FC United beat Ashton in Doodson Cup + HIGHLIGHTS

FC United are through to the last 16 of the Doodson Sport Cup after beating Ashton United 2-0 at Bower Fold on Wednesday night with two late goals from Liam Brownhill and Greg Daniels.

Brownhill broke the deadlock with 10 minutes to go when his cross from the left deceived everyone by flying into the far top corner of the net and Daniels put the tie to bed seven minutes later, rifling home from the edge of the box.

The win not only puts the Reds into the next round, but also extended our unbeaten run to seven games ahead of Saturday’s visit of promotion rivals Worksop Town.

With the games coming thick and fast, manager Karl Marginson took the opportunity to freshen the side up for the cup fixture, making six changes to the team that beat Blyth Spartans 3-0 on Saturday. Goalkeeper James Spencer and fullback Andy Pearson both made their first starts since recovering from injury and Lee Neville returned to the team after serving a three game suspension.

The most notable opportunity of the first half was a nice ball through the visiting defence which Rhodri Giggs looked to get on the end of, but he was just beaten to the ball by the Ashton ‘keeper Paul Phillips.

There were a few moments when United attacked down the left, with Neville overlapping Astley Mulholland and causing a general nuisance for former Red, Cavell Coo in the Ashton defence.

In the second half, both teams struggled to get into their flow, and again it was a half of few chances, with neither of the teams gaining the upper hand. In fact, it was the visitors who brought Spencer into the game with a couple of half chances, which in truth never troubled the United goal.

Sensing the game needed to change, Margy brought on leading scorer Tom Greaves who added an extra threat up front, but still there weren’t any real chances for United to break the deadlock.

It was a substitute who did get the goal for United, in bizarre circumstances. Brownhill got the ball on the left flank after overlapping Mulholland and attempted a cross which wrong footed Phillips and the ball sailed into the far corner to give United a goal advantage in the last ten minutes.

United wrapped the game up with just a couple of minutes left. Mulholland beat a couple of the Ashton defence before teeing-up Daniels on the edge of the box who coolly placed the ball in the top right hand corner to put the Reds through to the next round and keep the momentum going ahead of two big league fixtures against Worksop and then AFC Fylde.

Man of the match: Greg Daniels – Worked hard up front all game and his well-placed finish wrapped up a good performance.

Report by Craig Phillips