1924-25 Season
A surprisingly good start was made to the 1924/25 season after two home wins over Chesterfield (2-1) and Doncaster Rovers (2-0), as well as a derby draw away at Durham City (0-0) resulting in the Colliers as early League leaders. Despite this good start the Colliers away form dipped dramatically as the Colliers were thrashed 0-4 at Nelson and 3-7 in the return game at Doncaster. This was followed by a 5-2 win over Barrow at Portland Park as the Colliers impressive home record continued, but Ashington’s abysmal form on the road continued as the Colliers went down to more heavy defeats, this time a 0-3 loss at Southport and a 0-5 defeat away to Lincoln City. After a narrow 1-0 home win over Tranmere Rovers, the Colliers went on a terrible run of four straight defeats, the first three away at Walsall, Wigan and Crewe followed by a first home loss of the season as Accrington Stanley took all the points away from Portland Park, winning 2-1 – a result that saw the Colliers slump to 14th place in the League by the end of October.
November saw the Colliers run without a win continue, but at least a point was gained away at Halifax Town. One week later the points were shared again as New Brighton left Portland Park with a point after a hard fought 1-1 draw. The Colliers attention then switched to the FA Cup as Ashington were paired with North East rivals Hartlepools on November 15th. Unfortunately for the Colliers the game only attracted £230 at the gate as the game was drawn, with Ashington defeated 0-2 in the midweek replay putting an end to any chance of a cup run like the previous season. Three days later Hartlepools defeated Ashington again, winning 3-0 at Portland Park. With this poor run, the gates inevitably started to decrease although 5,800 were in attendance at Portland Park for the North East derby against Darlington – leaders and eventual champions – who found the Colliers on top of their game as Darlo were defeated 4-2. One week later Ashington were demolished 1-7 at Bradford Park Avenue as the Colliers dismal away form continued and a record low of 1,311 were in attendance at Portland Park one week later to see the Colliers beat Wrexham 2-0, confirming that the Ashington support had reached a new low ebb. That win saw Ashington go on a run of seven games unbeaten as the Colliers won convincingly on Christmas Day, winning 4-1 at Rotherham, this being Ashington’s Christmas present – a first away win of the season. The Colliers then picked a up a useful point at Chesterfield with the game ending 1-1 before a run of three home games on three consecutive days! Rotherham were defeated 3-1 at Portland Park on New Years Day to complete a League double, the 2nd of January saw the Colliers win a thrilling game 4-3 against Rochdale with a good crowd of 4,245 in attendance on the 3rd of January, as Nelson left Portland Park with a good point after the game finished 1-1. One week later the Colliers won again on their travels, winning 3-1 at Grimsby Town. This run had seen the Colliers dramatically climb the table with Ashington in a higher position that one-year earlier at the same stage.
This good run of form was finally ended as Ashington lost 2-3 in Cumbria against Barrow. One week later a crowd of 3,380 (a figure affected by the late working of the Pits that day) saw the Colliers defeat Lincoln City 2-1 at Portland Park, followed by an amazing match away at Tranmere as Ashington lost by the odd goal in NINE, going down to a final score of 4-5 to the home side. Ashington’s first game of February saw Walsall visit Portland Park with the Colliers in goal scoring mood after netting 4 times at Tranmere Rovers, and still losing. Ashington produced what was arguably their best display of the season as Walsall were thrashed 6-1 at Portland Park. The win was followed by three consecutive draws, two 1-1 draws at Portland Park against Wigan and Crewe were followed by a 2-2 draw at Accrington Stanley. One week later Ashington won again, this time defeating Halifax Town 2-0 at Portland Park, followed by another amazing high scoring away game as the Colliers shared EIGHT goals at New Brighton in an entertaining 4-4 draw – this being Ashington’s sixth game in a row unbeaten.
That run was ended on the 21st of March as Ashington were surprisingly beaten 0-2 at home to Grimsby in front of a crowd of 3,200. One week later the Colliers got revenge for previous defeats in the League and Cup as Hartlepools were defeated by a single goal away from Portland Park. Another point was gained away from home as Ashington drew 0-0 at high flying Rochdale with only 4,000 present – showing low attendances were not only a problem for Ashington, but for a majority of Third Division sides. Ashington then lost two North East derbies in a row, 0-2 at home to Durham City and 1-2 at Darlington. One week later the Colliers managed to defeat Bradford Park Avenue 1-0 at Portland Park, then lost 1-3 at Wrexham before ending the season on a high note with a 2-0 win over Southport at Portland Park.
At the end of the season Ashington had finished in a respectable tenth position in the table although this was lower than last season finish of eighth. Finance was still a problem, if not a serious one yet, for attendances were still on the low side. Some good results for the Colliers included a 5-2 win at home to Barrow, a 4-2 derby win against eventual champions Darlington at Portland Park, a massive 6-1 win at home to Walsall, a great Christmas day win at Rotherham by 4 goals to one and an away derby win against Hartlepools.
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