A goalie sent off, a second half comeback and a last minute winner. Ashville’s first competitive meeting against Tranmere Rovers had it all.

The historic Wirral derby didn’t take long to ignite with Ashville nearly taking the lead after just 4 minutes when Mark Madden narrowly fired wide from 7 yards.

A moment of madness in the 13th minute saw Villa reduced to ten. Young goalkeeper, Jamie Owen, pulled down Luka Salvatore after misjudging a bouncing ball and was shown red. Sam Mann stepped up to convert the penalty past stand in keeper, Shaun Farrall.

Just before half time Tranmere doubled their lead when Salvatore pounced on a defensive mistake before smashing into the roof of the net.

Ashville started the comeback just over ten minutes into the first half. A poor clearance from Egan fell to Tom Hewlett 35 yards out. The Ashville midfielder curled a first time beauty into the top corner to give Villa hope.

A little over 10 minutes after that and Ashville were level. Another defensive error was taken advantage of by Junior Siyakhowla-Fani who slotted calmly past Egan to set up an interesting finale.

Some fantastic saves by Shaun Farrall kept Rovers out until the 90th minute when Katrina headed a late winner for Rovers.

That was enough to see the young Tranmere side progress into the Cheshire Senior Cup 2nd round. Ashville put in a spirited display on an evening where fortune sadly didn’t favour the brave.