Lancaster City secure first league win of 2026

Lancaster City secured their first league victory of the calendar year against Ashton United at the Giant Axe.

The Dolly Blues took to their turf for the first time in 36 days, playing just their fourth game of the calendar year. You’d understand, therefore, if City had started off slowly.

However, four minutes in, Simon Grand forced the Ashton United ‘keeper Paul Cooper into a fine stop when his headed effort from a corner looked destined for goal.

Just five minutes later, the Dollies had the lead. Toby Oliver sprayed the ball across to Charlie Bailey, he whipped in a cross from the left that found Dom Lawson, who delivered a real striker’s finish to continue an impressive run of personal form: it was his fourth goal in the last five league games.

City pushed for a second, with Nic Evangelinos having two great opportunities even before the halfway point of the first 45. Nathan Caine played him through but his chipped effort was saved by Cooper, who later made a superb stop to deny the number 10 on the half volley.

Lancaster had the ball in the net at the midpoint of the half, but Lawson was judged to have been in an offside position as he set up Evangelinos.

Three minutes later, against the run of play, the visitors were level. Alex Byrne clipped a ball over the back line which found Jason Gilchrist, who headed it in to make it one-all.

That wasn’t the case for long, though. Evangelinos got his deserved goal on 33 minutes. Charlie Bailey played an inviting ball down the left for him to latch onto and, as he took it round Cooper, he set himself up to shoot and tucked away a simple finish.

However, the Robins responded once again and the sane combination worked a treat for them. Byrne crossed and found Gilchrist in the middle who equalised with a towering header.

City remained the side with the vast majority of opportunities in the second half, the first of those after the restart coming to Evangelinos, who tried his luck direct from a 20-yard free kick, forcing Cooper into a smart stop over his head.

After setting up two goals for his side, Byrne gave away a penalty with just over an hour gone as he brought down Charlie Bailey inside the box. Brother and skipper, Sam Bailey, stepped up and made no mistake from 12 yards, coolly dispatching it down the middle and Lancaster City were back in front for a third time.

And this time, it would last. Ashton had limited opportunities to find another leveller aside from on 84 minutes when substitute Enoch Lusiana hit a venomous effort from outside the box, but Brad Kelly was equal to it, just as he was to crosses and half-chances.

City managed the game expertly through the gradual introduction of substitutes and two of them combined with five minutes to go: Lewis Mansell fed the ball across the goalmouth to Steven Yawson but the forward was deemed to be in an offside position as he struck his effort.

Yawson almost set up a fourth of the afternoon with moments of regular time left. After trying to round Cooper, he instead cut the ball back to Bobby Bjork who had a pop but saw his shot booted away by an Ashton man.

The officials added five minutes of stoppage time but the visitors’ frustrations only seemed to grow in that period as foul after foul was punished in Lancaster’s favour which, along with a commendable, workmanlike performance, helped the Dollies see out their first league win since November 29 last year.

Up next for Jimmy Marshall’s side is the visit of another Greater Manchester-based team in Hyde United, who have recently brought in Michael Clegg as their new manager. Kick off is at 7.45pm on Tuesday (February 3).