Squires Gate 2 Ashton Athletic 4: Clinical visitors punish Gate

Manager Luke Evans made four changes from the team beaten 3-2 by Avro five days earlier as Jacob Ridings, Isaac Abankwah, Jake Higham and Josh Pollard replaced Ryan Riley, Nathan Bartram, Max Rogers and Kieran Feeney.

Gate looked to get on top early as Pollard turned well inside the box only to see his effort blocked.

However, a promising start turned into a nightmare as Ashton scored in the 10th minute and again in the 11th.

First Ethan Beckford found space on the left of the Gate area and fired into the bottom corner, giving keeper Mike Hale no chance.

Then a free-kick over the defence caught Gate out and left a simple finish for Neil Weaver.

Gate looked to hit back and James Boyd had the ball in the net only to see the offside flag raised.

Ashton got a third on 28 minutes, winning the ball in the final third and carving through the Gate defence for Joshua Nicholson to finish well.

Boyd again went close three minutes before the break, and although his low effort was tipped away for a corner Gate did get on the scoresheet in first-half stoppage time.

Luke Higham and Pollard linked up well on the left before Dean Ing found space to pick out the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

Trailing 3-1 but encouraged by Ing's goal, Gate brought on Kieran Feeney for the second half but a penalty shout for a challenge on Jacob Ridings was waved away.

Gate got their second goal on 55 minutes after brilliant work by Higham, who drove into the box from the left and set up Feeney for a smart finish.

The visitors resisted Gate's mounting pressure well and won a penalty against the run of play on 71 minutes. An infringement by Alex Welsh was punished as Dale Korie-Butler sent Hale the wrong way from the spot.

Gate introduced Jack Iley and Max Rogers in a bid to get back into the game but Ing's shot on the turn was well blocked.

Gate thought they had a lifeline on 84 minutes, when Boyd applied the finish to flick-ons by Jack Iley and Ing but the flag was raised after appeals by Ashton players .

Iley had two shooting chances in stoppage time but narrowly missed the target for Gate, who are at home again to high-flying Longridge Town on Tuesday (7.45 kick-off).

Gate: Hale, Ridings, Higham, Welsh, Abankwah, Westwood (C), Mekkaoui-Abouzaid, Webster, Pollard, Ing, Boyd; Subs: Holden, Garrett, Rogers, Feeney, Iley

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