It is with sadness that the club announced that goalkeeper Ollie Martin has decided to leave the club and join NPL Premier Division side Ashton United.

Ollie might have only played six matches for the club, either side of the third lockdown curtailment of the 2020/21 season but he will always be remembered fondly for his efforts – an effort which caused him a serious injury in the FA Trophy game away at Ossett United.

It meant a very long road back to fitness and you can read all about that here, as RamsbottomUnited365 spoke to Ollie before the season started.

INJURY HELL OVER FOR OLLIE

He returned for the opening two games of this season, having worked tirelessly to get himself back fit once more and oversaw the sticks for the 0-0 draw at City of Liverpool and the 0-3 loss to Marine.

Manager Lee Donafee was saddened to see Ollie leave but, naturally, wished him very well in his future endeavours with Ashton United.

“I made a decision to start with Ollie this season,” he said, “but it was always my biggest headache right from the off as I had both Ollie and Tom Stewart, both are number 1 keepers.”

In our preview of the City of Liverpool game on this website, Lee stated that he was desperately torn on which goalkeeper to play and, even on the morning of the game, hadn’t made his mind up.

“It is has just been a managerial decision,” he continued. “I played Ollie twice and Tom twice in the first four games. It was always going to be the toughest of decisions to make when you have two of the best around vying for one place.

“I am gutted to see Ollie go but completely understand that he is number 1 keeper and there are no hard feelings as I love Ollie, he is a terrific player, a great guy but it just hasn’t worked out.

“We have lost a top, top goalkeeper and we wish him all the very best at Ashton, where we know he will be superb.”

We, at RamsbottomUnited365, would like to put on record our thanks to Ollie and wish him all the very best.