Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside in Greater Manchester. The town lies on the north bank of the River Tame at the foothills of the Pennines, situated just over six miles from Manchester city center.
Ashton was once considered "bare, wet, and almost worthless” until the introduction of the cotton trade in the 18th century. The town grew in prominence during the Industrial Revolution and by the mid-19th century became an important mill town at a convergence of newly constructed canals and railways, plus the transport network allowed for an economic boom, which led to the granting of honorific borough status in 1847. Ashton’s heavy industries declined during the mid-20th century but the town has continued to thrive as a center of commerce, and is "considered the hub of Tameside”Curzon originally played in the Manchester League before becoming founder members of the Cheshire League Division Two in 1978. They won promotion in their debut season and the following year they navigated through six rounds of the FA Vase before losing out in the semi-finals to Stamford. They lost both legs 2–0 with the home tie played in front of a record home attendance of 1826 at National Park.
Curzon became founder members of both the North West Counties League First Division in 1983-84 and the First Division of the Northern Premier League when the Non-League pyramid was reshuffled in 1988. The club returned to the NWCL in 1998 after playing a single season in the North Counties East League, winning promotion from Division Two in 1999-2000.
Their debut season at the Tameside Stadium was a memorable one, amassing 99 points in the 2006-07 title race, finishing runners-up to FC United of Manchester and promotion to the Northern Premier League First Division North. They also reached the semi-finals of the FA Vase, but again missed out on a trip to Wembley, this time they were denied by Truro City, winning the first leg at home 1-0 but lost out 3-2 on aggregate.
Since winning promotion The Nash have consistently finished in the top five, but on each occasion have failed to win further promotion via the play-offs.In the 2008–09 season they reached the first round proper of the FA Cup for the first time where they defeated League Two side Exeter City 3–2, before losing 2–0 away to Conference National side Kidderminster Harriers in round two.
On the approach to the stadium there’s a statue commemorating three local football legends – Denton born Jimmy Armfield with World Cup winner Geoff Hurst and 2006 Italian World Cup star Simone Perottta, who were both born in Ashton.
The main stand holds 527 blue seats with TMBC picked out in white lettering (that’s the coonsill..Eddy) with the changing rooms and clubhouse underneath. The club shop is housed in a storage container near the turnstiles, which stocks a good range of programmes and souvenirs. On the opposite side is a large covered terrace which shelters 1100 and the rest of the ground is made up of built up terracing, behind the goals and at the wings of each stand. Overall a smart looking stadium, which has a current capacity of 4,000.
Although I was attending the game as a neutral I always favour a team wearing black and white shirts, plus I lived in a street with the word Kendal in its name on and off for 30 years, so today I favoured the Cumbrians.
The visitors made a positive start and took the lead on 27 minutes when Rob Wilson fired in at the far post. The game turned on its head early in the second half when Danny McGahon was harshly shown a second yellow card and the hosts took advantage of the extra man with a three goal burst in a four minute spell from the 70th minute.
Matty Warburton got on the end of a right wing cross to slide in and score followed by a neat turn and shot from Ryan Brooke to fire Curzon ahead. From the restart Ryan Watson was on hand to make it 3-1 and the points were bagged. Kendal were awarded a penalty deep into injury time when Zak Brown was fouled by Ashton ‘keeper Anthony Thompson. From the resulting spot-kick he got down well to save Wilson’s effort to round off a fine victory for The Nash.
Alan is currently doing the FA Cup through all 14 rounds which started at the extra-preliminary stage at West Didsbury & Chorlton in August all the way to Wembley in May, all in aid of The Christie Charity, which raises funds to help provide additional services and undertake vital research for cancer patients.
If you would like to show your support and sponsor Alan in his FA Cup quest then please visit his blog http://thecasualhopper.co.uk/ where you can make a donation to a great cause.Funnily enough me and Alan were discussing running around chasing trains earlier, this is something I’m used to but when you’re in an unfamiliar city and have a belly full of beer its bloody hard work! So an enjoyable, action packed day and I look forward to returning the city that has so much to answer for and meeting up with Squad #187 - The Casual Hopper sometime in the not too distant future.
CAFC 3(Warburton 70 Brooke 72 Watson 73) KTFC 1(Wilson 27)
Att.125
Admission £7.50
Programme £1.60
Ground no.375 Tameside Stadium - Matchday Web album(19 pictures)