By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie
Skipper Karl Ross spoke of the heartache within the dressing room after Ashington had lost their semi final of the Newcastle Flooring Northumberland Senior Cup against Newcastle United U21s at Woodhorn Lane on Thursday night.
The Colliers went down 2-1 and Ross said afterwards: “Walking into the dressing room at the end of the game, all of the lads had their heads down and were gutted because Newcastle have come here and we’ve played them off the park. Not many teams will do that to them – but for their two goals, they had that little bit of quality.”
Ross added: “Even trailing 1-0 at half time we spoke about it could be our last 45 minutes of the season. Therefore we had nothing to lose but to go out and give it our all. Jay Turner-Cooke scored with a free-kick into the top bin and there’s nothing you can do about them. After that it was just about going for it in the final 25 minutes; throwing everything at them and seeing what they’d got.”
He continued: “Things didn’t go for us like the drop of the ball, or the ball not bouncing for us but it was just good to see the lads go for it and I was proud of them all. We are a really close group – the closest group I’ve ever been with – so leading them out was a proud moment for me.”
Ross paid tribute to the supporters in a record breaking attendance of 1447 at Woodhorn Lane: “Every week the fans come out in their hundreds and to smash the previous best was just fantastic,” he said, “They really are our 12th man because you can hear them every minute. The fans are what make the club and we as players thrive off it – so on behalf all the lads, I’d just like to thank them for all of their support because it means a lot to us.”