Middlewich Town 1 Penlake 0

MIDDLEWICH Town secured a fourth successive victory in Cheshire League One on Saturday, rising to fourth in the table as a reward.

Matty Jamieson’s goal was enough to seal victory for John O’Sullivan’s men – an 11th win in their past dozen games in all competitions.

They shut out an opponent for the first time in 2015 too.

The Witches could have opened their account early on, but James Smith failed to find the net on three occasions after being played through.

The hosts were almost then made to pay for their wastefulness in front of goal.

A Penlake break sent Davey Baines clear, but he opted to pass when he was looking likely to fire home.

Middlewich were then forced into a change on 20 minutes, when an unwell Adam Morris was replaced by Steve Rowlands.

The hosts were still unable to break the deadlock before the interval, with Penlake goalkeeperAdam Shelton making a string of saves to deny them.

Shelton made superb stops from Jamieson and Goryl to keep the scores level at half-time.

The Witches' pressure was eventually to pay off though, and they found a way through on 50 minutes.

Shelton’s under-hit kick fell to Chris Yearsley who headed into Joe O’Sullivan’s path.

He clipped in a ball for Jamieson to finish.

Town’s goal scorer rounded the visitors’ goalkeeper moments later, only for his shot to be cleared off the line by a defender.

Yearsley also went close with a header from a corner, while Michael Evans and O’Sullivan failed to test Shelton further.

The Witches’ goalkeeper Martyn East made a smart save late too.

Middlewich visit Cuddington tomorrow night in a JA Walton Challenge Cup group stage game – kick off is at 6.15pm.

They then host Irlam reserves on Saturday in the same competition.