Daisy Hill held off a spirited 10-man Ashton Town to collect all three points with a 2-1 win in the North West Counties First Division North on Monday night.
The Cutters were put two up by Max Bardsley-Rowe and Liam Sheppard before holding on to the victory, despite a quick response from Ashton Town leaving manager Nicky Hunt pleased with the performance.
“It was a really good performance, I just asked the lads before the game to get the three points and they delivered,” said Hunt.
“The most pleasing aspect was that we saw the game off well.
“Ashton had a few chances, don’t get me wrong, but we had some incredible chances to go and score goals and we hit the bar twice.
“I was pleased with the way we started the game and dominated the first half. They went down to 10 men before half time, but it’s never going to be easy against them because of the way they play.
“They’re so direct and they just launch the ball as far as they can and you have to deal with it. They’ve got big lads up there, and they make it really difficult. That’s why they are where they are in the league.
“We played with momentum and confidence, and I said to the lads at half time, you look like you’re enjoying your football.
“When they are playing like that, especially Harry (Forshaw) and Shep (Liam Sheppard) up front, no one can deal with them. That second goal we scored was really, really good.
“From back to front, it worked well, and then the back heel from Harry and the finish from Shep, it’s what they’ve been doing all season.
“As soon as I came in. I said it would take a while to get my team together, but we’re starting to play really good football now.
“They’re an incredibly young team that I’ve got here and they’re naive at times, and they don’t know their own strengths and they don’t know how good they are.
“But, hopefully, I can get them in the last three games to come out of their shells a bit and we’ll see more good performances just like tonight.”
After a competitive first 28 minutes the match finally burst into action when Jude Smith denied Ashton Town’s Chris Lomax as he deflected the effort out for a corner with his feet.
Only four minutes later Bardsley-Rowe put Daisy ahead with a low, driven shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box after Kris Holt laid the ball into his path.
The Cutters nearly doubled their lead in the 36th minute as Harry Forshaw rattled the bar from 30 yards out, denying him an unbelievable goal.
With only three minutes left of the half, Ashton Town’s Adam Morris had a moment of madness.
After only being booked a couple of minutes prior he slid in late on Fionn Murphy and earned himself a second booking.
Fifteen minutes into the second half, Daisy finally got the chance to attack and nearly earned a penalty from it.
Sheppard chased a long ball in behind only to be taken out by Ashton Town ‘keeper Morgan Newns in the box but penalty claims were waved away.
Two minutes later Forshaw came close again as he connected with Declan Baldwin’s deep cross only to see Newns make a good save from point-blank range.
With 17 minutes left, the Cutters combined to score a brilliant goal. Holt played Sheppard into space and he drove with the ball until he slipped the overlapping Forshaw in who dragged an Ashton Town defender with him only to backheel the ball back into Sheppard’s path and he slotted the ball under Newns to double Daisy’s lead.
That two-goal lead was shortlived as Conor Irkin smashed his strike into the top corner after some pinball in the box following a free-kick.
With 11 minutes to go the Cutters nearly put the game to bed as Forshaw rattled the bar for a second time.
He picked up a loose ball and took the ball past the last defender, only to see his strike from the edge of the box beat Newns but not the bar.
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