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Styal needed 3 points to keep pace with the leaders and also sought to begin playing with the same tempo and pride displayed last season. It didn’t happen.

With 20 minutes gone a fantastic move involving Brian Matthews and Ollie Barnes resulted in Warren Dickenson volleying from 6 yards. The Curzon keeper made a brilliant save. However, just 5 minutes later a shot from 35 yards out bounced through Styal keeper Cowley’s fingers and Curzon took the lead. Worse followed 5 minutes later when a Curzon free header ended up in Styal’s net. Half time Styal 0 Curzon 2 and Styal had disappointed.

The introduction of Keith Maires and Craig Brennan at half time saw the tempo raised by the home team but there was still little to talk of in terms of end product. Then came the games killer blow when Cowley attempted to punch away a Curzon corner only for the ball to drop to a Curzon striker who slotted the ball in the net to give Curzon a 3-0 advantage. Brennan was dismissed by the referee, quickly followed by Scarry for a second yellow card offence. Now with 9 men Styal managed to pull 2 goals back before the end. First a Keith Maires free kick into the to corner with 10 minutes left and then Duncan Warrender poked home with 5 minutes left. Manager Morrison was disappointed after the game with half the team having not performed.

Sat 23^rd August Billinge 2 Styal 2

This was Billinge’s first home game since getting promotion last season and this was never going to be easy. The game started with the home team taking the game to Styal with real threat. A mix up between Dan Macdonnell and Styal’s new keeper ‘ozzy’ resulted in the home team hitting the bar on 20mins and with Styal's attacks limited, the home team keeper was not tested. .The 2nd half saw Styal coming out of the blocks with more tempo and quaility than the first half, but a mix up between ‘ozzy’ and the centre half saw the ball break loose and it was tapped into a empty net on 65mins to give Billinge the lead. This woke Styal up and 10mins later Keith Maires floated in a corner and Warren Dickenson's header resulted in his 3rd goal of the season drawing the teams level. With 15 minutes to go Styal launched wave after wave of attack but with no end result untill Dave Graham fired one in from just inside the box.  

With Styal having taken 3 points from their opening fixture it was important to follow on the good work at Knutsford on Saturday. Styal started, pressing the home team but not producing any end product and passes not finding their target. This changed on 30 minutes. John Thornton raced on to a flick on from Dave Graham into Knutsford’s penalty box to win a penalty. New signing Duncan Warrender put the spot kick home to put Styal 1-0 up. With much of the game fought out in midfield there was little further goalmouth action before half time.