A big game this early?

Well, It's quite simple. If Ashton Town want to keep the dream of appearing in a final at the Reebok Stadium alive they have to win on Thursday. Not only do they have to win but they have to hope that they gain a superior goal difference to Eagley who are away to Euxton Villa. The funny thing about Thursday is that the only team that hold their own destiny is group leaders Euxton Villa. Euxton Villa are currently on 6 points and the simple maths is that if they win they their match on Thursday they win the group. Ashton and Eagley need to hope they better each others result but if both Ashton and Eagley lose on Thursday and Elton Vale win they themselves still have an outside chance of going through. That's the maths bit out the way.

Ashton are in this predicament because of a home defeat to Euxton Villa on Saturday. A match which seen Ashton reduced to 9 men and 3-0 down at half time. After half time Ashton were much better and managed to get a goal back through Gary Doyle's low drive. 30 seconds later it should of been 3-2 when a perfectly executed corner ended in a bullet header from Doyle which flew past the 6 foot 8 goal keeper and into the back of the net. The referee seen a phantom push though from 5 foot 5 Chris Lomax on the Goalkeeper and blew for a free kick.To be fair to the keeper he had kept Ashton at bay single handidly with fantastic saves from efforts by Ste Dee, Mulrooney, Edwards and a save with the face after the ball hit him without him knowing anything about it.

So as I say, If we better Eagley's result we are through.

I'd also like to point out the rest of the fixtures for the forthcoming season are out. The highlights are as follows:

Saturday 11th September sees us host many people's favourites AFC Liverpool at EGS with new club Runcorn Town the visitors 10 days later.

The First of the two meetings between ourselves and near neighbours Wigan Robin Park takes place at the Robin Park Arena on Saturday 30th October with the return at Edge Green Street scheduled for Tuesday 8th March.

There are no Boxing Day fixtures this year as we face Daisy Hill at home on Monday 27th December before making the long trip to Holker Old Boys the following Monday (3rd January).

The run in sees us host Rochdale Town on Saturday 23rd April before making the short trip to Daisy Hill on Wednesday 27th and returning to EGS on Sat 30th April to finish the season against AFC Blackpool.

All the fixtures will be on the Vodkat League website soon.

Onwards and Upwards

A good start in the Goldline Trophy

Ashton Town began this seasons Goldline Trophy with a win in their first match in Group 2. After travelling to the black hole of Bolton and then just a bit further up and on the right down a bumpy path we found a nice little pitch at Eagley Cricket Club. Little being the key word. With players still arriving right up until kick off (or 5 minutes in to the match in Mawds' case) ideal preparation wasn't exactly the words I would use. With everything adding up including rush hour traffic, a tricky place to find and late arrivals I suppose a slow start on the pitch was to be expected.

Eagley started bright and chased and harrassed for the first half. They found themselves a goal up through a well worked goal as the ball was set from the left for the Eagley man to side foot low to Andy Hewitt's left and into the bottom corner. Ashton never had anything to shout about in the first half, even though Edwards had a goal disallowed for offside, and went in at the break on the wrong end of the 1-0 scoreline.

In the second half Ashton came out with the words of JC fresh in thier minds and within 9 minutes had turned the scoreline on its head. Goals from Mulrooney and Edwards, who both lifted the ball over the advancing keeper, put Ashton in the driving seat. With about 15 minutes to go Eagley got an equaliser. A free kick on the edge of the box was bent low around the wall and across Andy Hewitt who got his hands to it but couldn't push it anywere but the back of the net.

With 7 minutes to go captain Lee Crompton scored what turned out to be the winning goal follwing a corner. The ball was swung in from the left and as Eagley failed to clear the ball, Lomax turned it back into the penalty area. Crompton controlled the ball in one touch and poked it low and home with his second.

After a poor first half everyone connected to Ashton was proud of how the team come from behind to win the game.

In the other game in the group G. Johnstone scored a brace as Euxton Villa beat Elton Vale by 3 goals to 1.

Next up for Ashton Town is a friendly at EGS against EvoStik Premier League side Burscough before a home tie in the Goldline Trophy on Saturday against Euxton Villa.

Onwards and Upwards

Welcome to the 2010/11 season at EGS

We're back!!! And what a summer it's been. Since my last blog before the away trip to Cheadle at the back end of April a lot has happened in the world of football. Incedentally we lost that game at Cheadle by 3 goals to 2. Following that loss we then beat Oldham Boro 4-1 at home and on the last day of the season lost by 4 goals to 3 away at promotion winning Barnoldswick Town. That meant Ashton Town finished on 40 points in 13th position of the Vodkat League 1st Division.

