1925-26 Season
A good start was made to the 1925/26 season with the Colliers unbeaten in their first 6 games. A thrilling 3-3 opening day draw at home to Wigan was followed up by a massive 5-1 victory over Nelson at Portland Park. A 1-1 draw at New Brighton one week later was followed by two 2-0 victories at home in the space of 3 days with the Colliers defeating Coventry City and Crewe, the latter in-front of a gate of 4,589, which despite being a good crowd, this figure was lower than previous seasons at this stage. This run saw Ashington move into the top 5 in the league with talk of promotion on the terraces of Portland Park. On the 15th September Nelson managed to restore a bit of pride against the Colliers on home soil, the game ending 2-2.
One week later though the Colliers went down to a first defeat of the season, 0-2 at Lincoln, followed by a 1-1 draw at home to Southport, before another defeat at Doncaster. Wrexham picked up a point at Portland Park in a 2-2 draw as the Colliers unbeaten home record continued, with the Colliers securing a first win on the road on the 17th October, winning 3-1 at Rochdale thanks to 2 goals in the final 5 minutes that left the locals feeling cheated at the final whistle. Ashington beat Tranmere 1-0 at home on the 24th October before going down 1-2 at Accrington Stanley.
The first game of November saw local rivals Durham City make the trip to Portland Park, with the visitors pulling off a surprise 1-0 victory – Ashington’s first home defeat of the season. One week later the Colliers went down to a single goal at high-flying Bradford Park Avenue before winning a thrilling game at Portland Park against Grimsby Town, with a final score of Ashington 4 Grimsby Town 2. The 28th of November was FA Cup day, but the match aganst North East rivals Durham City, in the Cathedral City, was postponed for four days. The game was played on the 2nd of December, with the Colliers apprehensive about their visit due to a terrible record away to Durham in the past. Ashington took the lead in the game early on, but were pegged back by an equaliser – that so pleased the scorer that he embraced a nearby policeman. Durham then went on to score a further 3 goals as the Colliers went out of the cup, losing 1-4 on the day and cutting short any hopes of a good Cup run for the Ashington men.
The FA Cup defeat seemed to have a knock on effect in the League as the Colliers lost at home to Halifax Town (0-1), Walsall away (0-2), drew 0-0 with Chesterfield at Portland Park, lost heavily at home to Barrow (1-4) and lost at Hartlepools in the North East derby by a 1-2 scoreline completing a run of 5 games without a win before the Colliers defeated Barrow in Cumbria in the return game, winning an entertaining game 3-2 on New Years Day 1926. One day later the Colliers won again on their travels, winning comfortably at Wigan with a final score of 2-0. The Colliers unbeaten run continued with two draws – 0-0 at the Shay against Halifax Town and 1-1 at home to New Brighton, but this run was brought to an end with the Colliers going down narrowly at Crewe. The last game of January saw Lincoln making the long trip North to Portland Park hoping for a repeat of their 2-0 win in September. Unfortunately for the away side, Ashington were in top form destroying their opponents 4-1.
The first game in February saw the Colliers draw 1-1 at Southport, followed by a thrashing of Doncaster Rovers at Portland Park as the Yorkshire based side were demolished by a 6-1 scoreline, arguably the Colliers best display of the season. The Colliers were now in goal scoring mood and netted three times on their travels one week later, winning 3-2 in Wales against Wrexham. Unfortunately the Colliers couldn’t rediscover that form in their next away game as the Colliers were thrashed 1-5 at Rotherham. Rochdale won 1-0 at Portland Park five days later, followed by a superb 4-1 win for the Colliers away to Tranmere. Ashington then beat Accrington Stanley at home (3-1), drew in the derby game at Durham City (0-0), drew again at home to Bradford PA (1-1) before defeating Hartlepools 2-0 in another North East derby at Portland Park. This was followed by two consecutive away defeats – 1-3 at Grimsby and 0-2 at Coventry City before the Colliers defeated Rotherham 4-2 at Portland Park with 2,700 in attendance. Ashington then defeated Walsall 2-0 at Portland Park before the season ended with the Colliers losing heavily at Chesterfield by a 1-6 scoreline.
At the end of the season the Colliers had finished in 9th position overall, slightly disappointing after a great start to the season. Some good results include a 6-1 thrashing of Doncaster at Portland Park, a 5-1 home win over Nelson, a 2-0 victory over Coventry City at Portland Park, a derby win at home to Hartlepools (2-0) and some good results on their travels including a 3-2 win at Wrexham and a superb 4-1 win at Tranmere.
|
|
