PRESTWICH HEYS 0 CHEADLE TOWN 1
SATURDAY 30TH AUGUST 2025 NW COUNTIES PREMIER DIVISION ATT: 195
Report by Paul Thomason
Picture Tony Candland

In relentless rain at Adie Moran Park, Prestwich Heys and Cheadle Town battled to a 1-1 draw, a contest defined by two contrasting halves where, in the end, a share of the points felt about right.

The game began scrappily, with neither side able to take control or fashion any real openings in the first quarter. Heys did force a couple of early corners and looked the more threatening, but they came to nothing.

The first clear chance of the afternoon fell to the visitors - and they made it count on twenty-five minutes. The ball broke to Saul Henderson inside the box, and he turned sharply under pressure before drilling a low strike off the post and into Lee White’s bottom corner. It was a superb finish to score his fourth goal of the season.

Cheadle Town then began to take control of the game and could have gotten a second six minutes later. As the ball was whipped into the near post, Izac Khan was there with a diving header, but Lee White saved well in the Heys goal. White would then go on to make another good save five minutes before the break, this time from an Oliver Ford header.

At the interval, the scoreline felt justified, with Prestwich struggling to create any clear-cut chances. However, Heys began the second half much brighter but were still lacking that big chance.

It wasn’t until the seventy-second minute that the opportunity came when Takura Sambizi was taken down in the box and Prestwich were awarded a penalty. With the regular penalty taker not playing today, it was down to the man who won the spot kick to take responsibility, and he did so confidently into the right-hand corner and now we had a game on!

The equaliser sparked Heys into life as they pushed forward with greater intent. Just two minutes later, Sambizi slipped the ball into Mo Doro inside the box, but his effort was blocked.

On eighty minutes, a great run from Bryson Appleton into the box, saw him get his shot away, but it maybe needed a little more power, as it was pushed around the box by James Hodges in the Cheadle Town goal. Nonetheless, it was brilliant play by the ever-impressive youngster.

As we approached the end of the game, it felt like it could go either way as it was end-to-end stuff. In the eighty-ninth minute, the visitors probably should have scored as a scramble in the box saw the ball seeming to constantly fall to a player in blue, but two very good saves from Lee White and a couple of blocks somehow kept the ball out of the net.

There would be one more chance however, for Bryson Appleton which forced a comfortable save but in the end the points would be shared.
It was an excellent battle in the second half especially, with the wet weather conditions not making it easy but, in the end, a draw was a fair result.

Heys are still to get that elusive first league win of the season but on the positive side, it’s a three-game unbeaten run. The next game is a tough trip to Irlam, but that win cannot be far away.

TEAM: Lee White, Joseph Camozzi, Luke Findlow, James Badrock, Jack Taylor, Joshua Tinker, Bryson Appleton, Luke Byron, Connor Martin, Nicholas Dre Taylor, Takura Sambizi, Subs: Louie Hutchinson, Owen Percival (for Dre Taylor 85 mins), Mworina Doro (for Martin 67 mins), Jean-Jacques Kirongozi (for Byron 67 mins), David Badrock (for Camozzi 83 mins)