It must also be mentioned that Ian Granite's reserves finished in 4th position in the reserve division on 50 points from 26 games. Well done lads.

Since then we've had the World Cup that never got going (for England anyway), which was of course won by Spain. We've had trial days held at Ashton Town's Edge Green Street ground, well the school field outside, and with all Ashton's players back from World Cup duty in South Africa we've started pre season. In addition to all this we've had the excitement of the possibility of the brand new club Chester FC, who rose from the ashes of Chester City, joining our league only for that to be take away from us the day before the league's AGM by the FA who said they should be placed in the EvoStik League (formally the Unibond League). Not only did we have Chester FC taken from us but also the chance of a 20 team division as unfortunately Nelson FC from the Premier Division resigned from the league meaning our near neighbours Ashton Athletic, who were relegated to our division at the end of the season, have now been reprieved and will therefore play in the Premier division once again next season. Not only that, but we also seem to have lost West Didsbury & Chorlton FC who applied to join the league and were duly accepted by member clubs. The FA however recommended that West Didsbury & Chorlton FC should remain in the Manchester League. That means we could be left with 18 teams next season after the league welcomed AFC Darwen, reformed when Darwen FC went out the league a year ago, and Runcorn Town from the West Cheshire League.

We have been training now for a few weeks and we have also had a couple of matches. The first match was a full scale practice match held at St John Rigby College near Orrell. For what its worth the game finished 4-2 to the Oranges, although both teams were swapped on numerous occaisions and quite a few players played on both teams at some point throughout the afternoon. The second pair of matches were played on Saturday 17th June at Edge Green Street with the reserves and trialists team kicking off at 12:30 against Widnes Town. The match finished 2-1 to Ashton Town. I must say the winning goal scored by Lee Harrison was a quality piece of skill. As he received the ball on the edge of the box he turned the defender and chipped the keeper leaving him in no mans land as the ball nestled high into the net. The second match of the day kicked off at 3pm and seen Ashton Towns first team squad face local side Ashtonians FC. With Ashton Town 3-0 up and cruising with half an hour to go it all went pear shaped. The key word in the last sentence was cruising and as Ashtonians pulled one back Town got into a rut they just couldn't get out of and 3-1 soon became 3-2 and then 3-3. Town then had a goal disallowed for off side with 4 minutes to go and in the very last seconds of the match Edwards pulled the ball back for Mulrooney to strike home. The Ashtonians defender had other ideas though and dived to his right making a fine one-handed save. The referee duly awarded the penalty which Mulrooney wanted to take. He put the ball on the spot and took his run up only to drag the ball wide of the left post meaning the game finished 3 a piece.

Next up for Ashton is a trip to Eagley in our first match of the Goldline Trophy Group stage. The match kicks off at 6:30pm. After the Eagley game its back home to Edge Green Street for a Friendly against EvoStik League side Burscough. Our attentions then turn back to the Goldline Trophy for a home tie against Euxton Villa and an away trip to Elton Vale completes the group stage.

The rest of our Pre season is as follows:

Mon 19th July Eagley (A) Goldline Trophy
Thu 22nd July Burscough (H) Friendly
Sat 24th July Euxton Villa (H) Goldline Trophy
Thu 29th July Elton Vale (A) Goldline Trophy
Sat 31st July Maghull (A) Friendly

The following week (Aug 7th) sees us starting the season at home to Oldham Boro. Two days later we travel the short distance to Atherton Collieries followed by a trip to Colne in the FA cup Extra Preliminary round on the 14th August.

The first month of fixtures are as follows:

Sat Aug 7th Oldham Boro (H) League
Mon Aug 9th Atherton Cols (A) League
Sat 14th Aug Colne (A) FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
Tue 17th Aug Cheadle Town (H) League (unless the FA cup goes to a replay)
Sat 21st Aug West Didsbury & Chorlton (H) League (if accepted to league)
Sat 28th Aug FA Cup Prelimary round (depending on result V Colne)
Sat 4th Sept Maltby Main (A) FA Vase 1st Qualifying round

Things are coming thick and fast down at Edge Green Street and there is plenty to look forward to. This season could be a big one....

Onwards and Upwards