In front of a crowd of 448, the Robins took the lead on 28 minutes when Chris Baguley sent Matt Gould the wrong way from the penalty spot after Stuart Pierpoint had brought down recent signing James Dean and received a red card for his troubles.
Stourbridge fought hard to get back into the game but couldn't take their chances and were made to pay four minutes before the interval when James Dean fired past Gould and doubled the visitors' lead.
The Glassboys threw everything they could at Ashton after the break, and when Junior Smikle met Matt Dodd's far post cross with a thunderous shot on 76 minutes, a thrilling turnaround looked possible. However, the Ashton defence stood firm to strengthen their grip on a play-off spot and move into fourth spot.
At Ewen Fields, Hyde United were looking for points to climb clear of the bottom four, while visiting Rushall Olympic could still have a say in the top five race if they win the majority of their remaining games.
In the end, Hyde will consider that two points were dropped, as they shared a 2-2 draw against a Pics` side who battled away with ten-men for almost three-quarters of the game.
Defender Jack Duggan received a straight red card for a last-man foul after 27 minutes and Hyde`s top scorer Scott Spencer made no mistake from the resulting spot-kick.
After re-grouping at the interval, Rushall equalised two minutes after the restart through Alex Reid, and the ten-men then went ahead on 55 minutes, courtesy of an Andre Brown effort.
But on 64 minutes Laurence Bell pulled the Tigers back into the game and it finished all-square, with the hosts also finishing a man light with the late dismissal of defender James Burke.
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