Saturday 3rd March 2007 Ashton Athletic FC 0 New Mills 2

New Mills came to Brocstedes Park in top form having strung together an enviable run of results with only one loss in ten matches, and on the first half showing look like possible “dark horses” for a promotion spot if their huge back log of games does not hinder their progress.
For the vast majority of the first 30 minutes of the match the visitors thoroughly dominated the game limiting Ashton to a handful of sporadic breaks. This supremacy was a combination of good pressure and quality by “the Millers” whilst Ashton were strangely disjointed and struggled to find the form that had been displayed over recent months, repeatedly squandering possession.
Sluggish play in the midfield allowed Millers’ Adam Mather to steal the ball and play an early through ball that found the predatory Paul Garvey clear through on goal who made no mistake placing the ball hard and low into the bottom corner. 0-1
This signalled what can only be described as an onslaught onto the Ashton back line as wave after wave of attacks allowed the influential Carlos Meakin, hard working strikers Garvey and Mike Myers and tricky wingers Mather and McG”ill several sights at goal that were not taken advantage of, largely as a result of good “backs to the wall” defending, without which Ashton could have been down and out.
It was not until the 30th minute that Ashton finally strung a few passes together, and having done so opened up the Millers’ defence as Matt Mahoney help on Ashton’s first through ball to Steve Bennett whose shot was well parried by Barry George. Mahoney pounced on the rebound only to have his effort blocked by the recovering defender and then Adam white intercepted the loose ball and his chip forced George to make a finger tip save, turning the effort away for a corner.
New Mills responded as more lost possession in midfield was capitalised on as Mather broke through again, striking the outside of the post with a firm drive, whilst Meakin and then McGill also came close but their shots failed to trouble keeper Hewitt. Ashton skipper Rothwell also made a great overhead clearance off the line to prevent New Mills from increasing the lead just before the break.
New Mills’ dominance deserved a more commanding half time lead, however in the last few minutes of the first half Ashton could have equalised as more good play through Adam White, Matt Mahoney and Steve Bennett allowed Bennett to break through for a one on one with keeper George and just took the wrong option of trying to play in White with a square ball when a strike on goal would might been the better option, and the chance was lost.
The second half got underway with the teams in reverse roles as Ashton pulled their fingers out and started to compete whilst New Mills suddenly started to squander possession themselves. Efforts by Steve Bennett, again played in by Matt Mahoney was denied by a good recovering block by full back Mike Davies then Tom Potter forced George into a full length save from a long range free kick after 52 minutes.
New Mills were now having to play on the break and efforts by Meakin and Myers produced sound saves from Hewitt whilst for Ashton Andy Smith crafted openings for White and Mahoney who both shot narrowly wide from promising positions.
A major blow for Ashton came in the 65th minute with Ashton looking likely to peg a goal back, as centre half Mike Watson was adjudged by the referee to have caught Millers’ Garvey with a stray arm that was felt to be worthy of a straight red card, even though the player seemed to be unhurt by the incident.
Despite this setback, the home side continued to push forward and skipper Rothwell almost equalised getting first to a loose ball after a Tom Potter free kick but his toe poke from 3 yards was saved by George.
The extra man was proving useful on the break for New Mills’ as substitute Brian Walsh found space to test Hewitt just before clever movement from Stuart Mcgill sucked in left back Aspinall to leave room behind the defence which McGill himself exploited, peeling off to latch on to a through ball from Meakin. McGill’s shot was scuffed but still managed to skip over the diving Hewitt and even evaded Peter Hitchen on the line whose tiring legs could not react to a late bobble, allowing McGill to increase the visitors’s lead in the 75th minute. 0-2
Ashton battled on gamely but New Mills put up the shutters and denied the home side any further sight of goal. FT 0-2.
Midfielders Carlos Meakin for New Mills and Adam White for Ashton took the MoM awards.
Next week, without a league fixture will play away at newly crowned Manchester League First Division Champions Walshaw, 2.30pm Kick Off. The Reserves have a home match against Chadderton Reserves 3pm Kick off