Stockton Town vs Ashton United Preview
DATE: Tuesday 11th August, 2026
KICK-OFF: 19:45
ENTRY: £14 Adults, £11 Concessions/U18’s £6 U16’s £4,U5’s free.
GROUND: Stockton Town FC, Map Group UK Stadium, Bishopton Road West, Stockton-on-Tees, TS19 0QD
LIVE UPDATES: @stockton_townfc – Twitter/X
LIVE COMMENTARY: Click to listen to Live Coverage on Anchors TV
Stockton Town play their home opener when they welcome Ashton United to the MAP Group UK Stadium.
The Anchors suffered agony on the opening day as they lost 1-0 to a stoppage time strike from Lynden Joyce at Ilkeston Town.
It was tough to take for Michael Dunwell’s men who edged much of what was a tight contest.
“We’ve created enough chances and got into enough areas to win the game,” Dunwell told Anchors TV.
“Then when we haven’t you got to see the game out. That’s where we have to be better. When you get to the 96th minute you would take a 0-0 but we didn’t and it’s frustrating for us and the players.”
There was a debut for Layton Watts who impressed with his tricky wide play and he was unlucky not to score in the first half. Aaron Brown also made his debut at Right-Back as a second half substitute as did 16-year-old Jayden Pinnegar.
Unfortunately Jaedon Faulkner suffered an injury and is expected to miss the game with Ashton. Paul Rooney is still not ready to make his Anchors debut.
Frank Nouble returns and could be set to make his Stockton Town debut. Stephen Thompson also returns to the squad.
Ashton are about as tough an assignment as Stockton could have faced for their home opener. The Robins are the embryonic League Leaders after they came from behind to beat Lancaster City 4-1.
Sekouba Sanogo had put Lancaster into the lead just after the quarter hour mark, but a much revamped Ashton pulled themselves level through debutant Reece Kendall. Another debutant Nathan Okome gave them the lead. Further goals from Dylan Cogill and Hednesford loanee Dan Turner rounded off an impressive opening day.
It was a strong start for Steve Cunningham at the start of his fourth season at the helm. After leading the club to the Play-Offs in 2025 he was left frustrated at the lack of a challenge last season.
Some of the incomings have been aforementioned, but another eye-catching signing was the arrival of Kurt Willoughby. The frontman rose from humble beginnings in the North West Counties at AFC Blackpool before going on to play for York City and enjoy a decent spell at Chester. He recently arrived from Cunningham’s former club Buxton.
Ashton have a strong record at Stockton having won on Teesside for the past two seasons by the same scoreline of 2-1.
Michael Dunwell looked ahead to the game, “The first home game of the season hopefully we can get a big crowd.
“It’s going to be a tough game. Ashton I think have more or less got a new squad together and they had a good win on Saturday but we’ll regroup and have some players back.
“We can have a look at where we are. Some players might need a rest and we’ve said we might need the full squad especially with eight games in 23 days.”
