Yellows Make A Point

Ashton Athletic FC and St Helens Town shared the spoils at Brocstedes Park in a 2-2 stalemate, but the yellows should have had all three, with the visitors playing for the last 20 minutes with only ten men, following the dismissal of central mid-fielder Craig Fitzjohn for a second yellow card. The final score of 2-2 mirrored the result from the away game at Edge Green Street on 4th September.

We had lost their last ten games going in to the encounter, but took an early lead when Mark Bailey netted with an easy header from a corner kick on 8 minutes. the visitors responded well with Carl Osman combining well with Ste Edwards up front and they almost brought an equaliser, but home keeper Hayden Buckley-Smith turned the shot round the post. the visitors pressed again and McNair was fouled after 23 minutes just outside the box. the yellows however easily defended the free kick.

The pitch was already very heavy and rain fell incessantly for the final three quarters of the match. This, however, was much more to Town’s advantage and the visitors levelled when Lee Harrison ran on to a long pass, Looking a mile off side he kept the ball in play and netted the equaliser from a very tight angle out wide with 31 minutes gone.

It was St Helens who had the first opportunity of the second half, but Buckley-Smith saved well. The action transferred to the other end and Helio Andre ran on to a long pass, then crossed for former Town midfielder David Berry to put the yellows in front again on 54 minutes. St Helens Towns response, however, was immediate. From the kick-off, Williams found Edwards in space and he finished smartly from 10 yards for what turned out to be the final goal of the game.

Craig Fitzjohn’s dismissal for a second yellow card hardly affected the visitors ambitions and they restricting Ashton to just a couple of long-range efforts in the last 20 minutes of the game, the visitors had one or two late oppotunities to secure a the victory, the best falling to Osman who went through one on one on the home keeper before substitutes Shaun Judge had half chance to score, but he could not get clean contact on the ball.

On today's showing St Helens Town look capable of finishing out of the danger zone and hopefully the point gained will spur us on to pick up the points needed to secure our premier division status.

It was good to see Lee Hodgkinson, Callum Jones, Shaun Mangan and Helio Andre all returning in the match after long lays for one reason or another.