Saturday 24th March 2007 New Mills 4 Ashton Athletic 0

Ashton were well beaten on their travels to Derbyshire as New Mills once again showed promotion contender’s form compared with a lacklustre show from Ashton.
Ashton were missing the suspended Mike Watson and Adam White, as well as calf injury victim Steve Bennett from the side that played in the last league match, the 0-2 defeat on 3rd March also at the hands of today’s opponents. However with Martin Rigby Paul McVeigh and Richard Sharpe returning to the starting line up there was no excuse for the nature of the performance and overall the team must bounce back in time for the crucial matches as the end of the season approaches.
In the first 15 minutes, it looked an even contest as the teams traded blows with long range efforts from Richard Sharpe and Tom Potter worrying the New Mills keeper and the sizeable home support, whilst Mike Ryan and Carlos Meakin and Paul Garvey forced Andy Hewitt to save, albeit comfortably.
The decisive period in the game then came in a disastrous 10 minutes for Ashton as a long range “punt” by Ryan looked to be sailing towards an easy catch for Hewitt but late communication combined with a failure to react to the shout by Martin Rigby resulted in the ball glancing off Rigby’s head, and over the advancing Hewitt, an own goal to give the home side a gift goal. 0-1
Within 5 minutes New Mills were two up as another direct ball from distance saw Hewitt over keen to make sure that the same did not happen again, but this time Hewitt collided with skipper Rothwell and the loose ball fell to McGill who volleyed home from close range leaving Rothwell and Hewitt in a pile on the floor. 0-2
Hewitt was badly injured in the process with a damaged ankle and although he soldiered on for the remainder of the half his discomfort was plain to see and had to be replaced at half time by striker Paul McVeigh.
Millers’ third came from a well worked move down the left as fist winger Mather and then Paul Garvey were given too much space, with Garvey finding the bottom corner with a well hit drive into the bottom corner in the 25th minute, giving the injured Hewitt no chance to save. 0-3
Ashton showed some spirit towards half time with Tom Potter and Martin Rigby producing strikes on goal that forced saves from keeper Joe Boyle, whilst the Ashton defence finally muscled up to stem the flow of goals. HT 0-3

As the second half got underway with striker McVeigh taking up the challenge in goal, and doing a magnificent job pulling off a memorable save to deny Paul Garvey during the second half that was largely “backs to the wall” for Ashton.
The dominant New Mills midfield of Meakin and the outstanding Mike Ryan prevented Ashton getting any sort of foothold in the match, despite the efforts and none stop work rate of Ashton’s Mike Winer who covered every blade of grass trying to fill holes for his teammates, too many of whom were producing below par performances.

Mike Winer on one of many covering runs

The passing and movement from New Mills was in stark contrast to that of Ashton who failed to show the quality and improvements displayed in the last 4 months.
The Ashton back line, with skipper Steve Rothwell leading by example, continued to show greater determination and in doing so restricted the home side to only a handful of opportunities to increase the lead.
In fact the Millers had to rely on a penalty award resulting from an unwieldy challenge on Garvey by stand in keeper McVeigh, which was well converted in the 72nd minute by Carlos Meakin. 0-4

Substitute Keeper McVeigh prepares to dive the wrong way for the penalty!!

With New Mills taking the foot off the gas Ashton came back into the game towards the end a little with debutant Louis Hughes having the best effort to reduce the deficit with a header that forced the Millers’ keeper to make a sharp save at his feet. FT 0-4
The end score line in no way flattered New Mills and they fully deserved the win whilst Ashton must bounce back to finish the season strongly if a bottom two spot is to be avoided. MoM Mike Ryan stood out for New Mills whilst the effort and determination for the full 90 minutes by Mike Winer earned him Ashton’s accolade.
Follow link for photos, courtesy of New Mills FC.

http://www.newmillsweb.com/NMAFC/Photos-2006-2007/Ashton-240307-Sequence1.jpg

Tuesday 20th March 2007 Ashton Athletic 1 Hindley Town 0

Ashton progressed to the 2nd round of the Atherton Charity Cup competition with a late Paul McVeigh winner in stoppage time, to prevent the dreaded penalty shoot out.
To be fair Hindley produced a battling performance throughout and although Ashton dominated possession for virtually the whole match, and squadered many excellent goalscoring opportunities, Hindley did have a few chances of their own on the break as Ashton's defensive concentration occassionally lapsed, leaving McVeigh to seal the win with a close range finish in the 92nd minute.

In the next round Ashton will face the winners of the Leigh RMI v Highfield first round match, dates to be announced in due course.

SPORTING DINNER Haydock Park Friday 23rd February 2007

SPORTING DINNER Haydock Park Friday 23rd February 2007

More than 350 guests crammed in to the Park Suite at Haydock Park Racecourse to enjoy an evenings top quality entertainment, compared by our very own Jimmy Whyte.
Joey Jones was extremely well received, with his tales of tough tackling and European Cup success, whilst comedian Sean Styles unique brand of humour had the audience glued to their seats (mostly cross legged as no-one dared risk a trip to the gents!)

The dinner raised valuable funds for the continued development of the Club, a final grand total will be announced shortly. A great effort by the Club, in particular Mike Hamilton who worked tirelessly to ensure that the night was a huge success on all fromts. Thanks also to our hosts and Club sponsor Haydock Park racecourse.

In the meantime a few photos have been included below.
Welcome!

Comedian Sean Styles, Far left withAAFC Committee members

AAFC Youth Managers and Coaches










GUESTS ARRIVING

























JOEY JONES IN ACTION














Miscellaneous tables

Top table

Committee table
Players table










Players and guests
Players and guests

Saturday 10th March 2007 Ashton Athletic RES 2 Chadderton RES 1

The first team freindly match at Walshaw was cancelled due to injuries in the Walshaw camp whilst the Reserves entertained Chadderton at Brocstedes Park.
Chadderton took the lead midway through the first half before Paul Mcveigh equalised in the 60th minute with a well judged header after a great cross from Simon Gallanders.
Ashton's winner came with 20 minutes to go as a Pete Tarpey cross from the left found Martin Ormesher in the box, and a first time finish gave Darwen's keeper no chance and gave the Ashton the lead. Chadderton piled on the pressure in the last 10 minutes but the defence held firm and claimed all 3 points that lifts the team up to 11th position.
On Tuesday night the reserves travel to Formby for a 7.30pm Ko and then can look forward to the visit of FC United Reserves on Saturday 17th March 2007.

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