Monday 27 December 2021 - Kick-off 3.00pm v Skelmersdale United The North West Counties Football League Premier Division Official Matchday Programme ASHTON ATHLETIC ASHTON ATHLETIC HELP KEEP THE FANS AT THE GAME, FOLLOW THE RULES TO ENSURE WE CAN ALL ENJOY FOOTBALL www.nwcfl.com HOW YOU CAN HELP: WASH HANDS REGULARLY STAY HOME IF YOU HAVE ANY SYMPTOMS SOCIALLY DISTANCE & MASK ON REQUEST 1m+ MATCH DAY 15:00 Ashton Athletic v Skelmersdale United 15:00 Avro v Northwich Victoria 15:00 Barnoldswick Town v Longridge Town 15:00 Congleton Town v Vauxhall Motors 15:00 Macclesfield v Winsford United 15:00 Padiham v Charnock Richard 15:00 Wythenshawe Town v Irlam 15:00 AFC Darwen v Campion 15:00 Ashton Town v St Helens Town 15:00 Chadderton v Golcar United 15:00 Cleator Moor Celtic v Bacup Borough 15:00 Daisy Hill v Atherton LR 15:00 Garstang v AFC Blackpool 15:00 Pilkington v Nelson 15:00 Steeton v Bury AFC 13:00 West Didsbury & Chorlton v Cammell Laird 1907 15:00 Abbey Hey v Wythenshawe Amateurs 15:00 Abbey Hulton United v New Mills 15:00 Alsager Town v Rocester 15:00 Barnton v Sandbach United 15:00 Cheadle Town v Cheadle Heath Nomads 15:00 Ellesmere Rangers v St Martins 15:00 Stafford Town v Maine Road 15:00 Stockport Town v Brocton Premier Division First Division South First Division North JOIN OUR 300 JOIN OUR 300 CLUB! CLUB! Raise money for our club! Win Cash Prizes In the first week of October our first prize won £200! Monday 27 December Welcome to Brocstedes Park Year Formed: 1968 Life President: Jimmy Witherington Club President: Bill Bohannon Club Chairman: Jimmy Whyte Club Secretary: Jimmy Whyte Club Treasurer: Brad Reid First Team Manager : Jay Foulds Assistant Manager: David Tickle Physio: Amy Benson Development Squad Manager: Paul Piert Under 18’s Manager: Carl Vieri Programme Editor: Bernie Johnson Ground: Brocstedes Park Address: Brocstedes Road, Wigan, Lancashire, WN4 0NR Telephone: 01942 716360 Website: www.ashtonathletic.co.uk Twitter: @AshtonAthletic Facebook: www.facebook.com/AshtonAthletic The Entity: Unincorperated Members Club Midweek Home Games: Tuesday Registered Outfield Colours: Yellow Shirts, Blue Shorts & Socks Registered Goalkeeping Colours: Green Shirt, Shorts & Socks Alternative Colours: Blue shirts, Blue Shorts & Socks Highest Attendance: 610(v Chorley 30/09/17) County Affiliation: Lancashire FA Honours: Atherton Charity Cup: Winners: 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09 NWCFL Challenge Cup: Winners: 2013/14 Wigan Cup: Winners: 2014/15 Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy: Winners 2016/17 Jay Foulds Daz Mullen A warm welcome to all of our friends from Skelmersdale United. I hope you enjoy your afternoon at Brocstedes. Despite three goals in two matches from our newly appointed assistant manager, Richard Brodie, we have had a frustrating time of things in our last two matches. Last Saturday was particularly disappointing as we returned to our early season habit of conceding early goals as Avro took a 2-0 lead within 15 minutes. While we pulled one back immediately and had chances to equalise, those early goals always had us on the back foot. Two late goals from the home team added some extra gloss to the scoreline for them. Our visitors, this afternoon are in a rich vein of form, so it’s certainly not going to get any easier for us! Micheal Howard scored a hat trick for them in their last outing, so he is definitely a player we will need to watch. They keep it tight at the other end too, with goalkeeper, Ben Barnes gaining the Goalkeeper of the Month Award for November. Let’s hope we can finish 2021 on a high with a good performance and a good result. On behalf of everyone at the club may I take this opportunity of wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2022! The future’s bright, the future’s yellow. Jay Tuesday 11 January 2022 Kick-off 7.45pm v West Didsbury & Chorlton Lancashire Challenge Trophy Quarter Final Premier Division P GD Pts 1 Macclesfield 23 22 53 2 Skelmersdale United 24 31 51 3 Burscough 25 19 45 4 Charnock Richard 24 21 43 5 Wythenshawe Town 25 15 42 6 Avro 24 13 41 7 Congleton Town 25 11 38 8 Lower Breck 24 3 38 9 Northwich Victoria 24 13 37 10 Barnoldswick Town 24 1 32 11 Longridge Town 24 -4 32 12 Irlam 23 -4 32 13 Winsford United 24 -7 30 14 AFC Liverpool 23 -5 28 15 Prestwich Heys 23 -12 28 16 Vauxhall Motors 24 -17 28 17 Squires Gate 25 -7 27 18 Padiham 26 -12 27 19 Ashton Athletic 24 -22 24 20 Runcorn Town 25 -19 