Photo: Keith Saint
By Brian Bennett
Ashington FC’s recent signing Adam Johnson scored a brace as the Colliers went on a goalscoring spree with a 6-1 win over Whitley Bay at Hillheads on Saturday.
However, the striker revealed afterwards that he could have grabbed a treble: “It’s always nice to score your first goal for a new club so I was delighted – but to be honest I could have notched a hat-trick! For my first, Craig Spooner passed the ball to me from the left – I took one touch – then drove it into the bottom corner and Craig (Spooner) was involved again for the second which I finished off with my right foot. I thought it was a really good game played out in front of a big crowd and I thoroughly enjoyed it. All of our lads were brilliant grafting from the very first minute.”
Ashington-born Johnson was delighted with the result – but stressed that consistency is a key issue for his side: “It was a tremendous bounce back performance today after our defeat at Crook Town,” he added, “but we can’t do that on a regular basis because the only way to get higher and higher up this league is through consistency. If you can’t win you try hard not to lose. Our biggest aspect is to graft and with the quality we have got going forward we will always score goals but we have got to try to concede fewer. Initially when we went 1-0 down today I thought ‘not again’ but then the quality of the lads saw us bounce back and everyone grafted; closing the space between players; watching the ball and getting there and it was just perfect from all of the boys.”
24 year old Johnson – signed from Blyth Town – has settled in quickly at Woodhorn Lane: “I love it here – it’s brilliant,” he said, “The training is really good and there is a great group of players.” However the Blyth-based striker will be forced into a watching brief on Tuesday night (December 14) when Ashington take on Newcastle United under 23’s in the quarter final of the Techflow Marine Northumberland Senior Cup – as he is cup tied having played for Blyth Town against the Colliers in the last round: “I’ll be at the match to spectate and support the lads,” said Johnson, “I’m gutted about having to miss out because it will be a massive game to play in.”