STAND ATHLETIC...2 ASHTON ATHLETIC...3: Air Miles Manchester League First Division

FROM Martin's corner, Pratt heads wide. Another Martin corner, Cropper heads over.

A through ball narrowly evades Airey, Smith retrieves, but Pratt's shot is deflected wide. From the corner Airey heads over.

This, by the way, all happened in added time and it gives the impression Stand were unfortunate, perhaps they were. A fair result might have been 10-10.

But the balance of chances, 20-18 to the home side, says it all.

Dangerous going forward, lethal going back. Unless or until they develop a less charitable approach to defending, Stand will continue to be 'unfortunate.'

One reasonable measure of the quality of a goal is the reaction of the scorer; a good one brings a shout of exultation, a bad one often yields mild embarrassment; a gift generally is greeted by laughter.

After being played off the park for the first 15 minutes, Ashton's McVeigh was the first to giggle as his speculative shot surprisingly squeezed in at the near post.

On 31 minutes, his colleague Jones was reduced to hysterics after a dreadful clearance offered him the opportunity to chip into an unguarded goal from 35 yards.

The Stand defence thought he was offside, the referee disagreed, and McVeigh's lonely canter through where a back four should have been was ended abruptly by goalkeeper Hassall.

Despite giving away a penalty he was not dismissed, although Dawber did convert the season's least controversial penalty.

Any sympathy should be directed towards Walsh, whose 25th minute strike, curling the ball left to right past keeper Woodruff, temporarily brought Stand back to 1-1 and maintained his goal-a-game record.

Creator Pratt scored the second after 70 minutes, rapping Kluj's cross low into the net, before being denied a second by a post.

Smith then stuffed a header straight into Woodruff's midriff and Hunter had an effort cleared off the line.

The clock ticked past 90 minutes and into added time, and we all know what happened there.

STAND: Hassall, Morley, Cropper, Maudsley, Heaney, Kluj, Pratt, Smith, Welsh, Walsh, Dickinson. Subs: Hunter, Martin, Welsh.