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FC United lose relegation six-pointer at Ashton United

FC United lost 1-0 at fellow strugglers Ashton United on Saturday afternoon as an Aaron Chalmers goal settled the tie with 15 minutes to go.

On a bitterly cold afternoon in Tameside, on a pitch where the going was definitely soft to heavy the six-pointer resembled a game between two of the bottom three in the league, with chances and entertainment sadly going missing for the afternoon.

Both teams struggled to get much going in the game, but with two sides that have conceded a total of 113 goals in a combined 51 league games this season you always felt there was going to be a goal somewhere along the way.

In truth FC should have had the lead going into the break when Jack Bannister saw his effort from inside the box, after a goalmouth scramble, saved by the legs of Ashton ‘keeper George McMahon.

As the temperature dipped even further in the second half the tension built, with both teams knowing that one goal would probably be enough to seal a massive three points.

On FC’s part they really didn’t create too much, with balls into the box being dealt with easily by an Ashton centre back pairing that more resembled a pair of prop forwards than semi-pro footballers.

With 15 minutes to go, Ashton hit the ultimate sucker punch as Chalmers took advantage of a poor clearance from a corner to fire past Allinson and score the goal which settled the tie.

The defeat sees the Reds stay in 20th place in the league, but with none of the six teams above us winning and Ashton closing the gap to us to just one point, with a game in hand, it was a bad day all round, considering we came into the game on the back of last week’s fantastic result in Bradford.

The Reds welcome high flying Stockport County to Broadhurst Park next Saturday, hoping for a much better performance against a team which has won six in a row and are currently unbeaten in 11 matches.

Website man of the match: Zehn Mohammed – strong at the heart of FC’s defence, which was needed in a close game which turned into a battle.

Report by Craig Phillips


First Posted ~ 00:47 Sun 20 Jan 2019
News ID ~ 8232
Last Updated ~ 22:45 Thu 4 Feb 2021