Ashton United 0 Stockport County 6 ( Vanarama National League- North) 18 December 2018
County served up a treat for their
travelling support last night, making light of the challenge from Ashton United
at Hurst Cross with a scintillating 6-0 win.
It was yet another well crafted team
showing from James Gannon`s boys…..so full of energy and ideas up front where
Thomas had a terrific night before being substituted early in the second half.
He was not alone either- if Mulhern and Turnbull deserved their goals , Warburton probably
deserved 3 or 4 , and Kirby was probably disappointed not getting a hat-trick
having to settle for a brace with Warby.
The forwards were regularly joined by the excellent Scott
Duxbury who on another night might have notched a couple himself, whilst the spine
of the County effort had the imperious Paul Turnbull at its hub, and he was
simply immense, controlling everything that moved all evening, in the manner of
a nineteen fifties copper dealing with a
cheeky kid.
Duxbury- a study of static contemplation , allied to dynamic action! |
I particularly liked Jordan Keane`s input too, as he again showed
his value at both ends of the park from the off.
Keane points the way ! |
But…..I have singled out several now,
and I really should not have done, as all 11 starters and subs were top
performers on a night that simply nothing went wrong for the yellow shirted
blues.
Ashton must have been demoralised….already
3 down at half time, seeing the quality of County`s replacements who were
summoned to duty thereafter. If Thomas going off offered them relief, Minihan
as his substitute offered none, neither did Bell for Mulhern or Osborne for
Warburton . The goals kept coming and the final margin did not flatter County
at all, as they completed a brilliant night`s work with another immaculate clean
sheet.
That takes us into the play-off
positions at seventh spot in the division, and the manner of the performance
augurs well for what is to come this season.
Back at 7 pm the rain was still bucketing
down as the Flyer arrived in OL6, but with thoughts of another nightmare
soaking in mind, it was a massive boost to see the rain cease ( barring the
occasional light sprinkling) almost immediately that the players came out to
start the game.
There was no Sam Walker of course for
County, sorted by Mr Cox`s supine stupidity on Saturday , but there was Bully
installed in midfield , and a massive Blue and White Army lining the four sides
of this historic stadium.
Just one side of the County following ! |
Off we went, and my recent good
opinion of Jordan Keane got an immediate boost as he pushed up the park in
impressive style, forcing red shirts ever further back as he went. I was less
impressed with his early foul on Liam Martin, but it was routine in nature and Jordan
was to again go on to show a near perfect symmetry twixt `bites yer legs` stuff
and pleasingly construcive play.
Corners started to rack up for County
almost straight off as Thomas tormented the left side of United`s defence with
some typically incisive runs.
Duxbury was in the mix too , and would build in
confidence and impact steadily as the game went on. The second early corner came
back out off the foot of the right hand post before Thomas volleyed wide after
good work from Kirby.
Kirby at the double! |
That Kirby/ Thomas combo looked
interesting and again stretched the home defence shortly after. Twice from this
Thomas earned applause….winning a corner….then forcing home keeper Liam Pilling
to make a decent save.
It was good to see Cowan bedded in at
RB , but `bedding in` hardly covers it…he was up the park giving Thomas
excellent support from the off.
Cowan- Mr Reliable. |
It had been an impressive opening
from County, but with no goals to show for the first 18 minutes, it was
tempting…..if depressing…..to wonder if maybe Ashton would up their game and
sneak one.
Josh Askew did see a shot cleared off
the line around this time, but that was really the sum total of the response
from the Lancashire side at this point, the action continued to play out at the
other end where , with Duxbury and Thomas in impressive form, the corners piled
up for County.
Ashton did put together a neat move ,
20 minutes in, involving Askew, Martin and Matt Chadwick , but a sound tackle
from Stott sorted this situation nicely, teeing a break for Mulhern who was
unlucky to see his effort held onto by Pilling.
Credit to United, they were looking
to make a game of this, but having won a corner
5 minutes later, they could not make it count , instead going behind as
County hit them on the counter.
It started with Hinchliffe who leathered
the pill up the park for Warburton to run onto. It looked promising did this,
but the County forward`s run was abruptly curtailed by a poor challenge from
Scott Kay. Referee Lewis Smith , who had a decent game, gave the free kick, and
Warby did the rest sending a sweet/ sweet drive way past Pilling`s groping arms
into the net, to give County a deserved 1-0 lead.
No chance for Pilling- it`s 1-0 ! |
This goal certainly boosted County`s mojo
and , by this time, Duxbury was fairly flying down the left causing United no
end of angst. A neat link up with Kirby promised much, and immediately
delivered as Kirby took a return pass from Scott to rifle an unstoppable effort
home!
Kirby( behind defenders) rifles the ball home ! |
and they like it ! |
Two up in 28 minutes was very good
indeed…. But 3 in 31 ?!
Yes…County were looking in top nick
now and Mulhern was running at the home back line with a real purpose when
Jamie Jones discipline let him down when the pair reached the box, and he
brought the County man down.
