By Brian Bennett | Photo: MJT Photos (Shildon AFC)
Ashington FC’s Cyril Giraud got an extra birthday present on Saturday when he scored the goal which put his side 2-1 ahead against Shildon in the Emirates FA Cup clash at Shildon.
The Colliers eventually won the game 4-2 and will face Bishop Auckland in the preliminary round on Saturday August 17.
However a few days earlier, the midfielder had ironically netted the second goal in Ashington’s 4-0 win over Spennymoor in their last friendly encounter – on his 24th birthday: “The strike against The Moors was my birthday present,” he said afterwards, “today I looked on my goal as being an extra bonus!”
Describing the goal at Shildon, he said, “I thought the ball didn’t go as well as I wanted it to but it went the right way and ended up in the back of the net so I was happy! First of all, I was thrilled to bits with the result as we were 1-0 down at half time which was a tricky situation. We came out on top and did really well in the second half after changing the formation. The players who came off didn’t do anything wrong at all but as Richie (Hill) said in the changing room, we needed different types of players.”