Manager Declan Swan was looking forward to the first competitive game of the NWCFL season, and handed competitive Sandbach debuts to Dimeji Willan, Tom Morris and Oli McDonough.

After a positive start for Sandbach, it was Barnton who took the lead early. A long ball over the top was challenged for by both Willan and the Barnton striker, who tackled each other simultaneously and saw the ball spill out to the right flank. In a cruel twist of fate, the ball kindly fell to ex-Sandbach player Amir Hajri, who dispatched the ball with the open goal at his mercy. The misfortune could not have been greater, but Sandbach reacted well and continued their pressure on the Barnton defence.

Barnton grew into the half after some strong Ramblers pressure, but the two biggest chances of the half fell to either side on the stroke of half-time. A well-worked corner routine from Sandbach saw Kieran O’Connell head over from 4 yards, before Hajri fired on target from the resulting counter-attack and drew an excellent diving save from Willan.

Hajri’s eventful game for the hosts was brought to an end less than a minute into the second half, when the already-cautioned forward scythed down Robbie Hatton with a dangerous tackle that could well have warranted a straight red card on it’s own. There were few complaints when the referee brandished a second yellow card before the red, and the goal-scorer trudged towards the tunnel.

Barnton went down to 9 men just before the hour mark, when Joseph Levey was shown a straight red card for a wildly dangerous knee-high tackle on Oli McDonough at high speed and studs showing. While the unmistakable sound of sickening contact echoed around the Barnton stadium, the referee had very little choice but to show a straight red card for serious foul play.

The home side looked to sit on their lead for the last half hour of the match, defending resolutely and drawing Man of the Match-worthy performances from the Barnton back line, keeping out wave after wave of Sandbach attacks. The defence were impervious, rarely exposing goalkeeper Patrick McLoughlin.

The Ramblers attack looked below-par for most of the match but had their best chance in the 76th minute through substitute Josh Klein-Davies. After an excellent Sandbach passing move, which did not happen too often in this contest, the striker fired a snapshot on target but was denied by a wonderful diving parry from McLoughlin.

Whilst the Barnton defence stood tall and defiant until the final whistle, it would be fair to say the Ramblers did far too little to truly test the home side. As the final whistle blew, Sandbach were condemned to an opening-day defeat, and left Swan with some work to do to get his talented forward line firing by the next game – a midweek tie at home to promotion-hopefuls Stockport Town.