By Brian Bennett

It’s probably a rare occasion – if ever at all – that the manager of a winning team will look sombre when he conducts his postmatch press conference – but Ashington FC joint head coach Richie Hill unfortunately did following his sides 3-2 win over neighbours Morpeth Town at Craik Park on Tuesday night.

After Wilson Kneeshaw’s early opener for the Colliers, the Highwaymen went into the interval 2-1 ahead with a trialist striker on the mark twice.

But in the second period, a brace from substitute Eddie Thomas secured a 3-2 for the Woodhorn Lane outfit.

However, Hill said afterwards: “I’ve got mixed emotions really. We did a lot of good things tonight but it’s all been tarnished with a knee injury to Connor Thomson whom we expected big things from this season. He is a big part of what we are all about and it was just one of those freak injuries where he fell. We don’t know the full extent (of the injury) as yet but he was taken to hospital and was having an X-ray.”

Of the workout, Hill said: “The game was everything we wanted it to be. It was tough and very competitive and I thought we got off to a really good start by scoring a merited goal through Wilson Kneeshaw. Morpeth then equalised and very much dominated the rest of the first half and asked lots of questions of us without the ball and about our general shape and they deservedly went 2-1 in front in stoppage time.”

He continued: “At half time we regrouped and talked about what we needed to do to be able to deal with their threats but more importantly to have a stamp on the game ourselves. I thought the players who came on for us in the second half were excellent and we had a lot more success – and were rewarded with two fantastic goals from Eddie Thomas who is new to the club. After that I thought we managed the game well and saw it out quite comfortably. However right now, I’m thinking about one person – Connor Thomson – and our thoughts go out to him and his family and I just hope his injury is not as serious as we thought.”