Ashton got the better of a disappointing encounter in North Wales courtesy of a goal in each half. The pitch as the Four Crosses Arena had survived an early morning inspection and was clearly playable but soft under the top surface and certainly took its toll on the players as the game wore on.

Paul Phillips was called upon to make an early save low down after a decent turn by John Marsden before a fine long ball from Eddie Toner picked out Martin Pilkington who miscued his left wing cross. Glenn Matthews then took a couple of corners for the Seagulls, the second of which landed on the top of Ashton’s crossbar and on the quarter hour Toner got on the end of Cavell Coo’s cross but put his header past the far post. Toner was back in the action 3 minutes before the break as he exchanged passes with Martin Pilkington before firing home a fine low effort from the edge of the area. Pilkington almost ended the half in style with a speculative effort clipping of the top of the crossbar.

On the resumption Pilkington sent an effort drifting wide from Jeff King’s pass before King himself was just blocked out at the near post. Pilkington was then just beaten to King’s through ball by keeper Pearson but then took a quick throw in sending Dale Johnson into the area but his cross was just too far ahead of Toner. Both teams were now finding the conditions heavy going with Colwyn Bay struggling to get out of their own half and Ashton then registered the decisive second goal as substitute Adam Morning’s corner travelled all the way across the area where it was headed home by the unmarked figure of Jay Gorton.

The Seagulls finally made some inroads as a through ball put Kevin Holsgrove into space before he dragged a left foot shot wide and Bradley Bauress could have made a name for himself as he caught hold of a volley from Joe Connor’s clearance but sent it wide of goal. The Robins could have made the score line even more comfortable as a poor clearance by Fagbola saw Johnson put his effort well wide and Morning and Chris Baguley combined to force Pearson into a low save.

Team: Phillips, Coo (Haining), Mason, Gorton, Connor, Lees, Toner, Gee, Pilkington (Baguley), Johnson, King (Morning). SNU: Vincent, Melia