Ashton Athletic suffered their 2nd loss in 3 games when they travelled to the Delta Taxi Stadium to play hosts Bootle FC on Tuesday 16th August. The Yellows were missing a number of players going into the game, Aaron Cringle was unavailable so Daniel Blythe replaced him at right back, Ross Shepherd replacing Luke Holden in the centre of defence and new signing Christopher Simm replacing Isaac Kusaloka as both players were injured, Luke failing a fitness test before kick off. Sam Bailey came in for Michael Mylona on the left of midfield. The Yellows subs bench included a welcome return for Paul Watson from injury and 2 new faces of Joe Sargent and Conal Gallagher.

Bootle could have been 2-0 up in the first 15 minutes. Crosses from the left hand side of the pitch finding Daniel Murphy on his own in the Ashton box but he couldn’t convert the chances. Sam Bailey had a weak shot on goal for Ashton but the shot was deflected for a corner which came to nothing.

The Bootle goal came in the 27th minute. The Yellows not heeding the warnings in the first 15 minutes, a cross came in from the left hand side and Daniel Murphy ran across the Ashton defence to side foot the ball into the goal at the near post. Bootle continued to enjoy the better of the game. Chris Simm had a couple of good chances with a blocked shot and a shot from the edge of the box that went straight at Dean Porter in the Bootle goal.

Bootle’s lead was doubled 7 minutes before half time, when another cross from the left was converted by Tom Peterson, who prodded the ball in past Martin Pearson. Bootle continued to put pressure on the Ashton defence but they held out until half time without conceding another goal.

Ashton started the 2nd half brightly and on the 50th minurte they had a chance to pull a goal back, Daniel Blythe crossing in from the right but Danny Smith couldn’t hit the target and headed wide at the near post. From then on it was more Bootle pressure. Daniel O’Connor and Tom Peterson having good chances to extend the lead until in the 58th minute Bootle were 3-0 up. A Bucks corner turned back to the edge of the box to Michael Ordish, who’s low shot took a slight deflection and the ball went just inside the far post.
Bootle almost capitalised with a quick counter attack when Chris Simm was put through by Danny Regan, but Dean Porter was quick off his line to collect the ball and clear it to Ryan Cox, who had a good chance to put further misery on Ashton but his shot was saved well by Martin Pearson.

There were 2 changes for Ashton in the 71st minute. Danny Regan and Matt Farnworth were replaced by Conal Gallagher and Paul Watson. The change had a positive effect on the game as Ashton put some pressure onto the Bootle defence. Adam Howard, Danny Smith and Chris Simm had good chances but none of them could be converted. The Bucks gained control of the game in the last 10 minutes and The Yellows had to play the final 5 minutes with 10 men after Adam Howard had to go off the pitch injured after a clash of heads when challenging for a header.

The Yellows will need to get back to winning ways quickly as they travel to Worksop Town at the weekend for the FA Cup Preliminary Round.