Damage in the Box!: ECCLESHALL (Pershall Park)

With the cold and wet weather once again disrupting plans, I decided to play it safe today and head to a ground that hasn't seemed to have had any problems in recent weeks as regards to getting a game on, namely Eccleshall of the North West Counties League Division One.

Eccleshall is a Staffordshire town but not too far from the Shropshire border. Stafford is around 7 miles away to the south and Market Drayton is around 10 miles to the north.

Eccleshall's ground is in nearby Pershall, hence it's name Pershall Park, which is just over a mile or so out of the town.

For a small town however, it boasts three entries in the 2012 GBG. Pre-match was spent in The George, which also happens to be 'the tap' for the Slaters Brewery. The 'Top Totty' went down very well!

Ashton Town (from Ashton-in-Makerfield) were the visitors today and, with both teams not exactly pulling up any trees this season, I wasn't expecting a classic. Ashton, however, seem to be in more turmoil than their hosts being third from bottom of the league and dispensing with their managers services during the week.

After a promising opening from the visitors in which Harry McGill had an effort cleared off the line, the homesters soon found their rhythm and after 15 minutes a cross from the left found it's way to skipper Daniel Hughes who hit it home from the edge of the box.

After 23 minutes it was Eccleshall's turn to have an effort cleared off the line when Josh Lane's header was booted away, however just 2 minutes later Eccleshall did double their advantage when Thomas Wakefield broke into the box and squared the ball to leave Hughes with a simple task of tapping the ball home.

The homesters as you'd expect were now dominating the game and could easily extended their lead, but just before the break Ashton grabbed a goal back when McGill broke through and planted the ball into the corner of the net.

The second half momentarily began as the first half ended with Ashton on the attack but Eccleshall soon gained the advantage once again when Thomas Loraso fired narrowly wide on two occasions, however they soon bagged their third goal when Lane's cross on 61 minutes was swept home by Wakefield to seal the points for the homesters. The cherry on the cake was provided by Danny Hughes on 64 minutes when he wriggled through the Ashton defence and scuffed his shot home to complete his hat-trick.

Eccleshall had plenty more chances to add to their goal tally but in the end had to settle for four. A deserved victory and, for me, a good day out in Staffordshire.