Ashton begin home campaign with victory over North Manchester

ADM First Division Ashton 34-21 North Manchester

Saturday’s game at Gambrel Bank saw a remarkable Ashton comeback after North Manchester had enjoyed the bulk of the opening 25 minutes and had used it to open up what looked like a comfortable lead. 

The home side had started quite brightly, but on losing early possession seemed initially unable to work out what to do next. As their visitors gained the initiative they were soon dominating possession, and it was no surprise when strong pressure on the home line resulted in a try next to the posts which was easily converted. 

With Ashton no longer showing much of anything, it came as little surprise when the Moston side added a further converted try on 20 minutes, and only minutes later, with the home side unable to retain possession from the restart, their visitors forced their way steadily forward before releasing a big back row forward who strolled through some totally ineffective tackling to go in for a third try. This was again converted to put 21 points in front and doubtless looking forward to what looked as if it was shaping up to be an easy victory. 

Neither they nor most of the spectators who had witnessed what had gone on so far could have foreseen any sort of reply from an Ashton side which was looking completely out of sorts, but as the game restarted the home side seemed to have finally got some fire in their bellies and they roared forward looking for revenge. They kept North penned in their own half for the rest of the half, and good work from the forwards set up an impetus which eventually saw Neil Oldham make the hard yards before putting Lewis Woodward in for a try which Tom Costello converted. It was all Ashton now, and just before half time Jordan Mitchell touched down to cut the deficit to just nine points 

That deficit was soon down to seven when Costello kicked an early penalty, and five minutes later sustained controlled pressure took a rolling maul to within five metres of the opposition line and when the ball was released it was quickly shipped inside for Josh Fish to barge over for a score which Costello converted to give his side a lead which had looked totally out of reach midway through the first half. 

But Ashton had the bit well and truly between their teeth now. They relentlessly harassed their visitors whenever they had possession and this paid off when the ball went loose on half way and some excellent running and passing spread the ball out to the right wing for Billy Travis to score in the right hand corner. 

This set the pattern for the rest of the game. After their early successes, North were now denied any sight of the try line as the home side constantly closed them down, and once again the visitors were in possession just inside the Ashton half when the ball was stolen; Josh Pattison hoofed it forward; it landed behind any potential defenders; and Travis Powell swept it up to go over for a final try. Costello’s conversion fittingly crowned what had been a truly mind-blowing reversal of fortune.

By Ian Crickett

In other news at Gambrel Bank: 

Lancashire Junior Rugby Round 1

 Bury U16s 15-31 Ashton U16s

 Tom Ainsworth 4 tries and Matt Cope 1 with  3 conversions by Ethan Booth

Garstang U13s 20-35 Ashton U13s

Declan Healy 3 , Jonathan Thompson 2  Hadi Tahir and Leighton Parker were try scorers.

Next week sees the U16s in Cup action v Aldwinians and U13s v Broughton Park, both at home.

By Allen Bower