Again it was a no-brainer for Mr
Smith and he got it right , pointing to
the spot, from where Mulhern, having regained the vertical, slammed the ball
home!
Frankly........ruthless ! |
County kept the pressure on Ashton
for the remainder of the half- Duxbury and Keane looking particularly good, a
situation considerably helped by Turnbull`s total command of midfield.
Pilling had to dive to push a shot by
Kirby around the post , with 5 minutes left of the half, and Warburton should
have done better 2 minutes on from that,
as Kirby slipped a neat ball to him following Mulhern`s surging run and neat
pass. The shot was on but Warby`s radar wasn`t and the ball went a yard wide.
Warby fully up for it ! |
County ended the half with some
lovely flowing football, unfortunately the finish ( twice) was not commensurate
with the quality of the approach play- Warby lifting another effort over the
bar, and Mulhern seeing Pilling hold his late header.
Having changed ends...I still had County fans behind me ! |
Into the second half, and it did not
take long for Warburton to set things to rights….3 minutes in fact, and it was
4-0 as Duxbury`s run opened things up for the County number 10, who slammed a fierce
shot into the net.
Ashton looked shell shocked at this
point, and it was not to improve greatly for them , as County claimed a fifth
goal just 4 minutes later- again created by a powerful run from Duxbury , and
an even better corner that picked Kirby out in front of goal, and it was 5-0 in
a trice as Jake emphasised again the considerable good sense of James Gannon in
sending him out to Warrington to get match fit, by beating Pilling with a fine
strike!
Jake breaks ! |
Another 2 minutes and Minihan was on
for Thomas, and within a further 2….Bell came on for Mulhern.
Ashton had also brought 2 subs on in
that period and one of them, ex Hatter Ryan Crowther, was the recipient of more
Duxbury brilliance as he showed the ball to his marker before imperiously
running it past him . His shot on the end of all this was but inches away from
the goal it richly deserved.
It went on…a Kirby / Bell link up
ending with the latter miscuing a half chance away……then another bit of
excellence from Duxbury that saw him even more unlucky not to nick one!
County were rampant now, and their
support in fulsome voice on the terraces and in the stand, as Warburton sent
Bell in . Nyal`s shot took a deflection , and Bully`s corner from this seemed
to be setting up a sixth for JG`s men when the far liner rescued our hosts with
a cheery wave of his flag.
With 20 minutes left, Ashton came
back into it somewhat, Hinchliffe making a comfortable save to deny Askew. A
couple of corners followed some careful build up play from United, but
invariably these led to a headlong dash back up to the other end where County
had hit on the break- Kirby was disappointed to see his shot charged down from one
such attack
.
Warby left to an ovation , with 16
minutes left, Osborne coming on , and offering United absolutely no respite in
his stead.
Pilling does well under pressure ! |
Ashton were still working to get
something from the game, to their credit, but despite great efforts by Roberts
and Askew, County defended their clean sheet like their very lives depended
upon them doing so- great stuff!
Spirited attack from United. |
The last 10 minutes, plus 2 of added
time, saw County apply the cosh once again, with Minihan a constant irritant to
home ambitions down the right. Pressed hard…Ashton eventually gave away the
inevitable foul, and Pilling did well with 4 minutes left to emerge from a
melee in the box from one such.
Pilling- not a -6 keeper ! |
With just a minute left …a sixth
finally did look on , as the neatest of County moves saw the ball land at the
feet of Minihan in a central position just inside the box. Chance?……….yes….for
sure….but Minihan leaned back to send the ball heading off over the bar.
It would have been entirely
understandable had anyone thought that 5-0 would be how it ended, and that
would have been an excellent result. But no one had thought to explain this
notion to Turnbull ….or Osborne whose darting run saw him halted in the box by
Jones` last ditcher. There may have been
thoughts of a penalty, although even I would have been hard pressed to justify
that one, but such thoughts proved entirely superfluous , as the ball ran loose
to where Bully pounced to thrash it home before joining the County fans in
celebration behind the goal.
Bully adds the icing of a sixth ! |
Another chance came and went in added
time, as Bell was played clear and ( clearly perhaps) offside, and that was
that for what had been a simply excellent County display- only the celebrations
remained, and the shortest and happiest of journeys home!
Catch you all at Alfreton then ( but
take your waterproofs)!
Ashton United line up:-
Pilling, Goulding, Jones, Chalmers,
Kay, Regan, Roberts ( Hill 55), Askew, Chadwick ( Howarth 65), Martin (
Crowther 55), Tomsett.
Subs not used : Stead, Harris.
Stockport County line up:-
Hinchliffe, Cowan, Palmer, Stott,
Duxbury, Keane, Turnbull, Thomas ( Minihan 54), Mulhern ( Bell 56), Warburton (
Osborne 74), Kirby.
Subs not used; Ormson, Stephenson.
Attendance : 830
hedgegrower
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