BAMBER BRIDGE FC

Match Preview for Ashton (H)

Match Details

•Bamber Bridge vs Ashton United

•Saturday 13 December 2025

•3:00 Kick off 

•Irongate Stadium, Preston, PR5 6UX

•Pitching In Northern Premier League

After a huge 3-1 win away at Workington last Saturday Brig look to continue their run of good form into gameweek 19 as we take on Ashton United at Irongate.

The Away Side

After a run of 2 consecutive league defeats to Hednesford and Guiseley Ashton come into this game occupying 12th place and 25 points. Ashton’s away form sits them with 11 points. 4 losses, 3 wins and 2 draws. Ashton haven’t  played a league game since 29th of November when they faced Hednesford and fell to a 1-0 defeat. In the past 6 games, Ashton have only won 2 which were against Stockton and Ilkeston. Manager Steve Cunningham stated in his interview that they may be missing (or starting on the bench) Jason Gilcrist, Callum Rowe and James Hardy all due to injury. 

Bamber Bridge

A big win on Saturday could take Brig took 7th in the league table and just 2 spots of the playoffs. Brig will be keen to avenge the robins late equaliser at Hurst Cross earlier on in the season. Brig currently sit in 11th with 25 points to their name. Brig’s leading goalscorer is tall striker Ewan Bange, who added 2 to his tally last Saturday. Brig boosted their squad 2 weeks ago when in came, young, talented midfielder Archie Lang from Thornton Cleveleys. So far, Archie’s made 2 appearances and scored on his debut vs Prescot Cables.

Past 3 Games

Brig, are coming of the back of 3 wins, 2 of which being in the league. Wins in the league came versus Prescot Cables where debutant Archie Lang scored the only goal and last Saturday was a 3-1 win over current bottom of the league Workington. Brig took the lead though Baxter before the lead being cancelled out just 9 minutes later as Nugent slotted the ball past Dowling. The second half though was where Brig turned up a notch. On 62 and 64 minutes Bange netted 2. A superb cross by Abankwah found the head of Bange who managed to find the back of the net. 2 minutes later Bange doubled his goal tally of the afternoon. A great turn saw him 1 on 1 with the Reds’ goalkeeper, before a right footed shot found the bottom right corner. The win in the Lancashire trophy came at Irongate vs Thornton Cleveleys. A mixed first half saw the teams go in level at half time. The second half saw 3 goals netted though. A run down the right wing by Joel Bailey eventually found Olly Molloy, who scored his first goal since coming back from Injury. Minutes later, Jamie Allen, scored a tremendous goal from 35 yards out before Sami Vegas found the back of the net on 85’ minutes. Despite this unfortunately for Thornton it just wasn’t enough as Brig progressed to the quarter finals.  

Past Meetings

In the past 11 meetings between the 2 teams, Brig have only won two with Ashton winning 4. There has also been 5 draws. The last meeting ended in a 1-1 draw at Hurst Cross, on the 9th of September. Top goalscorer for Bamber Bridge, Ewan Bange opened the scoring in the game with a tremendous finish from outside of the box. Brig were on top for majority of the game until the 93’ minutes came. A corner swung in for Ashton found the foot of Jason Gilchrist who first time shot on goal which found the back of the net to nick a point at home in the dying minutes. 

By Seth Boardman