Pilkington 4-3 Ashton Town - Match Report

In a tight, all-blooded and eventful match in the Liverpool Senior Cup, Pilkington secured a dramatic 4-3 victory over their North West Counties Division One North counterparts Ashton Town at Ruskin Drive. Goals from Bebeto Gomes, Liam Paton, Nelson Digbeu and a last minute own goal by Colm Lynch secured the hosts progression, meaning a Conor Ready hat-trick for Ashton was all in vain. A tie at Marine awaits for the ‘Pilks’.

The hosts were placed on the back foot early on, and only temporarily. Sam Adetiloye sprung Matthew Slevin into life with a teasing shot, which required beating away by the Pilkington shot-stopper.

From then, the Greens began a profound period of dominance. Bebeto Gomes and Liam Paton saw shot warm the gloves of Oliver Farebrother in quick succession before the breakthrough was made. Gomes picked the ball up around 30-yards from and drove at the Ashton town defence - he left plenty of players in his wake and slotted past Farebrother.

Pilkington responded after going ahead by laying siege on route to a second. Adam Lawrence nodded wide from a long free-kick. Following on from that, some nice link up play between Paton and Gomes set Pilkington on their way, Gomes picked out Bruno De Almeida Severino but his shot was never any trouble for Farebrother.

Ashton almost gained an equaliser as two shots on goal by Sam Adetiloye were splendidly thwarted by Slevin and minutes later, Pilkington extended their lead.

A controversial beginning to the move as Colm Lynch was down in the box following his crunching tackle on Nathan Moore in the penalty area, with the Ashton man coming off worse of the two. Play continued and Bebeto Gomes worried the defence with a menaching run to the byline - his ball across the face picked out Yacin Amarzou - who placed into the back of the net for a routine goal.

Ashton came flying out the blocks and rocked Ruskin Drive, bringing the game level in a five minute period. Firstly to reduce the arrears, Conor Ready netted a pearl of a goal. His effort from afar rattled off the underside of the bar before bouncing down and flying in before Ready scores the leveller. Adetiloye saw his effort tipped away by Slevin only to the path of Ready, full of confidence after his stunning first, who calmly slotted by Slevin.

Efforts to close the half came for both teams, with shots by Dylan Meredith for Ashton Town and De Almeida Severino for Pilkington respectively both seeing their shots on targets saved.

HT: Pilkington 2-2 Ashton Town

Ready regained his goalscoring antics and confirmed his match ball just minutes into the second half. The Ashton man caught a volley sweetly from a dropping, leaving Matthew Slevin watching it fly into the corner in total despair.

The visitors looked for a fourth and only for a great stop by Slevin to deny Brendan O’Brien, they would have had their fourth.

Pilkington began a second cycle of total domination on the hour mark, desperately searching for a leveller in the contest. Oliver Farebrother became the busier of the two ‘keepers in this period, curbing efforts from Liam Paton and Callum Preston. Two headers from Gary Kelly followed from dangerous corners and one corner was calved out from a Bruno De Almeida Severino shot, which flashed past the post after taking a deflection. De Almeida Severino blazed a shot over and further efforts from Amarzou and Louis Sharp came close to the targets as the hosts were greatly frustrated.

Their pressure payed dividends as the hosts drew level. Amarzou played a short corner to Bebeto Gomes, who whipped in a threatening cross to the path of Nelson Digbeu and his audacious acrobatic effort nestled into the corner - much to the delight and overriding relief of the St. Helens contingency inside Ruskin Drive.

The visitors mission of regaining their lead and advantage of qualifying in the Liverpool Senior Cup almost worked, as they sent bodies up into the box to score the winner. Clarke’s effort was denied in the nick of time on the goal line before O’Brien somehow squandered the loose ball.

From one side to the other, a calamity at the back secured a great comeback late on for Pilkington. A mix-up between Farebrother and Lynch rebounded off the Ashton defender. His attempt to race back to rescue the ball crossing the line was unsuccessful, as the ‘Pilks’ took the lead in the final minute and earned progression to the next round of the Liverpool Senior Cup.

FT: Pilkington 4-3 Ashton Town