SKINNER: “I’M ALWAYS PROUD OF THIS GROUP OF PLAYERS”

Photo: Rachel McDonald

By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC boss Ian Skinner looked on from the dugout as his players proved him wrong – despite them going out of the Techflow Marine Northumberland Senior Cup after a penalty shoot out against Newcastle United under 23’s on Tuesday night in front of a record attendance of 1,357 at The dwmedia Stadium.

Skinner said afterwards: “The biggest frustration with them (the players) is that they let themselves down at times – and I thought that was going to be the case tonight with a below par showing. It’s probably easy to say it now because we came back and made a game of it but earlier the display had been bordering on being our worst performance of the season in potentially what was one of our biggest games of the campaign in front of a big crowd and against a professional outfit. However, I’m always proud of this group of players – and consequently I’m pleased that they did themselves justice. They showed that they are good players and showed they can get the ball down and pass it and we can create chances regardless of who we play.” Looking ahead, he continued: “Our aim is to move this club forward and play as high up the pyramid as we can. The club is growing day by day both on and off the pitch and we’ve just got to keep plugging away and see how far we can go.”