Saints go Marching On

Report David Robinson. Picture Jez Sayle

Brackley were untroubled to complete a convincing league double over the Robins even affording the luxury of a missed second half penalty. With Luke Pilling recalled by Tranmere, Josh Ollerenshaw was restored between the sticks and Jerome Slew was making his debut on the bench.
On 5 minutes a nice combination between Paul Ennis & Liam Martin gave Josh Askew a sight of goal and he forced Lewis into an uncomfortable looking save. A good run by home full back Lowe then forced a corner which was fired right across goal and a great pass by Shane Byrne saw Lowe’s cross beat everyone. Ashton were forced to replace captain Matt Regan with Liam Goulding moving to left back and a quick break then saw Askew’s pass reach Ennis who moved into the area but shot disappointingly wide. On 20 minutes Murombedzi’s shot rebounded back to him and he was then brought down by Scott Kay for a penalty which Jeffers converted.
A quick break from an Ashton corner saw Murombedzi play Walker in with Kay clearing his effort off the line and Glenn Walker turned inside before Chalmers blocked his shot for a corner. 2 minutes before the break Gareth Dean cut inside and out of nowhere fired an arrow into the top corner from outside the area.

On the restart a poor clearance by Ollerenshaw saw Goulding enter the book after clipping Byrne and soon after a return ball was well controlled on the edge of the area by Lowe who provided a fine left foot finish.
Kay was then penalised for handball against Lowe with Byrne bringing a flying save out of Ashton’s keeper with Byrne subsequently forcing another save before the offside flag rescued Ashton. The visitors’ luck was typified by James Jones’ header from Liam Tomsett’s corner coming back off the crossbar with the follow up also being blocked before the ball was cleared off the line and Martin saw a shot on the turn saved after a good run by substitute Jorome Slew. Goulding then fouled Armson just inside the area with Jeffers putting his penalty past the post and Ollerenshaw pulled off a good save as McAlinden was clean through – Ashton’s consolation arriving on full time as Jones turned home Ryan Crowther’s return ball following a corner.

Ashton Utd: Ollerenshaw, Goulding, Askew, Jones, Regan (Anghel 15, Slew 57), Chalmers (Crowther 68), Kay, Roberts, Martin, Ennis, Tomsett . SNU: Mendes, Woodford.