DRYDEN: “THIS IS REWARD FOR THE WHOLE SEASON”

By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

Ashington FC goalkeeper Karl Dryden described the Colliers promotion success via their Inter step play off match against Glossop North End as being on a par with winning the league.

The 35 year old stopper – who was a member of the Dunston UTS side who clinched the Ebac Northern League championship in the 2018-19 season – said after the Woodhorn Lane outfit had triumphed 3-0 against the Hillmen on Saturday: “It’s a great feeling and the changing room is buzzing. We’ve achieved what we set out to do at the beginning of the season. We definitely deserved to win today and once we got the second goal I thought the result was never in any doubt. However, this is reward for the whole season. On reflection, we would have taken the FA Cup run – it’s just a shame we needed to play catch up having to win our league games in hand and trying to put the points on the board.”

The Ashington-born stopper – who also has an FA Vase winners medal after playing for Morpeth Town in their 4-1 victory over Hereford at Wembley Stadium in 2016 – was delighted with a stop he made ten minutes from time: “It was a reaction save,” he said “I was happy with it and also a clean sheet which is what we have been trying to do all season. I’ve got the same feeling today going up via the play off final with Ashington as I had with Dunston because you’re winning something. Now we’ve got the new league to look forward to.”