An eighty fifth minute strike by Daniel McLaughlin saw Cheadle Town take a 2-1 win in a closely fought encounter against Prestwich Heys at the Ground Up Solutions Stadium on the opening Saturday of the season, writes Rick Barrett.

It was all change at Heys with a new management team of former goalkeeper Russ Saunders and Matty Russell now at the helm along with an almost entirely new team of players making debuts for the 2024-25 campaign, and it was the returning winger Erike Sousa who caught the eye early on with a couple of in swinging free kicks on the right that were cleared by the Cheadle defence.

It was the hosts looking the more dangerous though, Darren McKnight hitting the crossbar on eleven minutes and Town went ahead five minutes later. A mix up in the middle of the park by Heys saw the ball fall on the left to striker McLaughlin, who buried his shot bottom right past Prestwich keeper Louis Hood.

The hosts continued to have the better of the half, but Heys showed signs of getting back into it on thirty-three minutes when Dylan Fitzgerald shook off two defenders to find Kade Hargreaves whose six-yard shot was saved by Cheadle keeper James Hodges.

McLaughlin fired over from eight yards on thirty-nine minutes for Town but back came Prestwich in terrific style a minute later when a ball over from the left found Fitzgerald, twelve yards out, who launched one into the top left-hand corner of the net past a despairing Hodges for the equaliser.

So, all square at the break and all to play for in the second half and it was Heys who came out firing on all cylinders in what was to be a dominant opening twenty-minute spell with Gabriel Mooney-Munoz, lively in the midfield, making Heys start to tick.

On fifty one minutes Hargreaves, down the left, found Fitzgerald whose shot was blocked and then a big moment came minutes later when a lovely ball over the top found Luc Ferry, clean through, but his shot was easily saved by Hodges when it looked like he would put the visitors ahead.

It was Ferry busy again just on the hour, down the right, firing at the keeper with Fitzgerald and Hargreaves in the middle running in on goal. Shortly after a great cross from Sousa, on the left, found Ferry, but he could not connect with his header and one sensed Prestwich needed to convert one of these chances while on top.

Cheadle rallied and got back into it in the last quarter, pinning Heys back. A couple of shots fired over the bar were warning signs as was Matty Smyth's header which went over the bar from a corner on eighty-five minutes.

The pressure told a minute later for the home side who broke down the left and when Danny Byrnes tried to round Heys keeper Hood, the ball got pushed wide and was directed back into the box where McLaughlin was on hand to fire home and put Cheadle ahead.

Prestwich made several late substitutions and almost snatched a point in injury time when a free kick was pumped into the box and centre half Shay Stansfield saw his shot blocked and cleared which was the final chance as the referee blew for full time.

A frustrating day then for Heys who did do enough to win this in an impressive twenty-minute second half spell but failed to cash in on good chances. A lot of positives were on show here though, a new team needs time to gel and grow which they will in the upcoming games.

TEAM: Louis Hood, Menny Rose, Riche Makelele, Mathew Marsh, Nathan Bartram-Conway, Shay Stansfield (Capt.), Luc Ferry, Gabriel Mooney-Munoz, Dylan Fitzgerald, Erike Sousa, Kade Hargreaves, Subs: Hensley Mills (for Rose 88 mins), Adam Hampshire (for Marsh 85 mins), Sonny Reeves (for Hargreaves 60 mins), Ivan Egharevba (for Ferry 75 mins), Elliot Messam (for Sousa 89 mins)