The visitors established a two-goal lead inside the opening 13 minutes through striker Carl Peers, and when he completed his hat-trick two minutes into the second half, any hopes of a revival from Daisy were pretty much snuffed out.
Two further goals from Leon Wright and Jordan Southworth rounded off a good afternoon’s work for an Ashton Town side who forcibly demonstrated why they had scored 23 goals in their previous six games before Saturday’s clash.
Although Daisy had started with two debutants and a reshaped formation, manager Lee Hill was in no mood for making excuses after the game.
“Six or seven players weren’t quite at it on the day, and when you have that number of players not at the races it’s always going to be difficult against a team that is bang in form,” said Hill.
“Small margins and decision-making have gone against us. The penalty decision was a handball, we could see that, but the ball in could probably have been dealt with better.
“Going 1-0 down so early on made us a bit shaky after that, and we never really recovered. That, added to having players who weren’t on their game, meant it was always going to be a difficult afternoon.
“In saying that, it is the first time in the 10 games we have played so far that I felt we looked really vulnerable, because up to now I think our defence has been outstanding so far this season.
“Ashton Town were clinical, and that form in front of goal is the one thing we have been missing in the opening part of the season. We set up a game plan to give us a bit more impetus up front and it just didn’t work out.
“It’s the first time a team has played and convincingly won a game of football, and sometimes that just happens in football. We just have to lick our wounds and try and put it right next week.”
It was an afternoon that went from bad to worse for Daisy almost from the off, with Ashton Town taking the lead on six minutes from the penalty spot.
A ball into the box struck Precieux Ngongo on the arm, and after consulting with his assistant, the referee pointed to the spot.
The spot-kick was coolly converted by Ashton striker Peers, who doubled his and his side’s tally seven minutes later when he raced through the middle of the Daisy defence and, after having his first shot blocked, made no mistake from the second attempt.
It was a chastening start to the game for Daisy but after keeper Morgan Newns made a good save from a Dylon Meredith free-kick, they did finally create two chances of their own.
At the midway point in the half, Harvey Roberts fired a free-kick just over the bar, and three minutes later debutant Malick Tanou picked up a pass from Gabe Hughes, cut into the box and fired a shot into the side netting.
But the ever-dangerous Peers was a constant threat, and on the half hour he had a shot pushed away by Newns which fell into the path of fellow striker Emini Adegbenro, but somehow he managed to fire wide of an open goal.
However, any hopes Daisy might have had of staging a second-half comeback were dashed within two minutes of the second half, when the on-song Peers was quick to react to a long through ball on the counter when a Daisy attack broke down, and he raced through to blast the ball past Newns to complete his hat-trick.
The Ashton striker came close to adding his fourth of the afternoon when he beat Newns with a shot that just missed the target, but with 18 minutes remaining Ashton did get a fourth goal when substitutes Ben Glendon and Wright combined to set up a simple chance for the latter to side-foot past Newns.
With a minute remaining Ashton wrapped up a fine afternoon’s work with a fifth goal, when a cross to the far post was headed powerfully past Newns by Southworth.
Daisy’s next game is on Saturday when they host Euxton Villa in the North West Counties League First Division North.