Ashton United defeat Stalybridge Celtic to pick up Keith Trudgeon Memorial Trophy

Stalybridge Celtic went head-to-head with Ashton United on Tuesday in a pre-season Tameside derby, with both teams competing for the inaugural Keith Trudgeon Memorial Trophy.

The trophy was named after the lifelong Celtic fan Keith Trudgeon, who sadly passed away earlier this year. Keith dedicated his life to Celtic, spending 30 years as the club’s press officer and two years as a director. His presence will be massively missed, and his passing has left a large hole in the Celtic community. A minute's silence was held before the match to honour Keith, or ‘Trudge’ as he was better known by friends.

Hosts Celtic lined up very strongly, with only one trialist in the starting XI, whereas visitors Ashton United lined up with five trialists. The home side started the game strongly, creating a number of chances in the early stages, including a volley from new signing Aaron Dwyer, that was tipped over brilliantly by the Ashton United goalkeeper.

They continued to create, with forward Matty Bryan getting a chance of his own which he dragged just wide, before Celtic found the breakthrough. A corner from the left was whipped in towards the penalty spot and rising the highest was defender James Dwyer who headed the ball home and gave Celtic the lead.

Visitors Ashton United started the second half much better than the first and began to grow into the game. Their best chance came just before the hour mark, when full-back Cole Lonsdale cut in from the right and unleashed a curling effort towards the far post, which was turned behind by Elliot Wynne in the Celtic goal.

Moments later came another chance for Celtic’s Matty Bryan, when he found space in behind the United defence, but the onrushing goalkeeper made himself big and kept out the number 9’s driven effort.

Just minutes from the end, Stalybridge Celtic were made to pay for these missed chances, when one of United’s forwards latched onto a loose pass from substitute Omar Ibrahim, it was from the resulting counter-attack that the away side found their equaliser, when trialist 21 was played in behind the Celtic defence, and poked the ball beyond the goalkeeper.

A disappointing end to the 90 for Celtic, whose misery was compounded in the subsequent penalty shootout, when midfielder Ethan Padden missed his sudden death kick, and Louis Potts converted his for Ashton, to give them the win. After full-time Steve Cunningham’s side were presented with the Keith Trudgeon Memorial Trophy, in front of their travelling supporters.

Despite picking up the trophy, Cunningham was not too impressed with the performance, “I don’t think we played well at all, we mixed and matched tonight with the team selection but I’m not taking anything away from Celtic I thought they were  excellent.

“They turned it into a real derby game, and I think we just had too many players that were off it and we were very lucky to get something out of it at the end.”

Cunningham was keen to point out that the football on show was of secondary importance, and that the game was all about paying tribute to the late Keith Trudgeon, “Tonight wasn’t just about two teams playing each other it was in honour of a fantastic gentleman, his family were here tonight and hopefully both teams have done them proud.”

Stalybridge Celtic manager James Kinsey says there are positives to take from the game despite the defeat, “I thought we were the better side but if you don’t put the ball in the net you don’t win, a lot of sides play nice football and get no rewards, we can’t afford to become that team.

“But I’d be more worried if we weren’t creating chances, those missed ones are just about match sharpness, Matty Bryan who missed a couple tonight, I’ve worked with for a few years and he will score goals in this team, I’ve got no doubt about it.”