Fresh from a midweek victory at Cammell Laird after seeing off New Mills the weekend before, the Ramblers came into the tie at bottom-placed Rocester in excellent form. That free-flowing football known so well to the Sandbach faithful was cutting teams apart at times and manager Declan Swan was hoping to carry that into a Groundhop Day special fixture, with a few hundred eager non-league fans making the journey to Staffordshire for this early kickoff.

Sandbach started well and took the lead after 21 minutes when a brilliant Callum Chapman cross was nodded into the net by Stanley Tatters, marking the third game in a row the midfielder has scored in since his return from suspension.

It could have been two for Sandbach in the 39th minute when Josh Oultram’s tenacity and power in the box caused a goalmouth scramble that the hosts just about managed to get clear.

The 44th minute belonged to Rocester keeper Charlie Wood as he produced a magnificent reaction save from Oultram’s bullet header, somehow getting a touch on the effort to divert it away before a clearance sent it behind for a corner.

From that corner, Sandbach doubled their lead. The ball was worked out to fullback Liam Fitzpatrick who rifled a brilliant strike from distance into the bottom left corner.

Sandbach scored their third only four minutes after the restart, with Kieran Alley smashing a powerful effort on target that evaded the grasp of Wood to put the Ramblers three goals to the good.

Rocester certainly looked a threat from set pieces, as clearances and blocks from Niall Cope and Jordan Stafford respectively kept the Ramblers clean sheet intact.

Substitute Brian Barton scored the fourth for Sandbach in the 84th minute when he beat several defenders with a mazy dribbling run, saw his initial shot saved but received the rebound from George West, shifted through the defence once more before curling a shot into the top right corner.

The Ramblers comfortably saw the game out for a solid 4-0 away victory, putting them in a great position ahead of their mammoth clash against third-placed Brocton on Saturday.