WOW!

Early rounds of the Cheshire Cup often see cagey affairs as opponents with little or no knowledge of each other play out a tight encounter. Or maybe a complete mismatch in levels sees a bit of a hiding? But this one swept away anything I've seen or been involved in, as two teams intent on attack thrilled the crowd at Cromley Road.

The report will be a bit briefer than usual, as the fact the writer was playing makes it even harder to remember everything that happened! Shorn of 7/8 regulars, Andy Jenkins worked throughout the week to put a decent 11 out, and after 20 minutes all looked like it was working pretty well....

2 attacks in the opening 10 minutes from Unicorn resulted in 2 Georgians goals. First up Callum Campbell slammed home from 15 yards after a swift break saw Joe Bevan tee up the 18 year old, before another raid through the heart of a Unicorn defence saw Carl Sutton crown his debut with a goal, finishing well after a succession of stepovers tricked the full back.

It was 2-1 a minute later though, Will Aldred hooking the ball home from a corner, but we soon opened up the gap again. Oliver Hemlin half volleying home after another debutant, Alex Kemp, headed down Leon Murphy's corner.

3-1 should have been the cue for the game to settle down, but the visitors desire to take the game back at us saw us penned in, and Aldred finished at the far post to make it 3-2. As half time approached, we struggled to take the impetus out of the visitors' attacks and almost inevitably the impressive Lee Hendley made it 3-3 when through on Pete Mellor. Go in level? Settle for 3-3 at the break? Nope, and we found ourselves 4-3 down as Tom Hendley's curling effort from the edge of the box turned this manic game completely on its head.

Half time definitely came at the right time, and some stern words may have been heard coming from the home dressing room. The result? A stirring fightback, and a spell of 20 minutes where we threw everything at Unicorn.

Sutton made it 4-4 with his second, latching onto another Kemp flick on from Dave Brock's (me) free kick to coolly round the keeper and slot home, and he made it 5-4 not long after with another exquisite finish. Pouncing on a blunder by the Unicorn skipper after Mellor's long clearance, he lobbed the ball over the onrushing keeper, and walked the ball home for a debut hat trick.

We weren't finished there, and Sutton turned provider, combining with Leon Murphy from a short corner before the latter drove home a great strike from 20 yards to once again tip the game completely on its head; 6-4 Georgians.

Bevan hd a couple of chances soon after the really take the game away from the visitors but was foiled by a great save before firing over, and to Unicorn's credit they kept coming at us. Mellor made a good stop tipping the ball onto the crossbar, before a mad scramble saw Andy Brocklehurst clear the danger, but with the referee about to blow it was 6-5. Mellor misjudged a deflected shot, and it arched over his head looping slowly into the net.

Finally, the referee's whistle went to close out a very odd game of football! A massive thanks to those lads who stepped in at late notice to help out, without that we would definitely not be looking at the 3rd round now.

All the best to Unicorn in their quest for Cheshire League promotion.