Four goal Rams through in Macron
Daniel Forbes powers in a header opening his Rammy account and doubling our lead.
Ramsbottom United eased into the next round of the League Macron Cup with a comfortable win in south Manchester against Division One South side Cheadle Heath Nomads, to clinch a tie against Chadderton in the next round.
On a welcoming late summer afternoon, the Rams took complete control of the game, and the only surprise being that they did not progress with a much bigger score-line.
The visitors dictated play from the start, and deservedly took the lead in the 12th minute when Isaac Lam received the ball in the penalty area, swivelled and hammered a shot that flew into the back of the net.
The Rams continued to dictate play, and a second goal arrived after 29 minutes. A cross found Dan Forbes just a couple of feet out and his powerful header was brilliantly tipped over by Andrew Jones in the home goal. However, the reprieve was short-lived, as from the subsequent corner, Forbes again made contact and this time buried his header into the goal, with Jones powerless to do anything about it.
Eight minutes later, it was 3-0 and the game effectively over. Forbes was again involved, as he sent over an inch-perfect cross which was met by the on-rushing Gareth Hill, who turned the ball home from close range.
Macauley Wilson should have added another before the break as he was first to a left-wing corner, but he failed to direct his header to the right side of the post.
The one-way traffic continued after the break, with Oscar Radcliffe galloping through the static Nomads defence, but his clever chipped effort was grabbed by the over-worked Jones, whose heroics on the afternoon kept the Rams at bay on more than one occasion.
He was beaten again, though, on 53 minutes, when another superb through ball saw the excellent Terry Cummings latch on, and round the keeper, before stroking the ball into the empty net.
Cummings had a 20 yard effort saved, and Lam was denied on two further occasions as the pattern of the game continued to be played more in the home half.
Manager Rob Henry, comfortable in the knowledge that the game was well and truly won, introduced all his substitutions to give squad players some game time, and their introductions failed to alter the dominance of the visitors.
Some stout defending, and outstanding goalkeeping kept the score down to a respectable 4-0, but such was the Rams dominance, goalkeeper Charles Clark, brough in as emergency cover, did not have a serious shot to deal with in the whole ninety minutes.
This was a timely performance from a team that has been decimated so far this season, by a massive injury list, but the last two performances have hinted that once a consistent line-up can be selected, this Ramsbottom United team could well be in for an entertaining and successful season.
Manager Rob Henry was naturally delighted. “A pleasing performance. I thought some of our football at times was excellent. The quality of our play, the movement and rotation whilst having willing forward runners, allowed us to control the game and to ask questions constantly of the opposition”.
He added, “We scored some good goals whilst making some great opportunities and we probably should have been more clinical.
“I made very few changes to the team, allowing us to have some consistency and continuity with team selection which we haven’t had very often this season due to injuries.
“I was really pleased with the attitude and mentality of the group today, We started the game really well and were really consistent throughout, maintaining really good standards”.
RAMSBOTTOM UNITED: Clark, Radcliffe, Collinge, Sowerby (Ogunby), Wilson (Donlan), Cleary, Chambers (Halford), Forbes (McCann), Hill (Ayanyaki), Lam, Cummings
GOALS: Lam (12), Forbes (30), Hill (37), Cummings (54)
ATT: 82
