STAFFORDSHIRE continued to struggle in their debut year in the NEMLA league, although a large improvement was evident from their first game a week ago.
Although rarely threatening the opposition goal the Scorpions defence looked solid for long periods of the game, in particular reducing Ashton to just two goals in the first quarter.
Jason Clarke opened the scoring for Ashton after 10 minutes as they split through the Staffs defence with a well-worked build up.
Nick Thursby should have equalised shortly after but when presented with an open goal, managed to steer his shot onto the post and waste what proved to be Staffordshire’s only clear opportunity until deep into the second quarter.
Having survived that let off Ashton doubled their lead through Steve Owens as his powerful shot made it past Jay Armstrong in the Scorpions net, giving them a two goal advantage at the end of the quarter.
Ashton started strongly in the second quarter and almost immediately scored their third as they passed the ball around the crease, creating an open goal for Frank Manning to slot home.
Before long it was four and Ashton’s dominance was starting to show. The Staffs defence backed off Scott Orr letting him shoot from range, finding the top corner and giving Armstrong no chance.
In a rare attack for Staffs Phil Tinkler managed to dodge a hit and create some room in front of goal but was always struggling under pressure and the Ashton keeper Alex Rastelli managed to keep his effort out.
Ashton added two more through Clarke and Owens and could have added another before half time but for a fine stop by Armstrong, denying the ever-dangerous Clarke.
The home team finally found a breakthrough as Staffordshire old boy Jonathon Heeley scored his first of the season, receiving a fine pass from Paul Briscoe and planting his finish into the bottom corner of the net.
Ashton’s dominance continued into the second half with Owens scoring his second, and should have made it a hat trick shortly after but was again denied by the body of Armstrong.
However he didn’t have to wait long to score his third as five minutes later he received a pass from John Haynes and this time made no mistake in finding the net.
Dimitri Chambers had the home sides best effort of the quarter as he tried to top his first appearance of the season off with a goal, but was denied from long range by the impressive Rastelli.
The game as a contest was affectively over by the last quarter but Staffordshire continued to show determination and changed to a zonal defence, which paid off as they looked much more organised, restricting Ashton to only a few chances.
The away team however were still able to penetrate the defence with fast, crisp passes and Frank Manning added another two before Hitesh Patel finished off the scoring.
The Scorpions did have chances in the last quarter and looked much more dangerous on the attack with Chambers having two more shots saved and defence man Richard Owen also being denied by the keeper.
Staffordshire Scorpions are still looking for their first win since transferring to the NEMLA league but if they keep improving like they did today, this won’t be long in coming.
Staffordshire: Jay Armstrong ©, Richard Owen, Rick Gunning, Thomas Jenkins, Stuart Bauser, James Anderson, Jack Tew, Paul Briscoe, Phil Tinkler, Dimitri Chambers, Nick Thursby, James Perkins, Andrew Lloyd, Jonathon Heeley.