By Brian Bennett
Wilson Kneeshaw took his goals tally for the season to eight after scoring a brace on Saturday as Ashington claimed a convincing 5-0 victory over a shell shocked North Ferriby side in their Pitching in Northern Premier League East Division clash.
And afterwards, the 29 year old said: “It was a great performance. Credit to North Ferriby because I thought they also played football which really aided the game. First half it was 50-50 – they had chances and we had chances – but we just weren’t quite as sharp as we have been recently in and around the box. To be fair the coaches said at half time that we would get those chances – and in the second half we just steamrolled them (North Ferriby). We quelled all of their chances and continually created ones for ourselves. We knew we were going to be in a game but the coaching staff prepared us well and I don’t think anyone put a foot wrong.”
The home side struggled to cope with Ashington’s pace particularly from Kneeshaw and the Darlington-born striker – who is an artist – added: “I travel to training with our assistant manager Andy Coyles and coach Ritchie Hill and we’ve been talking about our side having so much pace,” he added, “Up front apart from pace, we can also play as well which really confuses defenders. However, all of the lads have done really well by playing the balls at the right times – and long may it continue.”
After the sides had drawn a blank in the first half, Kneeshaw quickly broke the deadlock and added a second minutes later: “I was really happy that I could help the team and put us in front,” he said, “For the second goal it was a great ball by Dan Maguire which put me through one on one with the ‘keeper. To be honest I tried to touch the ball around him (the ‘keeper) but then I saw it was going to roll into the goal and when it did, I celebrated with the fans.”
Meanwhile Max Emmerson, who was introduced as a substitute for injured skipper Karl Ross earned a massive pat on the back from Kneeshaw: “I thought Max was fantastic,” he added, “He came on and really grabbed his opportunity. I thought he was solid in midfield and did everything you could want.” Kneeshaw concluded: “We are all working for each other; our team spirit is fantastic and defensively and offensively we are doing so well at the minute.”