Weekend football round-up: Robins rock Tigers with last-gasp equaliser

Ashton United clung onto 3rd place in the Northern Premier League (NPL) thanks to a controversial injury time goal against Tameside rivals Hyde United.

Substitute Tom Denton equalised in the 99th minute for the home side to make it 1-1 after the Robins won a contentious corner, following referee Jacob Viera adjudging the ball came off the head of Hyde skipper Joel Amado. 

There was a cloud of controversy over Denton’s finish, too, with the Tigers’ defence claiming it went in off the veteran striker’s hand. 

The home side dominated possession in the opening ten minutes without carving out any opportunities, but Hyde grew into the game once they began finding the jinking runs of Frankie Sinfield on the left flank. 

It was the wide man who slipped into the Ashton box on 15 minutes before being clattered to the deck by Robins skipper Luke Burke. 

Although ex-Hyde keeper Jordan Eastham dived the right way, Matt Fearnley’s penalty had too much pace and made it 1-0 to the visitors. 

Despite a series of ambitious efforts from Louis White and Darius Osei keeping debutant Jack Stafford on his toes, it was a lead Hyde rarely looked like surrendering until midway through the second half. 

That’s when Hyde stopper Callum Hiddleston brought down Jason Gilchrist on the edge of his area for a penalty to the home side. 

The striker picked himself up to take the spot kick, but Hiddleston – who picked up a yellow card for his foul - flung his frame low and to the right to smother the striker’s effort.  

The Tigers kept Ashton at arm’s length until the final knockings of the game. Robins boss Steve Cunningham was booked for vociferous protests when his side broke with seconds left on the clock, only for play to be pulled back for a foul. 

Ironically, this led to Ashton’s equaliser, with the subsequent punted freekick going behind for the corner that Denton converted, much to the frustration of Hyde manager Nick Spooner. 

“It’s a hard one to take. I thought they battled their socks off. 

“They dominated us without hurting us, but then we got hold of the game in midfield, the wide men got at them, we put the ball in the box and we got our reward with the penalty. I thought we looked very comfortable. 

“Apart from the penalty, I can’t remember Callum [Hiddleston] making a save. But then, Lady Luck, which were just having none of this year, it just seemed to hit us and hurting the dressing room again.” 

By contrast, Steve Cunningham was delighted with the game’s madcap conclusion: “I felt sick at the end. I think that’s probably one of the best ends to a derby I’ve had with Hyde. 

“You look at the game in isolation and I thought the first half was quite even. You can see they’re missing a few players, but so are we. 

“Second half I thought we were the better team, we had territorial dominance in their half, but we didn’t really test their goalkeeper much. 

“I think if we’d have lost, that would have been unfair. I don’t think Hyde deserved to win that game...but the way that we’ve shown character and the belief to keep going shows our credentials. 

“We take that as a very good point.” 

In the NPL West, Stalybridge Celtic edged a tight game at Bower Fold against Kidsgrove Athletic. 

Man of the match Brandon Newell scored the only goal on 62 minutes, but Bridge had Jack Tinning to thank for keeping the scores level moments earlier when his desperate goal line block somehow denied Kingsley Adu-Gyamfi from putting Kidsgrove ahead. 

Benni Smales-Braithwaite clattered the post for Stalybridge, while Dan Holdcroft hit the home side’s bar in the closing stages, but Jon Macken’s side held on for three points that moved them back into the play-off spots. 

“I thought it was a really tough afternoon,” the manager said. “Massive positives in terms of winning the game and keeping a clean sheet, but it was one of those games where both teams didn’t really get going or show massive amounts of quality. 

“But we got the job done. The work-rate was excellent, we had to dig deep, and fortunately we got the result.” 

In the same division, Mossley couldn’t keep a fourth consecutive clean sheet as they went down to a 1-0 home defeat against high-flying Vauxhall Motors. 

Despite showing plenty of willingness in going forward, the Lilywhites rarely tested Alex Swindell in the Motors’ goal, and were ultimately punished when Kevin Ellison scored the decisive goal on 74 minutes, the day before his 46th birthday. 

In the National League North, Curzon Ashton re-energised their campaign with a gutsy 1-0 home win against fellow play-off hunters, Buxton. 

“A win’s been a long time coming,” said Nash player-manager Craig Mahon. “It’s a strange one because I’ve been saying how well we’ve played the last couple of games and not really got much from it. Today, we’ve not played that well and we get a win – football's a funny old game. 

“Sometimes you’ve got to win ugly. We know Buxton are a very good team, that’s why they are where they are in the league; they’re full-time, they’re well-drilled, and the manager understands what he wants out of his players. 

“The lads can take a bit of weight off their shoulders. We’ve been waiting a little while for a win, especially at home as well, we wanted to give the fans to be happy about. It’s been a perfect day all round.” 

Isaac Buckley-Ricketts scored the only goal of the game just before half-time, who applied the finish to a square ball from Alex Curran who weighed in with his first assist on his first start since re-joining the club from Macclesfield. 

However, it was anything but comfortable for Curzon, who soaked up pressure from the Bucks, with Tom Elliott, Ethan Fitzhugh and Luke Brennan all having sighters before IBR’s opener. 

Buxton came flying out of the traps after the break, with Fitzhugh bringing an outstanding save out of Bobby Jones while Oliver Ewing – a Wales under-21 international on loan from Leicester City – had Nash hearts in their mouths with an effort sent wide at the far post. 

The visitors ran out of ideas as the game progressed, Curzon’s back line stifling them at every turn and seeing out the game for what Bobby Jones called a “massive win and a clean sheet” to move them back into the play-off places. 

Down in the North West Counties (NWCFL) Premier Division, Glossop North End played out 1-1 draw with on the short trip to Cheadle Town. Not that player-boss Richard Brodie was particularly enamoured with this side’s performance. 

“I thought we were awful first half. It’s similar to last week [against Litherland REMYCA] in that the pitch looks good but it’s actually really bobbly. 

“They’ve won five out of their last six, but I thought we could’ve got a bit closer to them across the pitch.” 

There was nothing his side could’ve done to stop Oli Putnam’s opener, though, rifling a volley from the edge of the box after his initial freekick ricocheted back into his path on 55 minutes. 

The Hillmen kept at their task, though, and equalised with a spectacular effort of their own with ten minutes left – Aeron Bardsley latching onto a deep Oli McKay cross with a diving header to score his first goal for the club.  

“We’re certainly going in the right direction,” Brodie added. “If you look at the difference in our squad: the personnel, the character, every attribute you need to be a good side, we’re a completely different animal to what we were on the first day of the season.” 

Finally, in the NWCFL Division One North, Droylsden went down to a rare defeat, losing 2-0 at Bacup Borough.