Alderley Edge 3 Ben Rhydding 4

This was a key victory for Ben Rhydding, lifting them into mid-table in the North Men's League Premier Division.

An unexpected difficulty was the low glare of the sun and Rhydding struggled to see against it.

Once again they scored early with Danny Foster sliding the ball in at the post to meet a cross from Will Musgrave in the third minute.

Alderley responded fiercely and Dave Carter had to make two excellent saves in quick succession.

Rhydding almost stretched their lead on the counter attack with a beautiful touch from Andy Clemer- son finding Alex White in front of goal.

The gift wasn’t accepted quickly enough and Alderley smothered the chance.

A misplaced back pass gave Alderley a long corner and they caught Rhydding napping with one of their midfielders firing home a shot from the top of the circle to equalise.

Rhydding replied quickly with Dave Exley sending a magnificent long ball through to Callum Franks who scored with a delightful reverse shot over the keeper’s head to make it 2-1.

The end to end hockey continued and big Callum Connor had to leave the field with a calf injury, closely followed by Neil Sugden with a hamstring strain.

A turnover saw Alderley seize the chance to equalise just before the half-time whistle as Rhydding looked shaky and vulnerable.

The sun was even worse for Rhydding in the second half and they struggled to see where the passes were coming from.

Ali Jordan covered miles to get through on the overlap. He was also brave in the tackle.

Clemerson caused havoc in the midfield and provided line- breaking passes and eliminations throughout the half.

Josh Sykes settled in comfortably at centre half and looked solid as he popped the ball out of congestion smoothly.

However, a surprise corner was awarded for a clearance and Alderley executed a slick deflection to take the lead.

The goal triggered a phase of deadlock as both teams worked hard to gain ground.

Good interceptions and tackling from Connor Dowley and Exley helped Ben Rhydding to gain the upper hand as fitness levels were tested.

George Sweeting ran the Alderley defence ragged and it was his movement that caused a lunging opponent to score an own goal from a Musgrave ball in.

The scores were now level but Rhydding looked ready to take the game.

The relentless running of Sweet- ing troubled the tiring home defence and he created the opening which led to Franks netting the winning goal in the closing stages of the game.