WARRINGTON Town’s unbeaten away league record came to an end as they were beaten 2-0 at Ashton United.
Just as they had done back in August, Ashton got the better of the Yellows to complete a double in the so-called “Ikea Derby”.
Goals in either half from Nicky Platt and Jack Dyche gave Ashton the win to end Warrington’s three game winning streak.
Preparations for the match for the Yellows were disrupted by yet more injury woe, Jamie McDonald’s tight hamstring ruling him out of action, while right-back Shaun Beeley will be sidelined for several months after breaking a leg against Whitby on Saturday.
The pair join Tony Gray, Liam Hynes and Brad Barnes on an ever-increasing injury list.
The game followed a similar pattern to the first meeting of the two sides, with Ashton finding joy from long balls forward while the Yellows enjoyed a large percentage of possession.
It was from a diagonal ball forward that Dyche should have done better, his angled run latching on to the ball and he took an early shot when he could have perhaps gone towards goal.
Just as they had done at Cantilever Park in the reverse fixture, Ashton took the lead with a strike from outside the box. This one was perhaps less spectacular, Platt’s strike taking a deflection on its way past Tony McMillan.
The Yellows should have been back on level terms on the half hour mark when a slip by Aaron Chalmers allowed Josh Hine to nip in, but he took too long and took the ball too wide and ended up blazing a poor shot over the bar.
Connor Hughes then dispossessed his marker on the Yellows right hand side and drove forward, but again the end product was poor as he looked to find Hine in the middle.
The visitors ended the half with their tails up, Jack Higgins’ header from a Sean Williams corner deflected wide.
The injury worries continued at the break as James Barrigan was forced off with a heel injury, to be replaced by the returning Scott Bakkor, back at the club having left at the end of last season.
The Yellows started the second half brightly, and forced a succession of corners, James McCarten forcing a good save out of the impressive David Carnell in the Ashton goal.
But as Warrington pushed forward, Ashton were finding joy on the break and Matthew Chadwick opened up his body to curl a left-foot shot towards the corner that was well saved by McMillan.
From the corner, McMillan tipped Chalmers’ sliding shot over.
For all their pressure from set pieces and crosses, Warrington just weren’t testing Carnell enough and they were fortunate not to fall two behind on 73 minutes when McCarten just did enough to put Dyche off, the striker shooting wide from a good position.
Ashton’s second goal did eventually come five minutes later, McMillan beating away substitute Alex Johnson’s shot straight in the path of Dyche who swept it away for 2-0.
The game was held up briefly by the appearance of a streaker on the pitch and save for a good effort by Nic Evangelinos, that was about all there was to write home about in the last 10 minutes.
Warrington are on the road again this Saturday, when they travel to Barwell, before visiting Colwyn Bay next Tuesday night in the Integro Cup.
Ashton United: Carnell, Smalley, Beesley, Granite, Chalmers, Platt (Eckersley), Lees, Tomsett, Chadwick (Johnson), Dyche, Evangelinos. Unused subs: Roberts, Banim, Ollerenshaw.
Warrington Town: McMillan, Goulding, McKeown, Gumbs, McCarten, Higgins, Hughes, Richards (Sanogo), Hine, Williams (Kinsella), Barrigan (Bakkor). Unused subs: Carden, Davis.
He must have been a bit nippy… ❄️🍆
A streaker interrupted @AshtonUnitedFC‘s 2-0 over @theyellows tonight 😅 #NonLeague pic.twitter.com/ACZ8xI7I3I
— The Non-League Paper (@NonLeaguePaper) October 10, 2017
