In their final friendly before their 2023/24 Northern Premier League season kicks off on Saturday, against Workington AFC, Ashton United defeated Burnley’s Academy by three goals to two.
The match took place on Tuesday at Hurst Cross and was a thriller from start to finish.
Visitors Burnley missed a golden opportunity just fifteen minutes in when Kian Le Fondre saw his long-range effort fly just wide of the post, and they were punished moments later when Ashton took the lead, with in-form Marcus Cusani turning in a pinpoint cross from Alex Byrne.
The Robins doubled their lead on the half-hour mark and Cusani doubled his tally for the night after turning in another cross, this time from a corner. Burnley got one back minutes later, scoring a header from a well-worked set piece, and went in at half time trailing 2-1.
The away side made the perfect start to the second half, when Le Fondre made up for his earlier miss, and found the equaliser for Burnley, through a superb header.
Ashton United kept plugging away despite the setback, and finally got their reward fifteen minutes from time, when Dan Cowan’s bullet header found the corner of the Burnley goal. Steve Cunningham’s men managed to fight off a late attempt at a comeback from the visitors and the match finished 3-2 to the Robins, who ended their pre-season in fine fashion ahead of their first game of the 2023/24 season on Saturday, when, as mentioned, they travel to newly promoted Workington AFC.
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