Match Report

Darwen travelled to Ashton Town where they emerged with a 2-0 win thanks to outstanding goals from Jack Foster and Connor Hughes.

The Salmoners came into the game sixth in the league table, having closed the gap on the play-off places to nine points the week before with a win against then top of the table Nelson.

Opponents Ashton Town were five points below in eighth, coming off the back of a hard-earned draw away at Holker Old Boys.

Leighton Mills’ pre-match interview on X looked at the game at hand, what the squad is playing for in Darwen’s “mini pre-season” and a look at the club’s late promotion hopes.

It was the visitors who started strongest, keeping hold of the ball for the majority of the first five minutes.

Goalkeeper Louis Hood was called into action for the first time after 10 minutes, palming away a volley brilliantly down to his right hand side to keep the game level early on.

Midfielder Mohamed Wassa nearly opened the scoring at the other end within two minutes of the save, setting himself and lifting the ball from distance over a stranded Kyle Trenerry, but the effort was headed off the line by a backpedalling Adam Morris.

The remainder of the half saw chances come few and far between with most of the game played in the middle of the pitch.

Yacin Amarzou again proved his manager right as a fast-growing “fan favourite” on both wings, with Joshua Abbott and Bruno Severino entertaining again, combining a number of times to dance past Ashton players, however, the away side continued to struggle for gilt-edge opportunities.

Abbott came closest with a shot from the edge of the box after driving inside to beat his man, but the chance flew narrowly over the bar.

Hood and Pawel Zuk both made blocks to keep the hosts out before the half-time whistle with both George and Christopher Lomax kept out respectively by the Darwen pair.

The second half ended up a much more one-sided affair.

Abbott was in the middle of his side’s best work again, combining with Connor Hughes down the right wing, with Hughes’s cross finding the head of Severino in the box, turning it just wide of the post.
An upturn in the number of fouls committed finally saw the referee reach for his pocket in the 65th minute, with Ashton Town forward Michael Howard given a sinbin for dissent.

The decision looked to be the opening Darwen needed to take the game by the scruff of the neck.

Within four minutes of the booking The Salmoners took the lead through substitute Jack Foster.

A beautiful spread of play saw Mohamed Wassa find Pawel Zuk forward on the right wing, who brought the ball down with ease and found Foster open on the edge of the box, the striker firing it into the bottom right corner to take a deserved lead.

Another six minutes later Darwen had a two-goal advantage.

Connor Hughes drove far inside from the left, before letting fly with an outrageous effort that landed in the postage stamp of Ashton Town’s net, a goal that he rightly let the opposition bench know about with a classy celebration.

The game trickled out after the second strike, with disruptions from fouls and the officials breaking up play much to Darwen’s advantage as they saw the game out.

Connor Hughes and Bradley Sixsmith both picked up yellow cards before the final whistle, in a frustrating end to the game for both sides.

Another hard-earned win on the road, coupled with the two teams above dropping points, saw Darwen move seven points from the play-off places with three games left to play this season.