Daisy Hill’s disappointing run of results continued on Saturday when they fell to a 2-0 defeat at Ashton Town in the North West Counties League First Division North.

Goals in each half from Conor Ready and Carl Peers secured the points for the home side in a game that, for long spells, was an evenly-matched affair, although Daisy had cause to feel aggrieved when leading scorer Ryan Talbot had a first-half goal ruled out on a marginal offside decision just after the half-hour mark.

Daisy’s assistant manager, Tom Brown, summed up the frustration in the visiting camp afterwards.

“I thought our performance was better than it has been in recent games, it was just fine margins again that cost us,” said Brown.

“In possession I thought we were much better than we have been, we recycled the ball well which is something we haven’t done in weeks, and put more passes together than we had done in previous games.

“We created a few good opportunities too, with some good crosses.

“I don’t want to criticise referees, but in the second half a couple of decisions went against us and shortly afterwards Ashton went two goals up.

“If those decisions had gone how we think they should have gone, we would still have been on the front foot.

“I think it just knocked us a bit, especially with the run we are on where things just aren’t dropping for us.

“But when that happens, we need to get on with the game and stop feeling sorry for ourselves, and we just need to dig a little bit deeper.”

Ashton took the lead in the seventh minute from the first clear chance of the game, with Ready finding the back of the net with a cross-cum-shot from the left edge of the penalty area that crept just inside the far post.

Daisy’s first chance arrived at the midway point of the first half when a cross into the box was only half-cleared by the Ashton defence and the ball fell to Danny Warburton, whose shot was well blocked by the Ashton keeper James McClenaghan.

But just after the half hour, Daisy were denied an equaliser by the flag of the assistant referee, when Sam Twist raced into the box and cut the ball back for Ryan Talbot to side-foot into the net, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.

Four minutes from half time, Ashton were also on the wrong end of an offside decision, when Carl Peers curled a delightful shot into the top corner from the edge of the box, only to have his goal celebrations quickly brought to a halt when the assistant raised her flag.

After the break, Daisy came desperately close to grabbing an equaliser just after the hour mark, when Twist picked up the ball on the right, cut inside and fired in a shot McClenaghan managed to deflect just wide of the post with his outstretched foot.

It was a crucial save, as eight minutes later Ashton doubled their advantage with a second goal. Peers reacted quickly when a cross was played in to the far post and stooped low to guide a diving header past Daisy keeper Morgan Newns.

As Daisy pushed forward late on, they were always vulnerable to the counter attack, and Ashton’s Ben Glendon and Leon Wright had chances in the last few minutes to increase the margin of victory, but both missed the target.

Daisy’s next game is on Saturday when they travel to face Bacup Borough in another league fixture (3pm).