Out but not down the review of the fa cup and a preview to Cheadle Town

The saying goes "down but not out" but in Ashton's case it's the opposite way round. It's a case of out of the FA Cup at the 1st hurdle. That hurdle though couldn't knock us down but could only give us a little set back. Looking from the outside and looking at the result on the vodkatleague website on Saturday night you would think a nice routine win for Colne but the truth is that it was far from it.
The first half seen Ashton shoot down the hill. Ashton defended resolutely and lads put their bodies on the line for the club. Ashton did put the ball in the back of the net in the first 45 minutes from the left foot of Kev Hill however the linesman had raised his flag for offside. The only other chance in the first half worth noting for Ashton came when Stephen Edwards broke free of the last man only to mis-cue and lift his effort tamely wide.
The second half seen Ashton shoot up the hill and 5 minutes in Colne took a quick throw in on the half way line. The Colne number 11 turned and ran at the Ashton defense. He began to stumble about 10 yards from the box but managed to stay on his feet until he reached the penalty area. When he enterred the penalty area he lost his footing and the referee pointed to the spot. The rusulting kick was tucked away by Garvin after he hit it low to Hewitt's right. Hewitt did get his hand to it but couldn't get enough on it to keep it out. 2 minutes later the same player again fell in the box only this time he was told to get to his feet.
Colne were then reduced to 10 men as Ashton broke away and Edwards was through on goal when he was brought down by Colne's number 6. On 69 minutes the ten men got their second goal of the game when Andy Hewitt claimed a ball out the air. He was brought down to the ground by a Colne player and dropped the ball. The referee didn't consider it to be a foul and play continued. The ball was turned in by Riley. Ashton failed to capitalise on the one man advantage and couldn't find the breakthrough that was needed.
Good Luck to Colne in the competition but for Ashton we now turn our attentions back to the bread and butter of the league.

Next up for Ashton in the league is a home tie against Cheadle Town on Tuesday 17th August. Last seasons corresponding fixture seen both sides reduced to 10 men, both sides had a goal disallowed, both sides had chances cleared off the line and both sides managed to score a goal each. The match finsihed 1-1 and was packed with incedents even including a pitch invasion by a dog! In the reverse fixture Cheadle came out on top winning the match by 3 goals to 2 although the match will be remembered for Craig Fitzjohn's screamer form 30 yards.
This season Cheadle have started well beating Daisy Hill on the opening day of the season by 3 goals to 0 following that up with a creditable 1-1 draw against Chadderton at Andrew Street. Cheadle have also progressed in the FA Cup after seeing off Vodkat Premier Division side Squires Gate winning 3-0.

If Ashton can defend like they did for the majority of the FA cup tie at Colne on Saturday that will be a great basis to build on. Let's hope we can make it two home wins out of two. Cheadle will certainly come to EGS in a confident mood and who can blame them? But it's Ashton's home turf and we need to keep EGS the difficult place to come that we made it last year.

Onwards and Upwards