal and slotted the ball into the bottom corner out of the reach of the goalkeeper.

The Saints were able to hold on through the final 20 minutes to take three points from the fixture.

Manager Dan Stevens was pleased that his side were able to get back to winning ways after the 5-3 defeat at Sandbach United in midweek.

He said: “We went to Cheadle with a different game plan to when we played them at home – we looked to sit off them and break quickly and be more direct than we normally are.

“You have to defend in the more dangerous areas of the pitch but to a man we defended superbly.

“We had plenty of great positions on the counter-attack but our decision-making and quality was lacking so it was great when finally, our front three linked up for the goal.

“It was a gritty performance and showed a different side to our group and with our recent decimation of the squad through injuries we only travelled with 13 plus me and our first team coach, so the result was even more pleasing.”

Stevens added that the current league position and points tally is pleasing ahead of the second half of the season.

He said: “We are handily placed for the second half of the season.

“Six more points should see us safe and we have two quarter-finals to look forward to.”

Stevens’ side now sit in fifth place, eight points behind league leaders Abbey Hulton United.

St Martins host Barnton on Tuesday, December 4 (7.45pm).