Tomorrow's Opponents: Ashton Athletic

I must admit that the original tone of this post was to be saying something along the lines of Ashton Athletic being "another load of newcomers to the NWCFL, just like Norton United". After doing my research, I've realised how wrong that would have been. Theirs is quite a heartwarming story.

Formed in 1968, Ashton Athletic were actually one of the founder members of the NWCFL back in the early 1980s - as were Cheadle Town. At the end of the 1985-86 season they dropped out of the NWCFL as they couldn't keep pace with the league's ground grading requirements and were dumped into the First Division of the Manchester League (the "feeder" league for the NWCFL; effectively two divisions below where Cheadle are now). In 1999 a band of volunteers started to drag the club up from its heels and, to cut a long story short, their work has resulted in where Ashton Athletic are now: in a much healthier state, with a youth development scheme, a revamped ground and clubhouse and entry back into the NWCFL after a 20-year hiatus.

The two-division drop that they were forced to take back in 1986 was - in true "happy ending" fashion - reversed at the end of last season as their application to join the NWCFL2 straight from the Manchester League First Division was approved by the FA, treading on the toes of many objections on the way.

On a more trivial level, as well as being founder members of the NWCFL, another similarity that Ashton Athletic hold with Cheadle is that their kit is virtually a carbon-copy of Cheadle's yellow-and-blue away one! Worth knowing just in case it comes up in a pub quiz.

Oh, and whilst I'm in trivia mode, Ashton Athletic are from Ashton-in-Makerfield, "the Ashton that's near Wigan"...as are Ashton Town. Curzon Ashton and Ashton United are from Ashton-under-Lyne, "the Ashton that the 216 bus goes to". Just to get that clear, because I get them confused and all....

More seriously, this is an evenly-pitched contest as both teams are positional neighbours at the moment: Ashton lie one place - and one point - above Cheadle. A win for our boys would rocket them to 10th place; a defeat would prolong the mini-crisis and chip away at their confidence even further ahead of the trip to even-lower Holker on Saturday.

Bloody come on Cheadle!