 He made his debut at Carrow Road against Aldershot on 4 October 1947.Ashman was a centre-forward at that early stage of his career, but went on to play at full-back for many years.He was the captain of the Norwich team that reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1959 as a third division side, won promotion to the second division in 1960 and won the Football League Cup for the first time in 1962.