Ashton started his career at Crewe when he made his debut at the age of 17 when he came on for Paul Tait in the 1-0 away win at Gillingham in the Championship.
A few games later and Ashton scored his first professional goal when he netted in Crewe's 4-2 win over Burnley. That season in 2000-01 Ashton went on to score 8 goals. The following season Ashton went on to score 10 goals including a goal against Everton in the FA Cup but his goals did not stop Crewe being relegated down to League One.
The 2002-03 season saw Ashton go on a baron run with no goals in the first 16 league games of that season which prompted critisim from Neil Baker after that Ashton went on to score 16 goals as the Railwaymen finished second in the league and promotion back to the Championship.
First season back in the Championship saw net Ashton 16 goals as the Alex finished 18th in the league.
The following season was Ashton's most explosive where he netted 20 goals in the Championship as Crewe were flying high and only just outside the play-offs, Ashton's last goal in a Crewe shirt was in 2-0 away victory over Leeds United.
Ashton was then sold in mid January for £3m to Premiership side Norwich City as a result the Railwaymen went on a run that did not see them win for 20 games with many fans bemoaning the club for failing not to invest the money gained from the sale of Ashton.
Ashton then made 44 league appearances for the Canaries netting 17 goals and a year after moving to Carrow Road he was sold to West ham United who paid £7.25m.
Ashton went on to make 46 appearances during 3 years at Upton Park netting 15 goals but injury and a failure to recover from it brought a premature end to a highly gifted striker who would of no doubt would of gone on to bigger and better things and no doubt would of gone to South Africa in the 2010 World Cup.