20 21 Litherland REMYCA 23 -40 10 NEXT UP at Brocstedes Table as up to Wednesday 22 December 2021 To book an award winning mental fitness session at your club, email Elaine.Prendergast@stateofmindsport.org www.stateofmindsport.org STATE OF MIND SPORT IS PROUD TO BE THE official CHARITY PARTNER OF THE NORTH WEST COUNTIES FOOTBALL LEAGUE. State of Mind Sport is a charity that harnesses the power of sport to promote positive mental fitness, to improve performance among our sportsmen and women, fans and wider communities, AND to ultimately prevent suıcide. State of Mind Sport raise awareness of the issues surrounding mental fitness and deliver education on the subject to all levels of sport, business, education and community groups. A Brief History... Ashton Athletic Football Club was founded in 1968 and playing in the Wigan Sunday League – winning every Division in consecutive seasons and many cup competitions before switching to the Warrington League on Saturdays where similar success was sustained. The Club developed Brocstedes Park and was admitted to the Lancashire Combination, before becoming a founder member of the North West Counties League when the Combination merged with the Cheshire league in 1982. Unfortunately, financial constraints prevented the required ground improvements to be completed, and the Club was relegated into the Manchester league Division One in 1986. The drop of two leagues resulted in the majority of the playing staff moving to other club’s and for numerous years the club endeavored to re-build. Players came and went, lacking the Club loyalty that had brought success to the Club in the 1970’s and early 80’s until the Committee embraced an ambitious youth development policy in 1999. The Club is now at the end of a ten-year development plan to enhance its recreational facilities and expand the Club, in particular its junior section. Eight years ago, the Club had two teams, 50 members, one mediocre pitch with dilapidated clubhouse and changing rooms. Since then the Club members have worked tirelessly to progress the Club within its means, and with some help from external grant sources. Assistance from the Football foundation, Awards for All programme, and Wigan Council enabled a series of improvements to be completed. The main pitch was re-drained, a second pitch acquired/improved, new changing rooms and Clubhouse built, disabled access provided and other improvements made to the grounds. More recently the ground has been brought up to the necessary Ground Grading for re-entry into the NWCFL, in time for the start of the 2006/7 season and further inprovements have provided additional seating. The 2008/09 season also saw further progression of the Club, having been promoted to the Premier Division of the Vodkat North West Counties League. We were again able take to the national stage, having been accepted in the FA Cup competition after last season’s debut in the FA Vase which proved very lucrative for the Club, progressing through 3 stages and beating 2 teams from higher leagues in the process. The previous season also saw cup success for the Club retaining the Atherton Charity Cup at the end of the season. Following an impressive 6th place finish in the 2008/09 season, the Yellows struggled in the league for the next 4 seasons, finishing in the bottom three of the league in three of the next four seasons. 21st (09/10), 22nd (10/11), 14th (11/12) and 20th (12/13). Jimmy McBride, who took over the reins midway through the 12/13, left the club when the season ended and the club took the unusual step in bringing in a trio of managers, Jay Foulds, Ben Kay and Dougie Pitts. Jay and Ben were brought in from Wigan Robin Park and Dougie came in following a break from the game. The trio needed to completely rebuild the squad for the 2013/14 season and made an excellent start to their managerial careers creating club history with a 6th place finish and beating Maine Road 1-0 to win the League Challenge Cup at Curzon Ashton. More club history was made in the 2014/15 season with a highest ever 5th place finish in the league, conceding only 38 goals and losing only 7 league games that season and the Yellows were successful in the Wigan Cup, beating Newburgh Harrock United 5-1 in the final at Brocstedes Park. The 2015/16 season saw the retirement of Jay Foulds and he was replaced in the Ashton Athletic goal by Martin Pearson. Unfortunately, there were no cup heroics in that season but there was a solid 