In what is becoming a familiar tale, a collapse at the end of the first half cost Prestwich Heys after dominating the first half an hour of this game at Adie Moran Park, writes Paul Thomasson.

Although, the home side rallied after the break it was too late to salvage anything from the game leaving Heys rooted to the bottom of the Premier Division table.

Cheadle controlled possession in the first few minutes and had the first half chance when a corner from the right went to the far post, where Darren McKnight got above the defender, but his header went wide.

Prestwich would then start a domination of the match creating a number of chances. Michael Burke came very close with a twenty-five-yard effort being touched by the Cheadle keeper onto the bar after being found following a Mooney-Munoz break and another effort from outside the box came a couple of minutes later, when a run inside from the left by Kyle Foley saw him shoot from around twenty yards out, with a good curling effort, which went over the bar.

A Heys corner from the left then found its way to the foot of Luke Byron, seven yards out, but his volley went over the bar in the twelfth minute.

The home side continued to press and on fourteen minutes, some nice play, which included a one-two between Foley and Burke, put the former in a good position in the box, just to left of the goal, ten yards out. He managed to get the shot away with three defenders around him, but it went just over the bar.

As Heys continued to press, a free kick on twenty-three minutes from Max Bardsley-Rowe, from twenty-five yards out, was hit low to the keepers right but James Hodges pushed it away.

The opening goal came on twenty-eight minutes when a Cheadle break found its way to Kaleb Parkinson inside the penalty area, with his shot taking a wicked deflection, lifting it over Brad Sullivan, giving him no chance. It was a big blow for Heys who had enough chances beforehand to go in front.

A couple of minutes later, Cheadle were on the attack again. A quick counter ended with the ball with Daniel Byrnes whose shot from the keepers left was well saved by Sullivan and the rebound effort went wide. The visitors started taking control of the game and now it felt like Heys needed to get into half time with just the one goal deficit.

It wasn’t the case though as on forty-four minutes, Cheadle doubled their lead when a shot from around twenty yards out from McKnight skimmed across the ground and inside the keepers right hand post and just a minute later, Cheadle made it three as Prestwich failed to clear their lines for a simple tap in by Adam Davies, scoring his first Cheadle goal.

It would be a more even second half as Heys looked to make a go of it but on fifty-four minutes, the visitors added to their lead when a ball over the top was flicked on by Parkinson for Ryan Morton who found the bottom corner.

Prestwich finally got some reward four minutes later after some good work from Michael Burke inside the penalty area on the left, saw him fire under James Hodges in the Cheadle goal who got a slight touch on the ball but could not keep it out of the net.

On seventy-two minutes, Heys should have scored a second. A goal-mouth scramble from a Luke Jackson cross should have been put away by Luke Byron but he couldn’t control the ball before it was cleared away.

For the rest of the match, Cheadle managed the game out as Heys tried to create something, but it wasn’t to be as they went further adrift at the bottom. They will look back and wonder if it would have been a much different game if one or two of the early chances had gone in, but the visitors were clinical in their attack and the sucker punch of two quick goals right before half time was always going to make it a huge take to get back into game.

Heys are away to Chadderton on Friday night in a game that will be played at Avro’s Vestacre Stadium, Whitebank Road, Oldham. (7.45pm)

Prestwich Heys: Bradley A Sullivan, Noah Inneh, Elijah Hearn, Gabriel Mooney-Munoz, Nathan Bartram-Conway, Joseph Thompson, Max Bardsley-Rowe, Luke Byron, Thomas Woodward, Michael Burke, Kyle Foley, Subs: Lewis Ayres (for Bardsley-Rowe 85 mins), Bryson Appleton (for Foley 70 mins), Hudson Davies (for Mooney-Munoz 76 mins), Luke Jackson (for Woodward 60 mins), Regan Brown (for Hearn 45 mins)