Manager Declan Swan wanted his team to be ruthless in front of goal as they looked to progress in the Cup, and were denied by a goal-saving tackle soon after the start of the game as Oultram nicked a ball from the toes of the goalkeeper, but a recovering defender superbly took the moment away from him with an excellent challenge.

Sandbach took the lead over their fellow NWCFL South opponents in the 4th minute, after a Robbie Hatton cross was flicked into the far corner of the net by the head of Oultram.

After 8 minutes, Sandbach doubled their lead through Kieran Alley, as he expertly controlled an accurate pass from centre-back Tom Morris, before driving into the heart of the Eccleshall defence and lifting a lobbed effort over the goalkeeper to put his side two goals ahead.

In the 29th minute, Oli McDonough got his name on the scoresheet and Hatton notched his second assist, after his precision through-ball cut Eccleshall apart and allowed McDonough to slide a composed finish into the bottom right corner.

Less than 60 seconds later, Hatton again provided for McDonough, as his perfectly weighted pass had the winger in on goal again. This time, McDonough took it around the onrushing goalkeeper before passing into an empty net.

The Ramblers won it back almost immediately from the Eccleshall restart and saw themselves make it 5-0 after Alley took the ball past the goalkeeper before scoring from a tight angle.

Sandbach were firmly in dreamland as they scored their fourth goal in five minutes in the 33rd minute, as Alley was involved again to run dangerously towards goal, before cutting an unselfish pass back to Oultram who made no mistake with his finish from 8 yards.

Oultram completed his hat-trick less than a minute into the second half, after McDonough found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper and shot a low effort towards the bottom left corner. It was not clear whether the strike was destined for goal or rolling inches wide, but Oultram made sure as he fired it in from less than a yard out.

Eccleshall pulled a goal back in the 54th minute after some relaxed Sandbach defending allowed them a chance to score before an excellent strike from 25 yards into the top right corner less than five minutes later brought the scoreline to 7-2.

In the 72nd minute, a few eyebrows were raised amongst Sandbach fans as an unmarked Eccleshall player tapped in at the back post to make it 7-3.

Sandbach snapped back into focus after the third Eccleshall goal, and scored their eighth goal in the eighty-eighth minute after a wicked pass from goalkeeper Seb Jensen to substitute George Kattah caused chaos and confusion between the Eccleshall defence and goalkeeper. The ball ricocheted into the path of fellow substitute Harry Payne, who curled a first-time left-footed effort off the far post and in.

Five minutes later, debutant Louis Holden scored his first goal in Sandbach colours as the ball found him in the box from a Sandbach corner, and he guided an effortless finish into the bottom left corner past the despairing dive of the Eccleshall goalkeeper.

In the 94th minute, Sandbach fan favourite Harry Cain scored on his return to the Ramblers, as he powered towards goal before slotting a low effort into the bottom left corner to send the home fans into rapture.

After the comprehensive victory for Sandbach, they progress to the quarter-finals of the Edward Case Cup. Swan said after the game that he wanted to make a statement with his side, and was pleased they produced a performance of such ruthlessness and quality. Swan conceded that he was going to encounter selection headaches due to the depth in quality of his side, but was pleased to produce a performance of such quality.