Ashville tasted defeat for the first time this season when they fell 1-0 at home to Winsford on Tuesday night.
The home side never really got going on what proved to be a tricky evening for Villa, a stark contrast to Saturday’s win against Market Drayton Town.
The game itself was one that won’t live long in the memory for either side with few chances or talking points over the course of the 96 minutes played.
The first sniff of goal came Winsford’s way with the blues forcing a good save out of Jack Reynolds after 9 minutes to prevent Jack Woolley scoring an early volley for the visitors.
The game then evolved into a midfield battle as both teams struggled to really build any true momentum. Ashville did have a little spell of good pressure but couldn’t make it count for anything other than a series of corners which came to nothing.
With half time just around the corner Winsford were through again. A smart ball played across the box for Woolley was expertly intercepted with a superb recovery challenge from Carl Murphy who prevented what would have been a tap in.
A minute later and Villa returned a blow of their own. A free kick from around 20 yards out was beautifully struck by Madden but unfortunately for the home side it curled just over, landing on the roof of the net.
And just like that the first half passed by. The second half didn’t take too long to spark into a little bit of life though with Ashville landing the first punch. Some defensive confusion led to a soft punch from Jacob Kirwan who came out to deal with a high ball over the top, his punch fell in the path of half time substitute, Ste Carter. Carter took the half volley first time but saw his effort whizz just over the bar.
It wasn’t long before the away side started to take control however, with a double block from Villa preventing a certain goal from a Winsford corner just before the hour.
Both sides traded free kicks in a half that was plagued by stoppages and once again it was the visitors who came closest to breaking the deadlock. A superb free kick on 74 minutes requiring a brilliant save from Jack Reynolds to keep the scores even.
Less than a minute later and the Winsford pressure was starting to create some big cracks in Ashville’s armour as the visitors had the ball in the back of the net, only for the offside flag to rule out a deserved opener.
10 minutes of Winsford pressure later and finally the Villa defence broke for good. A long ball over the top from Saem Son to Oli Pope was teasing enough for Reynolds to come out and clatter into Pope in an attempt to beat him to the ball. The referee took a few seconds but eventually gave the penalty which was dispatched by Jack Woolley.
Such a cruel way to lose any football game but it was a well deserved win for the visitors. It’s a deflating follow up to the weekends victory for Ashville who now have to recover quickly as they host newly promoted Foley Meir on Saturday at Ray Parker Stadium, kick off 3pm.
