Three first half goals, two from Daniel Cocks and a Kingsly Williams header was enough to secure all three points For Bacup Borough.

Ashton started the game brightly, in as early as the second minute they attacked the Bacup right from which Bacup defender Marc Taylor did allow their striker too much room, Bacup keeper Horridge was quick off his line forcing the lad to shoot into the side netting

Bacup did not start as well as their Management Team of Brent Peters and Andy Hill would have liked but despite their somewhat lacklustre start Adrian Bellamy should have headed his side in front with a free header which went over the cross bar, then on a further attack the ball found its way from the right to left of the pitch where Lance Ogunyode did show a reluctance to swing his left foot, this prompted him to take that extra touch before firing into the side netting.

Ashton came forward at Bacup but Gareth Wager quickly intercepted any danger before sending forward a long ball which Daniel Cocks did chase down before firing goal bound but his effort did go for a goal kick.

On sixteen minutes Daniel Cocks had opened the scoring, Midfield player Kingsly Williams opened his body before switching play for Cocks who did compete for the ball before finding that vital touch to put his side one goal in front.

Ashton went back up to the other side of the pitch where they won a corner which was defended and then it was Bacup Borough’s turn to win a corner from which Captain Davey Luker did shoot just wide of the post.

On thirty three minutes some neat combination play down the Bacup Borough’s right ended with Adrian Bellamy crossing the ball into the box and Kingsly Williams got himself across to head Bacup into a two goal advantage.

Minutes later it was almost three, Chris Ogunyode put in a deep cross field ball which Daniel Cocks did latch onto, he found Matthew Hampson who shot goal bound but agonisingly his effort did strike the underside of the cross bar before coming back into play and eventually getting cleared.

On forty three minutes Bacup were three goals to the good, Chris Ogunyode and Adrian Bellamy did well down Bacup Boroughs right, the ball found Hammpson who did keep the ball alive by moving the ball to Cocks who made no mistake, firing past their keeper.

The second half got underway but in the early part of the half both teams struggled to find much rhythm due to the stop start nature of the game, all three Bacup substitutes were made with first of all Chris Ogunyode being replaced by Martin Cosgrave, then Captain Davey Luker to whom could find himself rather unfortunate of having been yellow carded when his eyes were firmly fixed on the flight of the ball but did catch the oncoming Goal keeper, Luker was substituted as a pre caution to be replaced by Arran Spencer, In the latter part of the game Daniel Cocks got injured and was replaced by Hayden Paul, Ashton to their credit never once did give up and by not doing so did play with a lot of enthusiasm in the second half which could have brought them an opportunity to have pulled back the defecit, in addition the Bacup Team in its entirety were very good value for their win.

AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE GAME I MANAGED TO SPEAK TO THE BACUP MANAGER BRENT PETERS WHO HAD THIS TO SAY “ Certain individuals Did not have their best start to this game which could have seen us chasing the game from as early as the second minute, however gradually we got more and more into this game, which did enable us to go on and score three well executed first half goals, this did give us a fully deserved half time lead, the second half was not as fluent due to the stop start nature of the game, without being disrespectful to Ashton I never felt we were under any real threat apart from Ashton’s early chances at the start of the game, once the first quarter of the game had come and gone I felt we then bossed proceedings through out, it is never easy playing teams like Ashton fighting to stay in the league, credit to Ashton for just that—fighting, their young side worked hard through out, they never got despondent which due to their second half work rate did bring them an half from which they can take heart from with honours even from that half, this said my lads were always in control and they fully deserved their three points gained, keeping a clean sheet is also a bonus as it shows defensively what happened against Flixton has now been corrected”

Team: Paul Horridge, Adrian Bellamy, Gareth Wager, Marc Taylor, Lee Pugh, Lance Ogunyode, Matthew Hampson, Davey Luker (Arran Spencer), Kingsly Williams, Daniel Cocks (Haydn Paul), Chris Ogunyode (Martin Cosgrave)

Subs Not Used: Matthew Wrigley

Goals: Cocks 17, 43, Williams 34

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