Ashton make it two wins out of two

It was a case of ‘After the Lord Mayors Show’ yesterday as Bacup Borough crashed to defeat against new look Ashton Athletic in a match billed as a real ‘six pointer’ ahead of kick-off.

Bacup Borough were warned by boss Brent Peters that they should expect a game every bit as tough as Wednesday nights epic win over Padiham and this was evident from the first whistle with the Yellows battling hard for everything against a confident Bacup side high on the result from Wednesday night, playing with a strong wind in there favour it was great credit to Jimmy McBride's side that they limit the opposition to only one or two half chances.

Bacup visiting Brocstedes Park for the second time this season but this time they faced a side showing 10 changes from the team that lost 5-1 to Borough in last Octobers League Challenge Cup tie, Rob Flint the sole survivor from that drubbing. The first chance fell to the visitors left back Matty Bryan, cutting inside and firing wide in the third minute, whilst seven minutes later Darren Evans drove tamely at Dave Moran. There was a warning sign for Bacup on the quarter hour mark when Danny Smith found himself free in space, but his volley heading straight for the top corner hit a bacup defender on his back and flew wide of the target and out for a corner. Five minutes later Luke Morgan stole in behind the yellows defence from a free-kick, only to be denied by the excellent Dave Moran at point blank range.half chances for the yellows came and went but it was Daniel Cocks the Bacup skipper who had the last word of the half when he had a 43rd minute corner that inadvertently struck the near post before rebounding to safety.It was of great credit to the Yellows that Cocks spent a lot of the time tracking back and helping out his defence rather than causing havoc in the other half of the pitch.but in a scrappy first half with both teams cancelling each other out the whistle sounded to end the half.

HALF-TIME: Ashton Athletic 0 Bacup Borough 0

The second half started with the Yellows on the front foot with the first chance of the half falling again to the hard working Danny Smith, who this time went a lot closer than with his first half effort. On 56 minutes Cocks went down in the box after being fed by Limabrooke but the referee waved away his appeals for a penalty. A minute later a Borough fan behind the goal was celebrating what he thought was an opener before he realised that Paul’s strike had only found the side netting. It got worse for the travelling fans in the 61st minute when an Ashton free-kick on the right hand side of the pitch was taken with the left boot of Paul Casey and arrowed in on the target with pace and accuracy it met the head of the ever dangerous Connor Anderson, who beat Jones to the ball to give the yellows a much deserved lead.

On 68 minutes the yellows got caught on the counter attack that resulted in good work in the home box from Bacups Cocks to set up Morgan to slot home his first goal for the club despite an infringement by a Bacup player in the build up to the goal. Bacup had now got a foothole in the game and for the next ten minutes it seemed to lift the visitors. However,the home side dealt a 70th minute sucker punch to the visitors hopes when a run from Connor Gately, which saw Borough have several attempts to avert the danger, eventually saw him drill the ball into the corner of the net through a crowd of players to give the home side a deserved lead once agin.

However,Bacup were presented with a golden opportunity to level after Cosgrave was apparently taken down inside the box by Dave Moran although everyone in the ground could see that there was no contact at all by the home keeper. The usually reliable Cocks stepped up to take the spot-kick but seconds later his head was in his hands as Dave Moran guessed the right way to produce a fine save. Moments later there was another massive penalty shout from the visitors as Gormans header hit one of his own players on the line, but the referee was not interested, and awarded a goal kick.

Ashton played keep ball for the final five minutes and the final whistle sounded just after a Bacup player clattered into the yellows left back Paul Casey but thankfully no damage was done.

FULL-TIME: Ashton Athletic 2 Bacup Borough 1

We now move on to Barnoldswick Town FC next Saturday for what will be another tough encounter.