By Brian Bennett

The Northern Premier League released the new fixtures last week – and Ashington
manager Ian Skinner was upbeat about them.

The Colliers start their campaign with a home tie against North Shields in the Emirates
FA Cup on Saturday August 5 – then a week later play their first game in the NPL for
over 50 years when they take on Brighouse at Woodhorn Lane: “It’s always nice to start
with a home game – and we have been blessed with two in a week in the FA Cup and
the league,” he said, “We’ll gather as much information as we can on Brighouse but the
early indications suggest that they are in a similar situation to ourselves whereby they’ve
had quite a turnover of players. However all we can do is to make sure we are prepared
and ready to go. We have a few more friendlies before that game so they should really
get us up to speed.”

Ashington take on neighbours Bedlington Terriers on Wednesday evening at Woodhorn
Lane (July 19) then go to Craik Park on Saturday (July 22) to pit their wits against
Morpeth Town: “If you include the Whitley Bay game, that’ll make it three games in
seven days for us and we’ll start to see more players getting minutes into their legs.”