MIDDLEWICH Town are hoping to bounce back from their opening day defeat as they prepare for two Mid-Cheshire League home fixtures this week.

First up are Whitchurch Alport tonight (Wednesday, 6.30pm) and Garswood United visit Seddon Street on Saturday (3pm).

On Saturday, Dave Twite's men went down 2-0 at Cheadle Heath Nomads, despite a spirited display.

However, their good work, particularly that of the outstanding Rob Corcoran, was spoiled two minutes before the interval when Paul Quine, on his first appearance back at the club, was sent off after words with the referee.

This left Middlewich, already indebted to Barry Crellin for the 0-0 scoreline, a mountain to climb.

However, they were unfortunate to go behind in the 65th minute when the official, to Town's amazement, ordered Ben Barnard to leave the pitch for treatment while Cheadle took a corner. Sure enough, from the kick, Hardwick, the man Barnard was marking, struck the ball into the net.

Cheadle's second was a catalogue of errors on Middlewich's part, although sub John Dickinson appeared to be bundled off the ball by Johnstone in the move leading up to it.

Johnstone went on to hook the ball round Corcoran from the by-line, and Ian Tier's header back to Crellin took a wicked deflection off Andy Taylor and sent the ball in the opposite direction to seal the points for Cheadle.

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