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Gallant cup failure of Ashton United - By "Sentinel"

Ashton's moment of glory is over. They made a gallant fight to get into the second round of the F.A. Cup, sharing to goals at Halifax on Saturday, but lost the replay at Ashton on Tuesday by the odd goal in three.

Halifax were first to admit they were a lucky team, for on both occasion Ashton were the better side. Halifax owed their success to a magnificent defence. Financially Ashton came out of the tie very well. The official attendances were 11,031 ( £1,160 ) at Halifax and 7,474 ( £653 5s 6d. ) at Ashton. Reciepts at the Cross were a record for the ground. Note - These gates are the opposite to the 'official' numbers stated in all current records. I will try to contact Halifax and enquire as to whether they have any other details.

Halifax 1 Ashton United 1

It was Dimond's head which put pounds more into Ashton's coffers on Saturday. The centre-forward stood well back from Geoff Warburton's corner-kick. Then he ran in and woof! - the ball was in the net. The roar which went up must have been heard for miles. Ashtonhad struggled hard without real reward, but when the goal did come, it was no more than they deserved. The yorkshire club might have thought the non-leaguers were easy meat, but were soon disillusioned. Halifax scored a goal which should hardley have been allowed. No Ashton followers will forgive the referee for allowing play to continue when McBride, who had run out to block a shot by Frost, was injured in a collision with the home leader. He and Frost were prone on the ground, but he allowed play to carry on, and Wilkinson crossed a centre into the open goal-mouth, Holt having the easiest task in the world to roll the ball into the gaping net.

Were Ashton to go out by a goal of this sort? It was tough if they were. McBride was some minutes coming round, and he was never his real self for the rest of the game, but he continued to mplay brilliantly. In the second half, Ashton set about their task with enthusiasm, and the home defence had some warm minutes. Warburton had a chance to save the game, but he blinded wide and then Core tore through and looked all over a scorer when he over-ran the ball four yards from the net!

The equaliser came after 69 minutes, and it was noticable that Halifax, who had played brilliant mid-field football, became less methodical and more hurried in their movements as they saw victory slipping from their grasp. It was in the closing minutes that we sawLen Rowland at his best. Twice he saved certain goals - first with his head and then with his foot - as he stood on the goal-line. With almost the last kick of the match, Lorenson missed a sitter for Halifax, and with the final whistle, Ashton supporters swarmed onto the pitch and mobbed the red-shirted players - heroes all.

Ashton United 1 Halifax 2

Tuesday's result was a big disappointment locally. Ashton beganthe game very shakily, but within ten minutes they had settled down and proceded to give Halifax a football lesson. Geoff Warburton was continually in the picture and it was his centre which had the Halifax defence kicking despairingly. There was an occasion when the crowd had their shout of goal stifled in their throats when Dimond sent a terrific header against the cross-bar with Savage well beaten. It was Core who fastened on to another pass from the winger to stab two shots in quick succession at Savage with the keeper on the floor smothering both. It was clever goalkeeping. Yet another cross by Warburton saw Dimond and Core try two shots in the goal-mouth melee which ended with the ball rolling across to Wright who made the miss of the match by shooting wide when he was almost leaning on the upright. If any of these efforts had connected it would have been a differeent story, but the ball simply refused to run right. Not all the misses were at one end. Priestly put across one centre which Holt headed wide from in front of the net and later Murphy crashed a shot against the upright which rebounded to McBride and then went for a corner.

McBride was no where near as busy as Savage yet Halifax scored first. A delayed clearance by Horton saw the ball roll to Lorenson who volleyed in a shot from 25 yards. The ball hit the cross-bar, spun to the ground and out again. But it was two yards over the line abd the referee pointed to the middle. This came three minutes after the interval. Ashton hit back and Bill Murray inspired his side to great deeds. He and Len Rowland were magnificent in a doughty side and when Colin Gleave put a long ball down the middle to Stuart Dimond, the cebtre-forward beat Packard with a flick and sent in a low shot into the corner of the net. The yell that went up was terrific. Savage was a busy man for a spell, but disaster came to Ashton in the 80th minute when Williams dropped a free-kick into the goal mouth. McBride failed to gather the ball and though he tried to flop on it, Moncrieff hokked it round his body and into the net.

It was a gallant failure and the club have made nothing but friends by their showing. One might say it could have been a different story if Ashton had been able to field their full team, but one must remember that Halifax also had changes. I should be happier had been muddy instead of iron hard with frost for United always do better in heavy going.