STRONG winds and lively ball made ideal playing conditions difficult at Brocstedes Park on Saturday, in this Semi-Final First Leg of the Division Two Trophy.
In truth the clash turned out to be somewhat of an anti-climax as far as good football was concerned, as high cross winds played havoc with control, in what was a lacklustre show from both sides in the first-half.
Kirkham, with eyes fixed very much on next weeks lucrative FA Vase Sixth Round tie with Coventry Sphinx played well within themselves and it was the home side who in fairness had the better of the chances to have broken the deadlock.
advertisement
Mark Court had an early chance after ten minutes to open the scoring but fired wide for Athletic and then 10 minutes before the break Kirkham
defender Allan Jackson, back in the side after a groin injury, cleared a Paul Bohannan goalbound header off the line.
Kirkham 'keeper Pete Summerfield made a number of timely saves low down to thwart Ashton during the game but rarely did the forwards of either side get the better of both defences.
Kirkham did have the ball in the net after an hour - but substitute, 17-year-old Matt Walwyn, on for the injured Ged Smith at half-time with a
back pull was adjudged offside, and when Ashton sub Paul Townsend glanced a header wide on the whistle it was Town's last chance to take a lead to Kellamergh Park in a fortnight's time for the second-leg.
Kirkham boss Mick Fuller said: "The idea was to come here today and not be beaten.
"We achieved that so I guess the ball is in our court now and we should be satisfied with that.
"It wasn't a game for the football purists but sometimes you have to grind out a result and I think we did that."
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Submit your event for free. Click 
Print
Email this
Comment
