Unbeaten run over as Rushall Olympic lose
Rushall Olympic's seven-game unbeaten run came to an end when two first-half goals proved enough for play-off rivals Ashton United to pick up all three points.
Despite the Pics carving out some excellent chances, the home side deserved their victory and the three points now takes them into the play-off positions in the Northern League Premier Division.
The Pics suffered a blow in the pre-match warm-up when Jimmy Turner suffered an injury and James Dance was unavailable, so manager Neil Kitching gave a debut to new signing Karl Ashton, on loan from Stafford Rangers.
The home side, who have been in good form recently, opened up well and Matt Chadwick drove an early chance over the bar.
They went in front on 18 minutes when Jack Duggan's back-pass to Chris Gemmell was far too heavy and the keeper could only sidefoot the ball straight to the impressive Chris Baguley, who played in debutant Aaron Chambers to score his first goal for the club.
In first-half added time, Chadwick made an excellent run from midfield and fed in Martin Pilkington, whose first effort was saved by Gemmell, but the ball dropped favourably for the striker to find the net and double the lead.
The Pics should have pulled a goal back in the second period when Dele Adebola saw his close-range header brilliantly saved by Paul Phillips and the Pics carved out another great opportunity when Obeng rounded the keeper but from an acute angle his shot found the side netting.