7th place finish in the league. The 2016/17 saw another top 10 finish with the club ending the season in 9th place, but the club made history in the cups reaching the 2nd qualifying round for the first time ever, losing 5-0 against Halifax Town and winning the Lancashire Cup for the first time, coming from a goal down to win 2-1 against Radcliffe Borough. Lee Vaughan scoring the winner in the final minute of the game. With the impact the management trio have made at the club in the 4 seasons that they have been in charge of the first team, the success was noticed from clubs at a higher level and following the 2016/17 season, Ben Kay left his role as joint manager to take up the role as assistant manager to Simon Howarth at Clitheroe FC, where he will link up again former Yellows captain, Ian Rowlands. A new vision for the Club is under discussion to further develop the Club and these will include plans for improvements to the access road, new junior changing rooms, additional playing fields for the junior section and a proposed girls/ladies section. The main ground is also scheduled for enhancement works with additional covered spectator areas. The Club is a voluntary organisation run by a Committee of 14 alongside approximately 25 coaches and managers. Any money raised by the Club has been ploughed back into improving the facilities and developing the youth section. The Club now has a total membership of more than 400. We have 9 junior teams consisting of approximately 160 children who take advantage of the improvement of our now excellent facilities, whilst hundreds of children and adults from opposition teams also benefit from the continually improving facilities. The Club is keen to maintain the pace of development of the club and future plans will enable increased activity at the Club, additional Junior teams and a much safer and secure environment in particular for spectators and Children. The Club was awarded the FA Charter Standard in 2013. F O O T B A L L L E A G U E T H E N O R T H W E S T C O U N T I E S nwcfl.c m For the latest League & Club News & Info, Fixtures, Results, Cup Info, Stats & Archives Follow us on social media Search ‘North West Counties League’ on Twitter and Facebook Official Website of The North West Counties Football League oFFICIAL GoALKEEPING PARTNER oF THE NoRTH WEST CouNTIES FooTBALL LEAGuE. prouD SpoNSor oF THE GoALKEEpEr oF THE MoNTH AND GoALKEEpEr oF THE YEAr AWArDS www.reusch.com www.facebook.com/ReuschUK www.twitter.com/ReuschUK For more information, visit Season 2020-21 marks the 50th Anniversary of the greatest season in United’s history as they lifted the Amateur Cup at Wembley Stadium. Skelmersdale United Football Club has a very rich pedigree with an extensive list of honours since they were founded in 1882. The Club had its genesis in a team of players brought together by the teachers of the Skelmersdale Wesleyan Day School and it was called Skelmersdale Young Rovers, the name was changed to Skelmersdale Wesleyans, subsequently the minister expressed his disapproval of this and the team became Skelmersdale United. The club returned to the Town in December 2019 after spending two years in exile at Prescot Cables, having been evicted from their home of “Stormy Corner” by the landlords. Having had a highly successful spell in recent seasons having won the Northern Premier League North in 2012-13, also claiming the Lancashire Cup in 2009, The Liverpool Senior Cup in 2015 under the guidance of mercurial manager Tommy Lawson. However success could not be maintained and United with the eviction at Stormy Corner have found themselves back in the North West Counties as Manager Paul McNally looks to re build the club to former glories. United have had a long and varied past, playing at the Sandy Lane Ground in the early part of the 20th Century they competed in the Liverpool County Combination, winning the title on 10 occasions, also claiming the Liverpool County Cup 8 times and the George Mahon Cup on 5 occasions. They moved to White Moss Park, their spiritual home in 1957 and progression to the Lancashire Combination saw them clinch the Division Two title in their first season. Steady progress was made in the Combination as United became a force to be reckoned with, Chairman Bill Gregson’s dream to make progress in the Amateur Cup and with the appointment of Manager Bernie Banks in 1966 saw United become one of the most respected non league sides in the Country reaching