By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

It was quite a week for Ashington FC as they collected a maximum points haul after recording wins against Guisborough Town (1-0), Redcar Athletic (4-0) and West Auckland (4-0).

But it was also quite a week for their Ben Harmison. Four days after he notched a second half hat-trick in the win over Redcar Athletic, the skipper was on the mark again against West Auckland on Saturday.

However after going in at the interval with a blank score sheet against Redcar, even Harmison – who has now notched 17 goals in all competitions this season – was surprised with his treble: “Naturally I was very happy,” he said, “but the thought of scoring a hat-trick never crossed my mind. The second period was good for us and the lads were putting good balls into the box – and that’s what I need. I scored three – but it was more about the assists and good service which gets you the goals so it was a team effort.”

The 37 year old netted Ashington’s third just after half time against West Auckland on Saturday and said: “We’ve been working on one or two things – and we are quite a hard side to handle with our size and power. Until Tuesday we had had no luck – but the deliveries (into the box) have been great.”

Harmison, reflecting on the last three matches and the forthcoming fixtures, insists the Colliers are merely taking things on a game by game basis: “The aim was to get nine points for the week – and we did that,” he said, “We had to battle with second half performances in all three games but the lads were unbelievable. We are just ticking the games off and it doesn’t matter who we are playing against – as long as we take care of what is in our dressing room and not worry about anyone else. We need to continue to put points on the board and look to catch whoever is in front of us (in the league table). It’s the old cliché of taking one game at a time – then seeing where we are at the end of the season.”