Playing opposite fellow former Canary Peter Crouch, Ashton made and then scored a goal to put the Hammers two up. The contrasting contributions of the two strikers, who both left the field when the score was 3-2 to the Iron courtesy of Paul Konchesky's fluke after Djibril Cisse and Steven Gerrard had levelled things up, made a mockery of the status of Crouch as the only fit, experienced striker in the England squad.
No less authorities than Alan Shearer and Ian Wright were full of praise for Ashton at half time and again at full time, by which time Gerrard's contribution had rescued Liverpool before Pepe Reina made three saves to win the penalty shoot-out.
Ashton is now, scandalously, free to head off on his holidays, while the distinctly unimpressive Crouch, who failed to muster a shot on target, and unknown Theo Walcott provide alternatives to Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney should either or both fail to recover from broken metatarsals.