MATCH REPORT: Chaddy narrowly defeated in final away game

Written by Jacob Jones

Unfortunately, we were unable to pick up any points in our final away fixture of the 2024/25 nwcfl Premier Division season, as we came up just short against West Didsbury & Chorlton.

It seemed like the odds were stacked against us even from the warmup, Carl was forced to make changes to the original planned lineup due to Nicholas Hepple and Tyler Berry sustaining injuries before kick-off.

Ryan Morton looked dangerous for us in the first half, delivering some extremely inviting balls into the box, The first of which was met by Barlow, who’s glancing header was just wide of the post, before Kuda Chingwaro found himself on the end of a cross but could not keep his shot on target.

The remainder of the first half was fairly even, half chances came the way of skipper, Morgan Schofield and Chingwaro but also a string save from Dale Latham before the conclusion of the first forty-five.

It was equally as even for the majority of the second half, both teams struggled to really create a catalogue of chances. It was a special day for Nicholas Heppe as he came on for his debut, although he would have been disappointed not to start due to his injury in the warmup.

Ethan Sutcliffe was also introduced shortly after and was immediately involved in the games most controversial moment as he took the ball around the West fullback, who appeared to hack him down, but the referee’s decision was no penalty. This left our bench incensed, manager, Carl Taylor posted on X:

“I think the only person in the ground who didn’t think that was a penalty was the referee. Robbed of an opportunity to lead 1-0 in that game with 10 to go. Reason it wasn’t given “Because of the manor of the game” Penalty isn’t a penalty now, because it’s a big game! Really poor.”

To further rub salt in the wounds, West Didsbury went onto open the scoring shortly after, a goal that would prove to be the only one of the match.

We attempted to push for an equaliser in the closing stages, the home defence denied us with three unbelievable stops from off the line, simply summing up our fortunes as of late. There was also another penalty shout, late into added time but the referee once again waved it away.

So our final away journey of the season ended in defeat. This defeat leaves our playoffs hopes all but over as we are now nine points behind this weekends opponents who currently occupy the final playoff spot.

#UpTheChad