GREAT Harwood Town continued their resurgent form with a narrow NWCL

Division Two victory over Ashton Town at Edgegreen St.

Town have now won four of their last five games including Wednesdays 2-1

friendly triumph over Bury and boss John Hughes was delighted with what he

saw.

The main difference in recent weeks has been our raised commitment levels

and a willingness to battle, he said. If we manage to climb to mid-table

or above the season will have taken a real turn for the better and may also

give us some impetus for the next campaign.

Forced into fielding a weakened side the visitors spent much of the first

period adapting to systems and getting to know each others game.

After the break Town upped the tempo and started to cause Ashton problems.

Super sub Matt Derbyshire leapt off the bench to cause unrest in the

hosts defence and John Eastham was a constant threat.

On 70 minutes the Robins frontman netted the decisive goal Eastham breezed

past two Ashton defenders to fire in off the post.

At the other end keeper Bobby Harris was commanding in goal and came out on

top when faced with a one-on-one to ensure a victory that Great Harwood

fully deserved.

DARWEN 3 STONE DOMINOES 5

DARWEN were on the wrong end of an eight-goal thriller in their NWCL Division Two clash with Stone Dominoes at the Anchor Ground.

Each goal the hosts conceded could have been avoided as the Darwen back line and keeper shared a complete lack of understanding.

Having taken the lead through a Denny Khan lob in the opening 10 minutes, centre-back Jimmy Khan headed the ball out of Lee Purvis's hands for Chris

Sumner to gratefully slot the ball into an empty net.

Five minutes later Colin Fletcher found the bottom corner after Darwen gave away possession and it was soon 3-1 as Dave Walker took advantage of some

lapse defending from a corner.

Steve Wilkes' men began the second half brightly and Khan scored his second with a well-executed one-touch finish to give his side hope with half an hour still to play.

Another mix-up between Purvis and Khan let in Walker once again and Matt Anderton inadvertently hit number five after putting through his own goal.

Mark Westhead tapped in following a David Rhodes miscue but it was too little too late for Darwen as the Stoke side held out for the three points.

Boss Wilkes said: "We gift-wrapped all of their goals - our defence had a real off-day apart from Matt Atkinson who was outstanding on what was his

38th birthday.