their first Wembley final in 1967, drawing 0-0 against Enfield beneath the Twin Towers, United lost the replay at Maine Road 3-0, Bill Gregson was not unperturbed as two Semi Finals in the following 3 years saw United come ever so close to a return to Wembley. The Appointment of Roy Rees in 1970 saw United make that a reality as the United side conquered all before them, including Dagenham in the Final, comprehensively outplaying their opponents, a Ted Dicken hat trick gave United a 4-1 win. One of the everlasting memories of the successful Amateur Cup days was the tremendous support for the club. The phenomenal increase in crowds will probably never be repeated again, with regular crowds between 1,000 and 1,500 for league games, rising to several thousand for cup games. Indeed the record gate for the club was 7,500 for a quarter final game in March 1967 that resulted in a 1-0 victory over Slough Town. It was not United’s only success in the late 60’s and early 70’s,as United’s roll of Honour included Two Cheshire League titles, 2 Lancashire Cup winners. 2 Cheshire League Shield winners, plus 3 appearances in the 1st Round of the FA Cup. There is no doubt that the 1967-1971 period was a golden era for Skelmersdale with many players progressing into the Football League. Steve Heighway, Mickey Burns, Norman Whitehead, Dave Moorcroft and Alan Mansley amongst others to have stepped up to league football. Although the club joined the Northern Premier League in 1971 it was to be an unhappy time for the club, with financial problems that the club would have hanging round its neck for over two decades and performances on the pitch were less than impressive. The club had to wait till 2000 to claim their first piece of silverware, The North West Counties League Cup The club left their spiritual home of White Moss Park in 2002 and eventually moved to the newly named Westgate Interactive Stadium (Stormy Corner). United’s fortunes changed becoming a potent force in the North West Counties, eventually gaining promotion to the Northern Premier League in 2006 and enjoying the success that followed. Despite the last two seasons being badly interupted by the covid pandemic, Skelmersdale United made headline news as they battled through to the first round of the FA Cup in 2020-21, for the first time since 1971, the club were featured live on BT Sports, going down to Harrogate 4-1. Our Opponents Today Skelmersdale United Current Position 19th P W D L F A Pts 24 6 6 12 41 63 24 Current Form 14th P W D L F A 6 1 3 2 10 13 LAST SIX MATCHES 18/12/21 Avro (A) L 1-5 14/12/21 Longridge Town (H) D 2-2 27/11/21 Squires Gate (H) L 0-1 23/11/21 Burscough (H) D 2-2 20/11/21 Runcorn Town (A) D 1-1 17/11/21 Longridge Town (A) W 4-2 30/10/21 Irlam (H) W 2-0 Current Position: 2nd P W D L F A Pts 24 15 6 3 56 25 51 Current Form: 1st P W D L F A 6 5 1 0 16 4 Last Six Matches: Date Opponent Score 11/12/21 Padiham (H) W 3-0 27/11/21 Vauxhall Motors (H) W 5-1 23/11/21 AFC Liverpool (A) W 2-1 20/11/21 Longridge Town (A) W 3-1 13/11/21 Macclesfield (H) D 0-0 09/11/21 Congleton Town (A) W 3-1 Form Guide Skelmersdale United goalkeeper, Ben Barnes, receives his Goalkeeper of the Month Award for November 2021 Date Opponents H/A KO Score Goalscorers Sat 31/07/21 Wythenshawe Town H 15:00 0-1 Tue 03/08/21 Burscough A 19:45 1-3 Houghton Sat 07/08/21 Squires Gate (The Emirates F.A Cup EP) H 15:00 0-2 Sat 14/08/21 Charnock Richard A 15:00 1-9 Brown Tue 17/08/21 Winsford United A 19:45 0-3 Sat 21/08/21 Vauxhall Motors H 15:00 4-5 Brown, Joe Nicholson, Bandell (2) Sat 28/08/21 Congleton Town A 15:00 2-1 Bandell, Josh Nicholson Mon 30/08/21 Lower Breck H 15:00 1-0 Beckford Sat 04/09/21 Macclesfield H 15:00 1-1 Beckford Tue 07/09/21 Runcorn Town H 19:45 2-4 Korie-Butler, Boyd Sat 11/09/21 Abbey Hey (The Buildbase FA Vase 1Q) A 15:00 0-1 Tue 14/09/21 AFC Liverpool A 19:45 2-2 Boyd, Korie-Butler Sat 18/09/21 Prestwich Heys H 15:00 3-4 Boyd, Nicholson, Beckford Sat 25/09/21 Squires Gate A 15:00 4-2 Beckford, Weaver, Nicholson, Korie-Butler Wed 29/09/21 Litherland REMYCA A 19:45 1-3 Beckford Sat 02/10/21 Skelmersdale United A 15:00 1=3 Beckford Sat 09/10/21 Avro H 15:00 4-0 Beckford (2), Boyd, McDermott Sat 16/10/21 Padiham H 15:00 3-2 Korie-Butler, Nicholson, Beckford Sat 30/10/21 Irlam H 15:00 2-0 Beckford 2 Sat 06/11/21 Northwich Victoria A 15:00 1-7 Nicholson Sat 13/11/21 Barnoldswick Town A 15:00 2-2 Ellis 2 Wed 17/11/21 Longridge Town (Lancashire Challenge R2) A 