Saturday 29th September 2007 Darwen 0 Ashton Athletic 1

Ashton notched up their 12th match unbeaten with a gritty display at Darwen's Anchor ground as a late goal from Adam White in the closing minutes snatched the 3 points despite having been reduced to 10 men for the closing 12 minutes of the game.

Darwen started brightly as the midfield pair of Jones and Parkes dominated and several half chances were created but not taken advantage of. It took 12 minutes for Ashton to threaten the home goal as Simon Gallanders' Cruyff turn beat his man before delivering and back post cross which Steve Wallace could not convert.
Darwen remained in the ascendancy and Ashton were forced to play on the break, which in the 15th minute they did to great affect. Keeper Andy Hewitt claimed a Darwen corner and quickly distributed to Steve Bennett whose driving run down the right flank, beat his man and delivered a great near post cross that was well met by Richard Sharpe but the effort cleared the bar.
Ashton raised their game as half time approached but it was Darwen that created the chances with Telfer and lively strike partners Stanford and Morris having efforts well saved by Ashton keeper Hewitt. Darwen's best opportunity to take the lead fell to defender Daniel Finch who blazed a shot over the bar from close range after a Darwen set piece, and Ashton were relieved to go in all square at half time. HT 0-0
The second half was a much more even affair with Ashton upping their game significantly, as midfielders White and Gallanders worked hard to wrestle the initiative, whilst the Ashton defence muscled up to repel the less frequent raids from Stanford and Morris.
Darwen almost took the lead as a Dennis Hill free kick was saved spectacularly by keeper Hewitt, tipping the ball over the bar as the shot sailed towards the top corner.
Both sides made changes in attack to attempt to take all three points and the fresh legs gave the game a new impetus as both defences were stretched on numerous occasions, however the final ball or shot always seemed to be lacking.
A full bloodied challenge in the midfield in the 78th minute resulted in Ashton's Dave Sherlock being helped from the field with what appeared to be a bad knee injury, and having made the regulation 3 subs already Ashton faced the prospect of finishing the game with ten men.
After a few minutes settling in period when Darwen pushed hard the loss of Sherlock seemed to spur on the remaining 10 men whilst as is often the case the team with the numerical advantage eased off slightly.
The combination of these two very different states of mind gave Ashton the opportunity as on 86 minutes Tom Potter cut in from the right and whipped in a shot come cross towards the back post. The cross found midfielder White making a late run into the back post and at full stretch he managed to poke the ball into the bottom corner despite the efforts of Darwen keeper Nathan Worrall. Darwen claimed off side but the pace of White had beaten the defensive line and the goal stood.

Late strike from Ashton's Adam White seals the three point

Darwen threw men forward in the final minutes but yet again the superb Ashton defence firmed up to deny the home side any points from their afternoon's work.

A great battling performance by Ashton and the impressive work rate and quality of Simon Gallenders earned him a MoM award whilst Darwen's midfield General, Jason Jones was the home team MoM.

The reserve team suffered a setback going down to a Flixton Reserves 2-4, with goals from Paul Townshend and Pete Tarpey insufficient to earn any points.

Ashton now move on to a series of knockout matches with next Saturday’s FA Vase home tie with Colne the pick of the bunch but before that, on Tuesday 6th October they entertain Atherton LR in the Goldline Trophy Quarter Final 7.45pm kick off.

The following Tuesday the team travel to Daisy Hill for a Co-operative Cup 1st round tie and then on Saturday 13th October are at home again when Padiham are the visitors for a 3pm kick off in the Vodkat League Cup.