Cheshire League
Premier Division
Wednesday 16th September 2026
Kick Off 19.00 Actual 19.16
Whalley Range 6 Denton Town 0, attendance 56
8’ 1-0
35’ 2-0
37’ 3-0
46’ 4-0
60’ 5-0
68’ 6-0
@ Hough End Leisure Centre, 3G Pitch 1
480 Princess Road
Manchester
M20 1HP
No Admission or Programme.
I’d seen Whalley Range play a home game at their Kings Road ground in Charlton-cum-Hardy back in May 2001, when they beat Ashton Athletic 1-0 in a Manchester League Division 1 match, but tonight’s game, along with another one next midweek, was being played at Hough End Leisure Centre. I’d seen Manchester Metropolitan University play here in October 2007, on what was then (and still possibly is) Pitch 15, which is not where the two new 3G caged pitches have been built. They’re right next to the building, parallel and running lengthways away from it, with Pitch 1, where tonight’s game was played, being the western one of the two. Both have a spectator area running the full length of one side, but rather annoyingly, there’s a dugout on each side of the pitch, therefore blocking the view in large areas of the spectator side, especially with management and players standing in the way, rather than sitting in the dugouts. The sports centre cafe did hot food as well as hot/cold drinks and the usual chocolate/crisps and at reasonable prices too.
The match was 5th versus 6th in the league table, which suggested they’d be evenly matched, but it certainly didn’t pan out that way. A one on one finish set Whalley Range on their way after just eight minutes and they doubled their lead ten minutes before halftime with a 25 yarder into the bottom corner. When they made it 3-0 a couple of minutes later the points were safe. It only took the hosts a minute of the second half to make it 4-0, with a fifth goal scored on the hour mark and the scoring rounded off with a sixth goal coming eight minutes later, breaking quickly from defending their own box and crossing from the right for an easy finish in the centre of the goal.
With the game kicking off sixteen minutes late, due to the pitch being used beforehand, it meant there were time restraints to then get the game completed, with the bare forty five minutes played in each half and everyone remained out on the pitch for a truncated halftime. All a bit unnecessary, as both teams had warmed up on the grass pitches well before the scheduled start time, so should never have taken so long to get underway. The situation in this division remains as it was prior to tonight….just Denton Town’s ground left to visit for completion.
The usual shenanigans from the Highways Agency to contend with coming home.The M40 was closed between J11 and J10 (a ten mile stretch), which SatNav picked up, but wasn’t advertised on the overhead gantries and then a double whammy on the M25. Closed again from J15 to J14 and J11 to J10, with SatNav taking me cross country between J13 and J10, rather than getting back on for a few miles in between.
