The bank holiday weekend was a bittersweet one for Ashville who tasted both victory and defeat just 48 hours apart.

The Villa started off the weekend on Saturday with a trip to league newcomers, Shawbury United. The away side could have and probably should have been a goal up inside the first minute. The home side giving the ball away immediately from the kick off and the resulting play culminating in a low drive from Tom Hewlett which couldn’t find its way past the keeper.

Moynes and Madden were once again menacing an opposition defence with both seeing good chances fail to hit the back of the net alongside an effort from Lennox Allward which was saved by the legs of Rawlins. The home side offered very little by way of attacking threat but still forced Jamie Owen into an instinctive save in the 11th minute.

With 18 minutes of Ashville dominance on the clock the Wallasey based club finally took the lead. Lewis Moynes once again beating a Shawbury defence which was left wide open before taking the ball around Rawlins and slotting into an empty net.

A little under 10 minutes later and Ashville had a second goal to ram home their advantage. Tom Hewlett was tripped up in the box and Mark Madden smashed home the resulting penalty.

Villa saw out the remainder of the half with a flurry of corners and half chances but the early dominance from the away side had been somewhat stifled by some tactical changes from Shawbury.

More worryingly for Ashville were the forced withdrawals of Shaun Farrall and Tom Randall at half time due to injury. Neither injury is expected to be serious but a blow to momentum for Ashville on a busy weekend.

The second half was chalk and cheese from the first. Shawbury stepped on the gas to try and salvage a game which looked out of grasp until the 73rd minute when a ball over the top caught the Villa back line on their heels and a lovely lobbed finish from Danar gave the hosts a lifeline.

The second half certainly wasn’t one for the neutrals with the majority of the game in midfield and almost no chances to speak of besides the home side’s goal. However, on 79 minutes the scores were nearly levelled when a long range free kick for the hosts whistled past Jamie Owen’s top left corner.

The game had one last moment of madness in stoppage time when Mark Madden was judged to of been fouled by the substitute keeper inside the area. The referee pointed to the spot but the drama didn’t end there…

The Shawbury players were very vocal in their protests over the awarding of the penalty, the home side believed that Madden had dived to win the penalty but their appeals were dismissed and the decision stood. This angered defender Jeffrey Agyeman who received a second yellow card for dissent after being punished for the same offence in the first half and before exiting the field of play allegedly spat in the direction of the referee.

With the soap opera finally dealt with it was left to Mark Madden to rifle home his second penalty of the game and wrap up the 3 points for Villa