ASHTON UNITED 1 CHORLEY 2 CHORLEY came away from Manchester club Ashton United with a hard earned comeback victory.

Ken Wright's side are playing nice football at the moment, belying their mid-table position in the Unibond League 1st division.

The fluent magpies approach play put the home side under pressure from the kick off.

Paul Allen had a fair shout for a penalty turned down and Keith Evans had a shot cleared off the line.

Ashton grabbed a shock lead on 40 minutes when Franny Hyland slammed the ball home from 30 yards and well wide of the goal.

Chorley were shocked into action after the break and an inevitable equaliser finally arrived in the 58 minutes. Paul Allen played a clever ball behind the defence for former Leigh striker Keith Evans to fire home.

Allen was unlucky with another shot cleared off the line, but a winner arrived on 67 minutes.

Mark Simms crossed from deep, Evans took the ball down and tucked his shot past the keeper away.

Ashton came back strongly, but they never looked like putting the ball past Marsh, who gave another splendid performance to deny the home forwards.

Its the magic of the cup this weekend as the Magpies visit another Manchester outfit, Radcliffe Borough in the second qualifying round.

This is as tough a tie as Chorley could have drawn at this stage of the competition, but the conference big boys come in in the next round, so Ken Wright's men have the chance of a money spinning game against North-West rivals Southport, Morecambe or Altrincham if they win through.

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