Statistics

Match Summary
Biggest Home Win	5-0	22/10/24 v Barnton (Cheshire Senior Cup)
Biggest Away Win	4-1	17/08/24 v Allscott Heath (First Division South) 16/11/24 v Ashville (First Division South)
Biggest Home Defeat	0-4	05/10/24 v Abbey Hulton United (First Division South)
Biggest Away Defeat	0-7	21/01/25 v Hyde United (Cheshire Senior Cup)
Highest Drawn Home Game	1-1	27/07/24 v Stafford Town (First Division South) 07/09/24 v Alsager Town (First Division South)
Highest Drawn Away Game	2-2	26/08/24 v Wolverhampton Sporting Community (First Division South) 21/09/24 v Frickley Athletic (The Isuzu FA Vase)
Highest Aggregate Home Scoreline	7	4-3 13/08/24 v Cammell Laird 1907 (First Division South) 2-5 20/08/24 v Cheadle Heath Nomads (First Division South)
Highest Aggregate Away Scoreline	9	4-5 19/04/25 v Stafford Town (First Division South Play Offs)

 

Season at a Glance
	Home		Away		Total
	#	%	#	%	#	%
Played	20		25		45
Won	11	55.00%	14	56.00%	25	55.56%
Drawn	2	10.00%	4	16.00%	6	13.33%
Lost	7	35.00%	7	28.00%	14	31.11%
Scored	41	2.05	45	1.80	86	1.91
Conceded	30	1.50	44	1.76	74	1.64

 

Progression in Cup Competitions
The Isuzu FA Vase	2nd Round	2-3	Heanor Town	(H)
The Macron Cup	1st Round	0-2	Winsford United	(A)
The Edward Case Cup	2nd Round	1-2	Cheadle Heath Nomads	(H)
Cheshire Senior Cup	Quarter Finals	0-7	Hyde United	(A)
First Division South Play Offs	Semi Finals	4-5	Stafford Town	(A)

 

Home Attendance Summary
Average Attendance	20 games	199

 

Number of Games Since
Last Win	2 games
Last Defeat	0 games
Goalless Draw	7 games
Score Draw	1 game
Scored A Goal	0 games
Fail To Score	3 games
Clean Sheet	2 games

 

Scored / Conceded This Season
	Scored		Conceded
	#	%	#	%
None	7	15.56%	14	31.11%
One	14	31.11%	12	26.67%
Two	10	22.22%	6	13.33%
Three	5	11.11%	8	17.78%
Four	8	17.78%	1	2.22%
Five or more	1	2.22%	4	8.89%

 

When the Goals Went In
	For		Against		Total
	#	%	#	%	#	%
0-15	7	8.24%	9	0.00%	7	4.40%
16-30	12	14.12%	7	9.46%	19	11.95%
31-45	18	21.18%	13	17.57%	31	19.50%
46-60	10	11.76%	19	25.68%	29	18.24%
61-75	16	18.82%	10	13.51%	26	16.35%
76-90	22	25.88%	16	21.62%	38	23.90%
90-105	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%
105-120	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%

 

History

The club was formed in 2004 following the merger of Sandbach Albion and Sandbach Ramblers. They initially competed in the Staffordshire County League, but in 2011 they joined the Cheshire League. They were promoted to the competition's top flight in 2014, and in 2016 they were admitted to the North West Counties Football League Division One, at level 10 of the English football league system.

In the first season in the North West Counties Football League they finished in 6th position, missing out on promotion, and they reached the final of the Reusch First Division Challenge Cup.

In 2017–18 they entered the FA Vase for the first time, but were beaten 2–0 at home by AFC Emley. In 2017/18 they beat Tranmere Rovers 2–1 in the Cheshire Senior Cup preliminary round.

The 2018–19 season provided the club with its first trophy since joining The North West Counties Football League as they defeated Avro FC 4–2 to lift The First Division Challenge Cup. The club also made their debut in the FA Cup, joining the competition in the extra preliminary round, but got knocked out by Parkgate in this round.

The 2019–20 season was very different indeed, Sandbach United were unable to replicate the high league position for most of the season and struggled with many player changes which disrupted the team. However, they did continue to impress in the challenge cup as holders it gave the team hope of some success. The season was curtailed and declared null and void due to COVID-19, this ironically was to be a blessing a it gave the team chance to regroup and when the league decided to play out the remaining rounds of the cup in September 2020 Sandbach took the chance and went on to retain the cup in an exciting game against AFC Liverpool. The game finished 2–2 with Sandbach coming from behind twice, the cup was ultimately decided on penalties with Sandbach the victors with a 4–3 shootout score. A further piece of luck sees Sandbach get another shot at promotion after the null and void season meant it was four to be promoted again in the 2020–21 season.


