A late goal from Ashton Town substitute Lewis Roughley sealed a 4-3 win for his side and ended Daisy Hill’s hopes of progress in the FA Vase on Friday night.

Despite a stunning comeback from two goals down, Daisy were eventually undone by defensive slackness in a fast and furious cup thriller at the Plumb Factory Stadium.

The hosts had had to battle back after an early strike from Cal Hunter and two well-taken goals from Leon Wright gave the visitors a 3-1 half-time lead, with Sam Twist having briefly levelled the scores just before the half hour.

But two goals in four minutes from Charlie Roberts and an own goal from Ashton’s George Lomax midway through the second half gave Daisy a lifeline, before Roughley pounced to pinch the winner 13 minutes from time.

Daisy’s assistant manager, Jack Iley, summed up the disappointment in the home camp afterwards.

“It was an old-fashioned cup tie, a bit of a scrap, very end to end, and I think that the team who made the least mistakes won the game,” said Iley.

“I don’t feel there were many clear-cut chances created from open play, although their second goal was a really good goal.

“The period we are most disappointed about is the 20 minutes before half time when they got on top and punished us a bit.

“It’s a frustrating one for us to take, as we were 3-1 down at half time and got ourselves back in the game, and it was really pleasing to see the togetherness in the team to get us there. But from there, it was a killer goal that won the game.

“At half time, we said if we got one goal back we’d be back in the game and give ourselves a chance and we did that. Being 3-1 down and then to get two goals back in quick time is obviously going to give you a lift.

“I felt we were on top from then until maybe the last five minutes when it started to even out again, but to concede at such a poor time, with what we saw as a massively avoidable goal, was really disappointing.

“I don’t think it’s a game to over-analyse, we have to applaud the lads for getting back into it and keep piling the pressure on. It would have been easy having got back to 3-3 to sit back and play for a draw, but they kept going.

“The game was on a knife edge and could have gone either way, and I don’t think there would have been many complaints if it had gone for us, but there were just little moments here and there that didn’t fall for us.”

The game burst into life from the first minute, and after both sides enjoyed an equal share of possession in the opening stages, Ashton took the lead on 15 minutes, when Hunter took a pass inside the box, and evaded the challenges from the Daisy defenders around him to turn and fire home the opener into the bottom corner.

Daisy hit back and after Ashton keeper Connor Eastham made a great save from a Kaiden Barlow 25-yarder, they drew level on 28 minutes.

A long ball forward appeared to be covered by Ashton central defender Connor Brown, but as he shaped to pass back to keeper Eastham, Twist nipped in to get a vital touch and level the scores.

But Ashton restored their lead on 34 minutes, with the goal of the game from Wright, who collected a pass from Josh Brown wide on the left, cut inside, and curled a terrific shot from the edge of the box into the net off the inside of the far post.

Five minutes later Wright almost bagged his second goal, when his beautifully-struck free-kick was met by an equally good diving save from Daisy keeper Morgan Newns, high to his left.

But Wright was not to be denied, and with two minutes of the first half remaining, a long clearance from Eastham caught out the Daisy defence, and the striker took a good first touch before beating Newns with a cool finish.

Four minutes into the second half, Hunter came close to increasing Ashton’s lead further, when he rifled a shot against the outside of the post.

However, as the half wore on, Daisy began to get a foothold back in the game, and after a Barlow shot was deflected wide, Eastham made a smart save from a Luke Roscoe effort down by his near post.

The Daisy pressure finally paid off on 64 minutes, when Roberts got on the end of a Jacob Ridings low cross that ended up in the back of the net off the foot of Ashton defender Brown.

Four minutes later, it was well and truly game on when Daisy drew level, with a corner driven low into the box being deflected into his own net by Ashton’s Lomax.

Both sides threw men forward as the closes stages flowed from end to end, but it was Ashton substitute Roughley who won the game for his side, after he pounced to side foot home from close range after Newns had pushed out a shot from Hunter.

In the closing minutes Roughley and Daisy right back Kyle Whittaker were both red carded, after an off-the-ball incident that also saw Ashton’s Lomax shown a yellow card.

Daisy are back in action this Friday night when they host Ashton Athletic in the North West Counties League First Division North (7.45pm).