Hunt pleased as Daisy Hill beat Ashton - and windy elements

Goals in each half from Dec Baldwin and Abubakhar Muhammed were the highlight of a hard-fought win in testing windy conditions, and Daisy boss Nicky Hunt was full of praise for his side after the game.

“I just thought it was a totally accomplished performance,” said Hunt.

“We had two half-chances in the first 45 seconds of the game and it just showed our intent and our mentality.

“It’s a tough place to come Ashton Athletic, they are fighting for their lives down at the bottom of the league, but we started and finished really strongly today.

“We had umpteen chances in that second half to kill the game off and go three, four and five up. But a clean sheet is what we came here for, and a clean sheet is what we got.

“The wind didn’t help either team, first half and second half, but we worked two or three really good opportunities in that first half against the wind, and showed our quality in the final third.

“It’s a credit to the lads, we were sturdy from start to finish from 1 to 11, and the subs who came on were excellent, they are all young lads.

“We were missing two first-team regulars as well in Dino (Dean Singleton) and Krissy (Kris Holt) today, so to cope with that as well was terrific.

“I have to mention Abs (Abubakhar Muhammed) with his great finish today. He worked tirelessly on that wing, he was really pacey and direct and Ashton Athletic couldn’t really handle our wing play at times.

“We scored good technical goals and it was a really pleasing performance.

“We now move on to another tough game, at home against Bacup on Monday. We’ve got two games to go and although the play-offs is a pipe dream now, I just want to finish the season strongly because it gives us a massive base to go and kick on next season.”

Daisy began the game attacking up the slope at Brocstedes Park playing against the wind, and they created the first chance of the game when Jacob Ridings’s cross was headed wide by Muhammed.

At the other end, Jude Smith was called into action when he blocked a shot from Ashton’s Will Adams with an outstretched leg, before Daisy broke the deadlock on 25 minutes.

A strong run from Harry Forshaw was ended when he was tripped on the edge of the box, and from the resulting free-kick, Baldwin curled in a shot that ended up in the back of the net off a combination of the post and the arm of Ashton keeper Ewan Dodgson.

Ashton hit back and had the ball in the back of the net just after the half hour from a corner, but the referee ruled there had been a foul as the ball came into the box.

Ashton created the first chance of the second half when a shot was blocked on the line before being cleared to safety, and just before the hour the referee initially awarded a penalty when Daisy keeper Smith collided with an Ashton forward, then on the advice of the assistant changed his decision to a free-kick for offside.

Daisy began to enjoy the better of the possession as the half wore on, and after Ridings was denied by a great point-blank save from Ashton keeper Hodgson, they finally doubled their advantage with 20 minutes remaining.

A fine sweeping move led to Liam Sheppard crossing low into the box, and Cameron Firth let the ball run through to Muhammed, who picked his spot with a cool finish into the far corner of the net.

Daisy are back in action tomorrow afternoon when they host Bacup Borough at the Ginge Power Stadium (3pm).