The 2020–21 season started well with Sandbach maintaining a playoff position throughout the season until once again the season was brought to an end through the pandemic. Sandbach, confident of promotion, sat in the top four and were dismayed when the FA decided that promotion would be based on average PPG over the last two seasons. This resulted in Sandbach dropping out of the top four sides being replaced by Stone Old Aalenian who found themselves promoted and laterally moved. Ironically, missing out on promotion probably saved Sandbach from a lateral move to the Midland league.

The 2021–22 season started well with Sandbach holding the top spot by the end of the August, however through September the team slid down the league with a number of draws falling to 7th place by December. A positive for the season was an extended FA Vase run which saw Sandbach reach the 3rd round proper for the first time in the club’s history beating one of the favourites along the way (Hanley Town) until finally succumbing to Loughborough Students. In January 2022, it was announced by the club that first team manager Andy Hockenhull would step down from his role after 9 years in charge. The club swiftly appointed Declan Swan as caretaker manager whilst the club searched for a permanent manager for the 2022–23 season with the caretaker manager making an instant impact with a euphoric 5–3 victory away in the league to FC IOM. Sandbach being the only team in the season that has secured a victory at the Bowl in the league. After a rigorous interview process with a large number of applicants Declan Swan was appointed as the full-time manager for the 2022–23 season. The team spirit lifted and results improved towards the latter end of the season as Sandbach maintained their 8th place in the league. Sandbach were disappointed to be knocked out of the Edward Case cup despite having won it two years in a row to the FC IOM 1-2 in a closely fought game. FC IOM going on to lift the trophy for their first time.

The 2022-23 season starts with the club having once again made ground improvements with the installation of the Andrew Kimber stand as preparations continue to get the ground to a step 5 grading. 2023 turned out to be a successful season for the club as it suffered a poor run of games in October losing 7 in a row, but bounced back with a run of 17 games without defeat to catapult itself into the play off places. It was not until the final game of the season that 3rd place was attained.
The play off Semi Final home tie was secured and Sandbach defeated Brocton in front of a new home record attendance, an unlikely result in the other Semi Final meant Sandbach had secured a Play-off final at home against in in form Cheadle Town in front of a new record attendance. Sadly, it was not meant to be and an injury plagued United were defeated for the 3rd time in the play offs in 6 years. Looking back though it was a successful season with a highest ever placed league finish and renewed hope going into 2023/24
The 23/24 season started with poorly as Sandbach plummeted down the league in August with a winless run with bad starts seemingly a theme of late. But this was to change in October just like the season before when the team went on a fantastic winning streak climbing the table rapidly to make the top 3 where the team pretty much remained for the season. It was to be a year of draws in the cups and numerous penalty shootouts with Sandbach finding their way to the SF of the Edward Case cup losing out to eventual cup winners Bacup Borough. As the season came to a conclusion Sandbach once again finished in their joint highest position 3rd in the league albeit securing the spot earlier than the season before.
The play-off draw pitted Sandbach against 4th placed Abbey Hey in what was sure to be a tactical game and ultimately Sandbach were overrun on the day losing once again 1-3 in a game where Sandbach simply did not perform. Making it 4 play-off defeats from 7 seasons (Two of which were curtailed through covid) The question raised by many can Sandbach ever win a play-off!

The 2024-25 season saw the Ramblers have a tough start having lost 13 players predominantly poached by higher league clubs, so with a largely new squad in place it took time to settle with a poor start in August where one third of the league games took place. The usual good run then commenced in late September and the tide turned with Sandbach climbing the table into the play off places where they remained all season and chased down the leading two teams.
Towards the end of the Season Sandbach had the opportunity to overtake Stafford Town to secure a highest ever finish of 3rd place, but alas with 5 injuries in the first twenty minutes of the final league game (Ironically against Stafford) the result was not to be and Sandbach slipped to 4th place and a semi-final play-off game against Stafford Town again.
The semi-final was certainly a game to remember and it swung one way then the other but ultimately a red card for Goodwin gave Stafford the edge in a thrilling 5-4 loss and our season was once again and for the 5th time ended in the playoffs.