ASHOVER MISS OUT TO CLINICAL BUXTON

ASHOVER 0 BUXTON TOWN 3
HOPE VALLEY AMATEUR LEAGUE PREMIER @ THE PARK
16 SEPTEMBER --- 2PM

ASHOVER V BUXTON TOWN

For the most of this ninety minutes Ashover had the bulk of play but the clinical finishing and resolute defending of newly promoted Buxton saw the three points return north to the Peak District as the home side were given a harsh lesson in finishing.
A short blog visit to the delights of Ashover and although it is always difficult to cover somewhere so well known this delightful village is not hard to describe, indeed its often a case of what to leave out before it becomes like the old travel show 'Wish You Where Here'.
Aboard the direct Hulley's bus service we soon depart the former mining town of Clay Cross and embark on the countryside beauty around the hamlets of Handley and Woolley Moor its in this stage that we get our first view of the boats on Ogston reservoir.  The area really is a breath of fresh air and the rolling hills around the valley that Ashover sits in declares to the east side the Fabrick, locally known as Ashover Rock, a grit stone boulder atop the a ridge that offers commanding views towards Lincoln and the other way a birds eye view over our destination today.  This viewing area is in land formerly owned by the Bassett sisters relatives of the famous Liquorice Allsorts family.

HOPPERS LUNCH STOP YE OLD TUCK SHOP

Upon departure in the village which was featured in the ITV series Peak Practice we find the local butcher, Post Office and Tuck Shop the latter would today supply me with a warm sausage roll, water and chocolate the nearly normal hoppers delight all supplied by Anna who has served the village and its visitors from her premises for many a year now.  The village today was very busy due to a wedding taking place in the church so the intention of taking some pictures of the wonderful variety of stone buildings was slightly disturbed due to the amount of cars parked in any available road space.  There was time to recline outside one of the three pubs in the village The Crispin, the others being The Old Poets and The Black Swan.

THE HISTORIC CRISPIN INN

The Crispin and its historic building features in a battle between the Roundheads and the Royalists in the 17th century but today my lemonade was only disturbed by a distant town crier dashing into the church with his bell ringing behind him.  Although no chippy in a village like Ashover there is something for the rail enthusiast with the village being the former running ground of The Ashover Light Railway running a circuitous route from the Butts Quarry on the edge of the village to Clay Cross Works with its produce from 1925 until its closure in the 50's, some of the embankments can be seen still around the village.  The village is also famous for its yearly agricultural show and on a different note the nationwide former Kenning Motor Group where its founder lived latterly in a large hall on the edge of the village.  There are lots of other quirky attributes to the village but its worth a visit for the wide array of interesting buildings, its 3 pubs, railway history and unique Tuck Shop oh yes and the football!

ASHOVER FC SQUAD VERSUS BUXTON TOWN

The gentle two minute walk back to Milken Lane finds the car park filling up around the Parish Hall the site also features a tennis court and cricket ground with the outfield overlapping onto the football pitch indeed the touchline is snuggly nestling up to the square.  With the changing rooms to the rear it was good to catch up with Mr Ashover Fc manager Don Carline who probably holds the record for the longest serving football manager 33 years and counting.  If he doesn't he probably should because he enthuses football and more importantly Ashover Fc a club that means so much to him.

ASHOVER MANAGER DON CARLINE [L] AND HIS ASSISTANT MANAGER CHRIS SHARMAN

As far as records show the club have always played on The Park ground and in the latter years have hosted Midlands Regional Alliance Football and now for a short while Hope Valley encounters.  The changing rooms are to the rear and are smart and clean affairs as you would expect in a village of this character, the pitch side has little of furniture except for one park seat and a small sheltered seat at the front of the facilities.  There are some lovely views through the valley but not as expansive as a few years ago with the growth of greenery on the ever growing foliage.

REFEREE BASKERVILLE DISPLAYS HIS CHA CHA FOR NEXT YEARS STRICLTY

The purpose of the visit and referee Bruce 'The Bruce' Baskerville gets us underway at exactly 2pm a rare change these days.  The early stages see Ashover looking dominant and hoping to improve on their goalless draw last week at Bakewell firstly Mark Needham saw his effort pushed over by Mark Harris in the visitors goal before Tristan Brown saw his header also saved by the visiting number one.

ANOTHER ASHOVER ATTACK BUT NO GOAL

It was a matter of time before the game saw a goal of course you would of thought for Ashover but as so often happens football doesn't work that way when Buxton took the lead.  Andy Topham saved with his legs from Dom Taylor and from the resultant corner Lewis Shuker rose to head home.  The home side came back and it was Needham again testing Harris who won the through for the visitors.

NEAR POST ACTION FOR THE HOME SIDE

Town doubled their lead when Taylor flew down the right and unleashed a superb edge of the box shot that flew in at the near post to put Ashover in a difficult half time position.
After the oranges in the changing room, probably more like the hair dryer from Don, they started strongly when on 54 minutes Luke Carline shielded the ball well on the edge of the box, turned well and fired his shot inches wide.  The moment you knew it was not going to be the home sides day came shortly after when Steve Mansell hit a sharp shot just inside the box that keeper Harris kept out superbly to deny any potential comeback.  You could almost sense the players with the same feelings and yet another sucker punch arrived with 15 minutes remaining when Taylor got his second and the third for Buxton when he beat the out coming Topham to slot the ball home.

PERRY RICHARDS TRIES TO RESCUE IT FOR ASHOVER

A hard working defensive job from Buxton but more importantly a lesson in finishing for Ashover who showed enough not to be too worried by this frustrating result.
With a sharp return from the nearby bus stop there was just time for a car to come down the road with hand bell ringing out of the back door window as the car pulled up our friend from earlier the town crier, a recognisable local barber, spotted me and declared "just another normal day in Ashover" and with that he drove off with his back seat passenger ringing their bell merrily into the beautiful distant valley.