Daisy Hill made a disappointing start to their new campaign in the North West Counties League First Division North when they fell to an opening day 1-0 defeat at home to Ashton Athletic on Saturday.
In front of a healthy crowd on a warm afternoon, Daisy were given an early boost when visiting centre half Calum Wilson was shown a straight red card in the third minute, but a dogged display from the visitors was rewarded with a goal from Emmanuel Ujahchuku three minutes into the second half to seal the win.
The game got off to a whirlwind start, with many of the game’s main talking points crammed into the opening ten minutes.
Daisy’s lively striker Liam Sheppard was in the thick of the early action, and came desperately close to opening the scoring after just 45 seconds when he outpaced Ashton full back Jake Greene wide on the left, cut inside and curled a shot past the keeper that struck the inside of the post before being cleared.
The pace of Sheppard caused more problems in the visiting defence after three minutes, when he latched on to a Jake O’Brien pass and raced forward before having his heels clipped by Ashton defender Calum Wilson.