By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

Clutching the match ball under his arm, Connor Thomson said he was ‘buzzing’ after scoring a hat trick for Ashington on Tuesday as they gave Hebburn’s promotion bid of a jolt with a 4-0 hammering at Woodhorn Lane.

And afterwards the on-loan forward from Morpeth Town revealed that he had fancied his chances of scoring against second from top Hebburn – along with his strike partner Wilson Kneeshaw.

Kneeshaw got the Colliers off to a flying start with a goal in the eighth minute before 27 year old Thomson added three – two of which were a striker’s instinct!

“I’m absolutely buzzing,” said Newcastle-born Thomson afterwards, “It’s the first time in a while where I’m getting a run of games and can relax and be myself. After we got the first two (goals), Wilson Kneeshaw and myself were both confident about scoring a few more. We took our chances – and to get three goals myself to help the boys’ record a win made it a brilliant Boxing Day for us.”

Thomson reflected on his hat-trick: “For the first goal, as soon as I got the ball around the defender, I thought ‘just take the chance and bury it’ – and luckily enough that happened. For the next, I saw Oli (Thompson) and I know in that situation that I just need to make that little bit of a split second decision – and luckily enough I’ve got right in front of the defender and put it away. Then for the third, I saw the ball bounce around and I stumbled it in! My initial reaction was that I thought I may have been offside – but I thought I would put the ball into the net anyway and it’s been given.”

Cramlington-based Thomson – who is a gym owner – is hoping he and his team mates can use the victory to ‘push on.’

On Saturday (December 30), Ashington travel to face Consett and Thomson added: “We need to recover and take the confidence from today’s win into Saturday’s game and look to build another run like we had earlier in the season before that little bit of a dip. We should be looking to push on.”