HYDE UNITED 1, ASHTON UNITED 0.
A penalty in added time at the end of the first period was all that separated neighbours Hyde United and Ashton United at the end of a Bank Holiday encounter in the spring sunshine.
In the last of the three added minutes, captain Callum Rowe was adjudged to have taken down Tunde Owolabi with Ben Kershaw just squeezing his penalty under the dive of Jordan Eastham, the Robins having seen their own penalty shout shortly before waved away after Mikey O’Neill went down in the area.
It was a huge win for the Tigers in their battle to beat the drop in Pitching In Northern Premier League, Premier as it lifted them out of the bottom three.
Ashton were unchanged from their victory over Rushall on Good Friday and three minutes in needed to be alert as a short corner routine required a good block from Sean Newton to keep out Scott Duxbury’s shot.
Five minutes later, a loose pass saw Owolabi dummy his way into the area with Dylan Cogill getting a vital block on his goal bound effort.
Midway through the half, a great turn by Alex Byrne sent him clear into the area where his cross was just too far ahead of O’Neill and two minutes before the break a fine move initiated by Newton saw him spread the play to Byrne whose cross was inexplicably turned wide by Darius Osei from four yards.
Good control at the start of the second half by James Hardy drew a foul from Duxbury 30 yards out which saw Newton’s free kick hit the side netting and Hardy then collected Byrne’s pass but over elaborated before failing to get his shot away.
Midway through the half, Byrne won a corner which saw O’Neill’s lay off lead to Newton’s attempt being blocked and Kershaw then failed to beat Eastham at his near post having got the better of Spencer Knight.
With one minute left, Manasse Mampala’s pull back was helped against the crossbar by Hardy with an eventual offside halting the attack and a quick break by Kershaw then needed a smart stop by Eastham from Owolabi’s shot as the hosts held on to the points to ease their relegation fears.
Ashton United: Eastham, Spooner, Doherty, Newton, Knight (Mampala 83), Cogill, Byrne, Rowe, O’Neill (Gilchrist 71), Osei, Hardy. Subs (unused): Denton, Janneh, Taylor.
Attendance: 829.
Report: David Robinson.