All the headlines this week belong to young full-back, Ben Chilcott, who suffered a horrendous injury midway through the second half of the weekend’s 1–1 draw at Congleton.

Chilcott had only been introduced as a substitute in the 25th minute with defender, Stu Dickin, sent off for a second yellow and manager Matt Burton was forced into a reshuffle.

The 10-men were resilient throughout, but minutes after Congleton pegged Alport back, Chilcott was left prostrate with what turned out to be a double ankle fracture along with tendon and ligament damage.

The 20-year-old was taken to Leighton Hospital where he had successful surgery on Monday and the thoughts of everyone at the Whitchurch Herald along with those of all his friends at Yockings Park are with the likeable defender.

Alport would ordinarily have celebrated a fantastically earned point at the Cheshire Silk 106.9 Stadium, but any gloss turned into undercoat when the extent of Chilcott’s injury was known.

Burton was gutted for his young protégé: “He’s going to be out for the rest of the year I would imagine not just the rest of this season so it’s a massive blow for us as well as the lad.

“He’s a smashing player and but for a terrible refereeing decision when he sent Dickin off, we might not have had to put Chilly on so early and the afternoon would have gone in a completely different direction.

“He’s with a great club and we will do all we can to help him.”

Whitchurch suffered two further injury blows during Monday night’s 2–1 win at Winsford.

Goalscorer Alex Hughes had to be carried off in the closing stages with a painful ankle injury and midfielder Dan Skelton was sporting a black eye after a high challenge which brought a yellow card for his assailant.

Matty Owen was also withdrawn at half-time with a badly swollen ankle so Burton is relieved not to have a fixture this weekend: “We are a bit like the walking wounded at the moment but the referee afforded us no protection out there tonight.

“I thought Winsford’s discipline was awful and when I look at one of my players sent off at the weekend for the most innocuous challenge you will ever see, it rankles that some X-rated tackles went largely unpunished.”

Burton was delighted to get the victory – only a second in the last 15 matches – and felt that the three points were richly deserved: “We were the best side out there no question about it,” he said.

“When Jonah [Steve Jones] scored about five minutes into added-on time you puff your cheeks out and feel mightily relieved to finally get over the line.

“Then they score which set up a really nervy ending for us, but it would have been a travesty had they got anything out of the game.

“We were much better tonight and showed bags of resilience and character.

“There were some top performances out there on a really tricky surface and against a really physical side, but what pleased me is that we showed a lot of aggression which proved to me that we can mix it if we need to, and that has been missing in some of the matches we have played.”

The Reds boss also paid tribute to the travelling Red Army who turned out in fantastic numbers to back the team.

“There are only perhaps the two Northwich teams who travel as well as we do but to see that many come and support us on a chilly Monday evening emphasises what a big club we are,” he said.

“I’d like to thank them and hope they saw a much better performance from us. That win was for them.”

Whitchurch Alport will host a bingo evening in the Cadstones clubhouse this coming Friday night.

The sessions are usually well-attended and there are always some great prizes on offer – it’s eyes down at 7pm.