Five star Robins

Ashton United celebrated ‘Willow Wood Day’ in style on Saturday, with a 5-1 thrashing of Hebburn Town at Hurst Cross to strengthen their grip on a NPL Premier play-off place. 

After going six games without a win, it looked like it could be more of the same for Steve Cunningham’s men when visiting captain Amar Purewal slipped the ball through the legs of the on-rushing Connor Eastham on nine minutes.  

The Robins were level less than ten minutes later, though, when Matthew Elsdon thumped into his own net after blocking a Sean Newton diving header on the line.   

After a couple of sighters, Louis White gave Ashton the lead with a neat finish from a pinpoint Al Byrne cross just past the half-hour.  

Darius Osei thought he’d made it 3-1 before the break as he volleyed home from point blank range, but the referee mistakenly said the ball hit his hand rather than thigh.  

The second half was barely a minute old when White did make it 3-1, squeezing home from a tight angle to surprise Hebburn stopper Daniel Cameron.  

It then became the Marcus Carver show.   

Despite fluffing his lines from six yards out moments earlier, the striker scuffed in a finish with the help of Hebburn’s Arron Thompson’s shins on 74 minutes.  

As the game ticked into stoppage time, Cameron tipped another grubbed Carver finish onto the post, with the Southport loanee tickling the ball in from the goal line for 5-1.  

“It’s been a long-time coming,” Cunningham said post-match. “It’s been a stressful few weeks with injuries, suspensions and bits of bad luck that have gone our way.  

“We went on a really good run before the play-offs last year and then we hit a bit of bad form with four games to go and missed out on the last day. It just felt like that was happening [again].  

“But this time we’ve been playing quite well, and people have been getting too carried away and over-egg it in terms of the result versus the performance. Today, I thought we were outstanding for the first ten minutes and then we go a goal down. “It was just bizarre.   

“To go one-nil down, we’ve shown unbelievable character, but I think it also shows the quality in the team.  

“To score five goals at home is what we wanted to give everyone a boost.”  

Ashton United need just two wins from their final five games to lock-in a Top 5 finish. 

As mentioned, Saturday’s matchday was also turned into a dedicated fundraising day, featuring raffles, auctions, and activities to raise money for Willow Wood Hospice, which provides care for over 700 people across Tameside and Glossop. 

The top prizes included a signed Ashton United shirt, and tickets to this year’s Fields of Gold Festival. 

All profits from the match were donated to Willow Wood Hospice, which relies on community donations and a team of 500 volunteers to provide specialist palliative care for patients in the local community.  

Willow Wood also holds a special place in the hearts of Ashton United’s co-chairmen, David and Jonathan Burke, whose father and grandfather Jonny Burke – who also held the club’s record of most games attended - was cared for by the Hospice before he passed away.  

A spokesperson for the club said: “Willow Wood Hospice are dependent on fundraising events and donations to survive and therefore we decided we would like to do something special to help.  

“We hope that by donating all profits from our game against Hebburn Town we can make a real difference.”   

Joanne Lees, the Partnership Development Lead at Willow Wood, said the hospice was grateful for the support.   

“We would like to thank our friends at Ashton United for dedicating this special matchday to support us,” she said.  

“It was a fantastic opportunity for us to help spread the word about what we do and raise awareness about the essential services we provide.”