International Career
Ashton progressed through the England youth set up, racking up an impressive goal-to-game ratio. In August 2006, Ashton was first called up to the England senior squad for their friendly against Greece, part of new manager Steve McClaren's first team. However, just a day before the match, the striker suffered a heavy tackle from Shaun Wright-Phillips which resulted in a broken ankle in training and missed out on a chance to make his England debut against Greece. He then later was ruled out for more than a year and missed the whole of the West Ham season. He was recalled to the England squad and was fit to face Estonia. However, a few days later, it was announced that he had been ruled out of action for up to six weeks with a sprained medial knee ligament, forcing him to once again miss out on making his international debut for a second time. In May 2008, Ashton was named in McClaren's successor, Fabio Capello's, squad for the USA and Trinidad and Tobago friendlies.
He finally made his debut, more than two years after his first call up, in the game against Trinidad & Tobago on 1 June 2008.
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