The season so far.......

As Christmas and New Year approaches Ashton currently sit in 12th place in the Vodkat Premier Division and at a crossroads in their first season in the NWCFL top flight. The next four matches against Runcorn, Abbey Hey, St Helens and Ramsbottom will give a strong indication of whether the team will push on for a top half finish, or be faced with a relegation dogfight.

The recent form in the last 8 league matches, shown in the second table below, suggests that the team is capable of moving in the right direction but in a season that has been a continued learning curve for the relatively inexperienced squad, it will be this sort of form that will needed to be reciprocated into the second half of the season.

The recent success of the Reserve team, currently on a 6 game unbeaten run is also a contributing factor in the strong performance in the last 8 games with several players showing the form to push into the first team presenting persistent and pleasant selection headaches for the first team management team.

The return from injury/illness of several senior players also continues to give encouragement, and a special mention must be made of last season's top scorer for the Club, Paul McVeigh who has been working terrifically hard to get back into action after his 4 month injury lay off. Paul has had a couple of Reserve Team cameo roles and will be busting a gut in the next few weeks to force his way back into the first team squad.

Vodkat Premier Division league table at 14.12.08

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	PP
1	AFC Fylde	17	15	0	2	53	17	36	45	120
2	Newcastle Town	18	12	4	2	42	15	27	40	112
3	New Mills	18	12	2	4	38	18	20	38	110
4	Congleton Tn	18	12	2	4	37	24	13	38	110
5	Glossop NE	18	10	3	5	32	22	10	33	105
6	Squires Gate	18	7	8	3	27	18	9	29	101
7	Winsford Utd	21	8	4	9	30	35	-5	28	91
8	Silsden AFC	18	7	6	5	32	30	2	27	99
9	Atherton LR	19	6	8	5	41	32	9	26	95
10	Runcorn Linnets	16	8	1	7	27	28	-1	25	103
11	Alsager Tn	18	8	1	9	27	29	-2	25	97
12	Ashton Athletic	18	7	3	8	21	30	-9	24	96
13	Bacup Borough	14	5	5	4	30	25	5	20	104
14	Ramsbottom Utd	18	6	5	7	25	27	-2	19	91
15	Nelson	18	4	6	8	30	40	-10	18	90
16	Abbey Hey	17	5	2	10	24	35	-11	17	92
17	Maine Road	19	5	2	12	29	45	-16	17	86
18	Flixton	19	3	7	9	26	43	-17	16	85
19	Formby	18	4	3	11	27	30	-3	15	87
20	Colne	13	3	5	5	26	27	-1	14	101
21	Atherton Colls	19	4	2	13	23	54	-31	14	83
22	St Helens Town	18	4	1	13	23	46	-23	13	85

FORM TABLE IN LAST 8 LEAGUE MATCHES (AS AT 14.12.08)
Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	AFC Fylde	8	7	0	1	23	7	16	21
2	New Mills	8	6	1	1	18	5	13	19
3	Newcastle Town	8	5	2	1	15	8	7	17
4	Glossop NE	8	5	1	2	19	11	8	16
5	Congleton Tn	8	5	1	2	17	12	5	16
6	Ashton Athletic	8	4	2	2	11	12	-1	14
7	Squires Gate	8	3	4	1	9	4	5	13
8	Atherton Collieries	8	4	1	3	16	17	-1	13
9	Alsager Tn	8	4	1	3	12	13	-1	13
10	Bacup Borough	8	3	3	2	20	17	3	12
11	Silsden AFC	8	3	3	2	14	12	2	12
12	Runcorn Linnets	8	4	0	4	12	15	-3	12
13	Abbey Hey	8	3	2	3	15	12	3	11
14	Winsford Utd	8	3	2	3	10	12	-2	11
15	Atherton LR	8	2	4	2	19	17	2	10
16	Colne	8	2	3	3	15	17	-2	9
17	Maine Road	8	2	2	4	16	19	-3	8
18	Flixton	8	2	2	4	10	16	-6	8
19	Ramsbottom United	8	2	1	5	12	15	-3	7
20	Formby	8	1	2	5	10	11	-1	5
21	Nelson	8	0	4	4	10	19	-9	4
22	St Helens Town	8	0	1	7	9	28	-19	1