2.45pm 21 February 2026
Cheshire League, League Two
Wigan Town 6 Sandbach Town 2 (att 10)
When I last saw Wigan Town at home, in April 2024, they were using the well-appointed ground of amateur rugby league club Ince Rose Bridge. At the start of this season they moved a short distance to the new Leisure United William Foster facility.
It's typical of such venues, with a building housing changing rooms, toilets and a café alongside a pair of 3G pitches. Both have a spectator area running the length of one side, while 'pitch one' also has partial access at one end.
Grounds like this often come in for criticism, but on an afternoon of constant heavy rain there's almost no chance this fixture, or the Wigan Amateur League fixture on the adjacent pitch, would have survived.
My plan was to watch whichever match was on pitch one. Having previously visited what was then William Foster's Playing Fields in 2012, the single grass pitch back them mostly overlapped what is now 'pitch two'. Needless to say, the place has changed beyond all recognition in the last 14 years.
A game between the league's bottom two sides, with just a win apiece ahead of kick off, didn't promise much, but turned out to be good entertainment.
Sandbach Town, whose only win was back in August, scored first, a little against the run of play. Wigan Town, whose only previous points were a win at Sandbach in early January, soon hit back, and went ahead just before half time.
In the second period the home side took control. They extended their advantage to 5-1 before the visitors vaguely threated a comeback by scoring again. But it didn't take long for Wigan to restore their four goal cushion. They could, and perhaps should, have added more before the final whistle.
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