By Jay Rowland

Fresh from a dominant 3-1 victory over Foley Meir, the Ramblers were keen to build on their improving form heading into a difficult double fixture weekend.

With two away fixtures at Abbey Hey and New Mills within the space of 48 hours, many hardened NWCFL fans would view that as the one of the hardest double fixtures in the league, but Declan Swan's men were determined to get maximum points.

Despite a confident start from Sandbach, it was the home side who took the lead against the run of play. Only nine minutes in, Lewis Lacy met a free kick at the far post to head into the net from 10 yards, leaving goalkeeper Joel Dovey helpless.

Sandbach reacted well to going behind and pressed for an equaliser, as chances came and went for Stan Tatters, Will Booth and Joel Jones, with the latter seeing his one-on-one effort tipped away for a corner by Joseph Lawton.

Swan's half-time talk with the team clearly had the desired effect, as Sandbach drew level less than 2 minutes into the second half through Harry Cain.

Following some good build-up play down the right flank, Liam Fitzpatrick saw his goal-bound shot blocked from 8 yards. However, Cain was alert to the loose ball and pounced, firing a powerful shot into the roof of the net to give the Ramblers a leveller that was deserved on the balance of play.

The Ramblers then took the lead on 58 minutes, after relentless pressure on the Abbey Hey goal following the equaliser.

When Niall Cope found himself free on the edge of the box, he took a touch before firing a low shot towards the goal. Jones instinctively reacted as the shot reached his path, diverting the strike into the net via the underside of the bar to leave Lawton with no chance.

Despite being held in their own half for the majority of the second half, Abbey Hey made their counter-attacking play count as they equalised with the final kick of the game.

After winning a corner following a break-away attack, a dangerous in-swinging ball dropped in the 6-yard box and was scrambled over the line by a jubilant home side as they snatched a point from the jaws of defeat.

Hauntingly, the scenes in Manchester were eerily familiar - as Abbey scored a 96th-minute equaliser to make it 2-2 last season, with Aaron Fleming poking home a scrappy goal from a corner in a remarkably similar fashion to this season's final finish.

Sandbach were left in shock as to how their performance failed to secure all three points but will have to dust themselves off quickly, as they complete the second half of the Bank Holiday weekend fixtures today (Monday) with a trip to the Peak District to face 11th-placed New Mills.