Spoils shared in Ashton
On a sodden afternoon, I went to watch bottom of the league Ashton Athletic host high flying Darwen in the North West Counties Division 1 North.
Going off the table, this would of suggested a straight forward win for Darwen who sat in third place against a struggling Athletic who are 4 points adrift at the bottom of the league.
The opening minutes looked good for AA as the first chance fell to them. Good feet by Crompton made space for a shot which was tipped wide by Newns. The optimism didn't last long as from the corner, a long clearance upfield made its way to Darwen's Hepple who held off a few defenders and at the second attempt prodded it past the keeper to give the lead to the away team.
Most of the second half was controlled by Darwen who had more chances to extend their lead. Hepple got his second in the 19th minute with a great finish into the bottom left corner after good work from Bruno to win the ball back in the middle of the pitch.
Darwen continued to press and had more chances from Hepple, Langford and Abbot, but a combination of poor finishes and good goal keeping kept the score at 2-0 at the break.
A subdued start to the second half saw Darwen keep creating chances with Wassa shooting wide from a corner . Ashton did begin to grown into the game and fashioned a chance themselves with Gill shooting just over after good play to get into that position. Darwen looked to kill the game off with a scramble in the box saw Abbot and then Zaffar spurn chances.
In the 75th minute Ashton Athletic got a gift to get back into the game. A long ball up from the keeper was missed by the back 4 which seen sub Nicholson race on to it, round the keeper and tap into an empty net to give the home side some hope. Darwen responded straight away with a great chance from Zaffar just wide.
Ashton were reduced to 10 men after an off the ball incident seen substitute Ujahchuku sent off for violent conduct but Ashton had their tails up and remarkably got the equaliser. Good play seen the ball over to the right played back into the box where Crompton smashed home. The pace and wetness of the ball seen it squirm past the keeper.
Darwen were shell-shocked and Ashton nearly took all three points with the last chance of the game. Woosey's great turn and vicious shot tipped over by Newns saw the game finish 2-2.
After controlling the game for 75mins, Darwen will be kicking themselves for not coming away with three points, for Ashton, they will hope this kickstarts their season and get themselves safe.
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