19:45 4-2 Ellis, Nicholson, Boyd, Brough Sat 20/11/21 Runcorn Town A 15:00 1-1 Boyd Sat 23/11/21 Burscough H 19:45 2-2 Wilson, Brodie Sat 27/11/21 Squires Gate H 15:00 0-1 Tue 14/12/21 Longridge Town H 19:45 2-2 Brodie (2) Sat 18/12/21 Avro A 15:00 1-5 Brodie Mon 27/12/21 Skelmersdale United A 15:00 Wed 05/01/22 Longridge Town A 15:00 Sat 15/01/22 AFC Liverpool H 15:00 Sat 22/01/22 Vauxhall Motors A 15:00 Tue 25/01/22 Northwich Victoria H 15:00 Sat 29/01/22 Congleton Town H 15:00 Sat 05/02/22 Lower Breck A 15:00 Sat 12/02/22 Prestwich Heys A 15:00 Sat 19/02/22 Winsford United H 15:00 Sat 26/02/22 Litherland REMYCA H 15:00 Sat 05/03/22 Padiham A 15:00 Tue 08/03/22 Charnock Richard H 19.45 Sat 12/03/22 Macclesfield A 15:00 Sat 26/03/22 Barnoldswick Town H 15:00 Sat 02/04/22 Irlam A 15:00 Fixtures and Results Appearances Goals Cards MOM Player Start Sub Start Sub Red Yellow Tosin Abioye 3 2 0 0 0 1 0 Charles Akande 3 2 0 0 0 0 1 Ben Ascroft (GK) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 James Aspinall (GK) 17 0 0 0 0 0 5 Christopher Bandell 7 1 3 0 0 1 0 Ethan Beckford * 10 3 11 0 0 0 4 Lewis Boyd 15 5 6 0 0 0 0 Richard Brodie 2 3 4 0 0 2 1 Ethan Brough 6 2 1 0 0 0 0 Millen Brown * 4 0 2 0 1 0 0 Regan Brown 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 Thomas Carr 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 Brandon Carrington 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ben Cartwright * 12 1 0 0 0 1 0 Michael Conlon 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ryan Cook 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tom Douglas * 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Matthew Edwards (GK) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Gabriel Ellis 7 2 3 0 0 0 0 Jason Foulds (GK) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jamie Frost 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Declan Gallagher * 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 Brian Hatton 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Oliver Hawkins 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Samuel Houghton 10 6 0 0 1 1 0 Ahmed Ibrahim * 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bram Johnstone 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 Harry Jones 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 Oredi Kibombo * 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 Anthony Knowles 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 Dale Korie-Butler * 14 3 4 0 0 2 0 Daniel Lever (GK) 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Andy Mandjoba 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 Cian McDermott 6 0 1 0 0 2 0 Charlie Middlemore 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 Niall Moran 12 0 0 0 0 3 1 Joseph Nicholson * 10 1 1 0 1 2 2 Joshua Nicholson 26 1 7 0 0 0 2 James OHara 14 4 0 0 0 7 0 Martin Pearson (GK) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Marcus Perry * 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 Fenton Reeves * 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Matthew Reid 6 1 0 0 1 1 0 Ryan Schofield 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Andrew Thomas 9 5 0 0 0 0 1 Neil Weaver * 2 2 1 0 0 1 1 Nathan Whalley 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 Joe White 18 3 0 0 0 5 1 Harvey Whyte * 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 Dimeji Willan (GK) * 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Calum Wilson 22 2 1 0 0 3 3 Dean Winnard 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Sean Yeldrem 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Gregor Zabret 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Player Appearences Ashton Athletic Manager: Jay Foulds Skelmersdale United Manager: Paul McNally James Aspinall Ethan Brough Andrew Thomas Niall Moran Joe White Calum Wilson Joshua Nicholson Charlie Middlemore Ethan Beckford Cian McDermott Lewis Boyd Christopher Bandell Oredi Kibombo Samuel Houghton James O’Hara Dale Korie-Butler Richard Brodie Tosin Abioye Harry Jones Gabriel Ellis Michael Conlon Anthony Knowles Regan Brown MATCH OFFICIALS REFEREE TBC ASSISTANT TBC ASSISTANT TBC NEXT UP AT BROCSTEDES PARK Tuesday 11 January 2022 Kick-off 7.45pm West Didsbury & Chorlton Ben Barnes Callum Lees Alex Griffiths Joe Herbert Michael Grogan Kenneth Strickland Tom Croughan Sam Sheen Daniel Mitchley Joseph Nicholson Michael Howard Elliot Morris Kevin Towey Edward Servuts Abdul Djalo Alex Davies