A controversial penalty in added time at the end of the first period was all that separated the two sides at the end of a bank holiday encounter in the Spring sunshine.

In the last of the three added minutes captain Callum Rowe was adjudged to have taken down Tunde Owolabi with Ben Kershaw just squeezing his penalty under the dive of Jordan Eastham, the Robins having seen their own penalty shout shortly before waved away by Mr Chell after Mikey O'Neill went down in the area.

Ashton were unchanged from their victory over Rushall and four minutes in needed to be alert as a short corner routine required a good block from Sean Newton to foil Scott Duxbury's shot and five minutes later a loose pass saw Owolabi dummy his way into the area with Dylan Cogill getting a vital block on his goal bound effort.

Midway through the half a great turn by Alex Byrne sent him clear into the area where his cross was just too far ahead of O'Neill and two minutes before the break a fine move initiated by Newton saw him spread the play to Byrne whose cross was inexlicably turned wide by Darius Osei four yards out.

Good control at the start of the second half by James Hardy drew a foul from Duxbury 30 yards out which saw Newton's free kick hit the stop netting and Hardy then collected Byrne's pass but overelaborated before failing to get his shot away.

Midway through the half Byrne won a corner which saw O'Neill's lay off lead to Newton's attempt being blocked and Kershaw then failed to beat Eastham at his near post having got the better of Spencer Knight.

With a minute left Mampala's pullback was helped against the crossbar by Hardy with an eventual offside halting the attack and a quick break by Kershaw then needed a smart stop by Eastham from Owolabi's shot as the hosts held on to the points to ease their relegation fears.

Att: 829

Team: Eastham, Spooner, Doherty, Newton, Knight (Mampala 83), Cogill, Byrne, Rowe, O'Neill (Gilchrist 71), Osei, Hardy. SNU: Denton, Janneh, Taylor.