By Brian Bennett
Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner admitted that a quick double by Thornaby midway through the first half had a telling effect on his side who eventually went down to a 5-0 defeat on Saturday.
“We lost the game in the first half when two goals in as many minutes knocked the stuffing out of us,” said Skinner, “To be fair for the first, their lad (Lee Moore) has put a great ball in and Curtis (Coppen) has tried to deal with it but he’s ended up putting it in his own net. But then to concede a second only a minute later is difficult to take – and the frustrating thing about both goals was that we actually had the ball in their box and they have broke on us and scored. We’ve shown a great reaction after conceding the first one from the kick off to build an attack but we’ve given the ball away again relatively cheaply in their box and they have countered to make it 2-0. Then to concede a third in the first half is disappointing – and gives us a mountain to climb.”
He continued: “I thought we were a little bit slack in possession across the whole day. Second half we got into some good positions and got the ball into good areas unopposed but unforced errors and poor decisions or poor execution saw us give the ball away relatively cheaply and we’ve allowed Thornaby to counter attack on us too easily. We need to show a little bit more grit and determination to want to make it a bit more difficult for the opposition to score. Albeit the Thornaby front three or four were good, with good movement and interchange and link up play but at times we were a little bit easy to play against and left gaps and didn’t really manage distances between units as well as we possibly could. We pressed them a little bit higher and harder second half and we have looked to win the ball back a little bit earlier. We’ve also created some half chances really with some dangerous balls across the box and a few blocked shots and on another day maybes we get it back to 3-1 and then see where we could take it from there – but it wasn’t to be.”
He went on: “We are hurting a little bit although we got a decent reaction in the second half for 40-42 minutes or so and possibly the scoreline was harsh on us. However, our goal difference is now five goals worse off – and whether it was harsh or not – it’s a fact and we have to deal with it.”