Ashley Westwood

Westwood replaced Robbie Blake as a 67th minute substitute.

Ashley Michael Westwood (born 31 August 1976) is an English football manager and former professional player who is the head coach of the Afghanistan national team.

A graduate of the Manchester United Academy, the defender signed with Crewe Alexandra in 1995.

Three years later he moved on to Bradford City.

Born in Bridgnorth, Westwood started his career as a trainee at Manchester United and was part of the FA Youth Cup winning side of 1995.

He never made a first team appearance for the Red Devils, but Dario Gradi spotted the youngster's potential, and secured Westwood's services for Crewe Alexandra for a £40,000 fee.

Westwood slotted in well to the Second Division side.

He played fifty games in the 1996–97 season, including the 1–0 win play-off final over Brentford that took the Railwaymen into the First Division.

However, he was to only play 22 games in the 1997–98 season.

His swansong for the Cheshire club came on 13 April 1998, he scored the opener of a 2–0 win over near rivals Stoke City at Gresty Road.

In summer 1998, he signed with Bradford City, a tribunal later awarded Crewe a £150,000 payment from Bradford.

His first season with the club saw the Bantams promoted to the Premier League as First Division runners-up.

Westwood played only nineteen games in their league campaign though.

His last game of the season was eventful, as he was sent off in stoppage time after scoring on 62 minutes at Loftus Road against Queens Park Rangers.

He played just five Premier League games in 1999–2000, though Bradford picked up 13 out of 15 points in those games, a sizeable chunk of their final tally of 36 points.

Winning promotion to the Premier League with the Bantams, he transferred to Sheffield Wednesday in 2000.

The final of these games was a 3–0 win over Wimbledon at Valley Parade on 30 April 2000.

This was a vital result because had the Dons won, they would have survived relegation at Bradford's expense.

He went into Europe in July 2000, making two appearances in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, victories over FK Atlantas and RKC Waalwijk.

However, new manager Chris Hutchings told him to improve or leave.

Westwood joined Sheffield Wednesday on a one-month loan in August; Paul Jewell had switched to the Owls and took Westwood with him permanently for £150,000 in September, £100,000 less than Bradford had originally wanted.

He played 38 games that season, scoring five goals and picking up ten yellow cards.

A particular highlight was scoring the winning goal as Wednesday knocked Premier League side West Ham United out of the League Cup.

The next season Wednesday were fighting for First Division survival and Jewell had already left for Wigan Athletic.

Westwood played 33 games, helping the club to the League Cup semi-finals.

He began to suffer from a groin injury in October 2002, and played just 25 games in Wednesday's 2002–03 relegation season.

He moved on to Northampton Town in 2003, where he stayed for three years.

Signing with Chester City in 2006, he was loaned to Swindon Town and Port Vale in 2007, before joining Wrexham via Stevenage Borough the following year.

He spent the 2010–11 season with Kettering Town, before returning to Crewe Alexandra for a brief spell in 2011.

Later in the year, he re-joined another former club, Northampton Town.

In December 2011 he was released from the Cobblers after his contract was not renewed.

He was appointed player-caretaker manager at Kettering Town the following month, before returning just to playing duties with Lincoln City in May 2012.

Two months later he became a player-coach at Portsmouth, before becoming a full-time coach at Blackpool in November 2012.

In his 18-year playing career, he scored 34 goals in 468 competitive appearances in the Football League and Conference.

He was promoted four times with four clubs.

He began his full-time management career with Indian club Bengaluru FC in 2013 and led them to two I-League titles (2013–14 and 2015–16) in three seasons, as well as the Indian Federation Cup in 2015.

He was appointed head coach at Malaysia Super League club Penang FA in November 2016 but lasted just five months in the role.

He was appointed as director of football at ATK in July 2017 and took over as head coach on an interim basis in January 2018.

He was appointed as RoundGlass Punjab head coach in July 2021.

He became head coach of the Afghanistan national team in November 2023.