Andy Hockenhull welcomed back Aaron Knight into the starting line-up following his recovery from a foot injury, whilst Steve Jones also passed a late fitness test to take his place on the bench.

Following a period of unavailability, Chris Rowntree was also welcomed back into the squad and started alongside Sean Moscrop in midfield.

After a low-key start to the match, Sandbach started to create some chances around the 7th minute mark when Scott Evans curled a shot on target, but the Eccleshall goalkeeper saved it well.

A few minutes later, it was Robbie Hatton's turn to come close after a great pass from Bobbie McDonnell saw him through on goal, but his chipped effort lifted over the keeper and the crossbar.

Sandbach continued to dominate proceedings without creating any major goalscoring chances before McDonnell broke the deadlock in the 37th minute.

Knight did brilliantly to beat two Eccleshall players down the left-hand side before cutting the ball back for the waiting McDonnell.

A desperate toe from the defender poked the ball away to the edge of the box, but McDonnell collected it and steadied himself for the shot before lashing a strike into the top left corner.

The second half started in similar fashion, with Sandbach seeing the majority of the ball without truly penetrating the Eccleshall defence. However, in the 52nd minute a golden opportunity was passed up by the league top scorer McDonnell.

It came from a great whipped cross into the box by Evans to the feet of McDonnell, but his attempted side-foot volley flew just over the bar from 6 yards with the away keeper a mere spectator.

Eccleshall grew into the second half and started to press for the equaliser, but Sandbach were instead the scorers of the second goal after 75 minutes.

A pinpoint long pass from goalkeeper Danny Hamlett bypassed the whole midfield to find the run of substitute Matt Pearson, helped by some excellent shielding from Hatton.

Pearson drove into the box before shifting the ball onto his left foot and calmly rolling it into the net to double the home sides advantage.

The visitors got a goal back within 3 minutes of the restart when a Kieran O'Connell tackle in the box was deemed foul play, and Jordan Benton stepped up to halve Sandbach's lead from the penalty spot.

Eccleshall pressed relentlessly for the equaliser and caused some nervy moments for the Ramblers but undid a lot of their hard work when Luke Lewis was sent off.

Minutes after a late sliding tackle that resulted in his first booking, he leapt into an aerial battle with O'Connell that left the Sandbach defender down with a head injury with Sandbach appeals for foul play.

The referee immediately brandished the second yellow card and Eccleshall played the remaining minutes with 10 men.

Despite some nervy moments in the Sandbach back line, Eccleshall could not find the equalising goal and the hosts returned to winning ways following their 1-1 draw at Ellesmere Rangers.

The Cheshire side remain top of the NWCFL South despite wins for Ellesmere and New Mills due to their superior goal difference.

We spoke to Chris Rowntree after the game, who said that "we need to see games out better as on another day they could have equalised against us."

Rowntree also congratulated Matt Pearson for the winning goal, saying how "he always makes an impact whenever he comes on and is a brilliant player to have in the squad.".

He also relished the upcoming derby on Tuesday: "Alsager

have made some signings and have a decent team and we always look forward to playing them.

We've had some good results in the past but there are no easy games in this league so we will need to play as good as we know we can be, and hopefully get a good result there."

The Ramblers next face Alsager Town in a local derby on Tuesday 17th August, with kick-off at 7:45pm.