Lots of Plaudits but sadly no points

The game got underway with us defending the slope but disaster struck with barely 5 minutes on the clock as the host’s opened their account when Dominic Craig latched on to a loose ball in mid-field from a Danny Smith error and played in Mark Coyne who picked his spot in the bottom corner giving Dave Moran in the Ashton goal no chance at all.
We seemed to lose a bit of confidence from the mistake and within Five minutes it was nearly 2-0 when the big striker Kristian Evans ’ header brought out a great save by Dave Moran. Evans once again threatened as he showed good skill to pick his way through the Yellows defence but he could only force a corner which was well defended.
Then once we settled into the game and got used to the big long ball we started to impose ourselves on the host’s and on 18 minutes the breakthrough came and we equalised when Danny Smith found space down the right flank to deliver a superb cross which was dispatched with power into the top corner by the head of Mason Ryan leaving Chris Thompson the Colne goalkeeper helpless.
From this moment on Jimmy McBride’s young side began to gain in confidence and win a lot more of the possession while Colne’s game plan was to try and hit long and over the yellows back four and pick up the second ball. With half-an-hour on the clock we had missed several good chances to take the lead. First Smith was only denied by a good save by Thompson who was down quickly to prevent a goal. Then to the disbelief of everyone inside the ground we were denied two stone wall penalties which on another night and another referee could easily have been given. First Gareth Grant was hauled down as he was about to pull the trigger than the same thing in the same place happened to the ever dangerous Danny Smith.
But on the stroke of half-time a penalty was awarded when the Colne defender pulled youngster Mike Downing to the ground which was converted by Gareth Grant for is first Ashton goal. However Ashton’s lead was short-lived because in the added-on time Colne themselves were awarded a penalty when Lee Barrett ’s goal bound shot struck Rob Flint [on his head ?] the referee determined to even things up pointed to the spot and Evans stepped up to blast home the spot kick.
Colne could consider themselves lucky to be on level terms at half time and took full advantage of the help they received from the referee by breaking away 5 minutes into the second half and snatching what would prove to be the winning goal when Craig drove down the left wing leaving the Ashton defence flat-footed although Callum Jones got in a decent tackle the ball fell back at the Colne players feet allowing him to pull back the ball from the bye-line to Barrett who blasted home from short range.
With the cushion of a goal advantage Colne were more than happy to try and play on the counter attack knowing the Yellows would need to try and push on to get back into the game. The big talking point in the second half arrived when Mason Ryan sent in a corner and the ball played pinball in the Colne six yard box, Rob Flint looked like he had a straight forward header at the back post but just has he was about to send the ball goal bound a Colne defender acrobatically kicked him above his eye causing blood to spill out of the cut … wait for it … the referee gave an indirect free kick on the six yard line … unbelievable … with all eleven Colne players on the goal line Danny Smith blasted the ball against the mass of red bodies who scrambled it away to safety.
As much as we huffed and puffed we just could not get back on level terms and it summed our night up when Thompson pulled off a brilliant save at the feet of Downing to ensure Colne’s victory.
Lots of positives can be taken from the game against a very good Colne side that have a great home record. If the lads put as much effort and commitment into the next 5 games we will surly avoid finishing in the dreaded bottom two