By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

Skipper Karl Ross says that the Ashington squad are desperate to win Saturday’s Emirates FA Cup tie at home to Bishop Auckland.

The 25 year old was speaking shortly after the final whistle on Tuesday night when the Colliers went down 2-1 against the County Durham side in their NPL East Division clash.

After Paddy Almond had given the home side the lead shortly before half time, striker Matty Tymon netted twice in the space of four second half minutes for the Two Blues.

Ashington-born Ross said: “Tonight was very frustrating from a player’s perspective as well as the home support. I thought we were the better side over the 90 minutes particularly in the first half when we did really well. We kept the ball moving and limited them (Bishop Auckland) to hardly any chances but five minutes of madness has really cost us. We weren’t at the races at the start of the second half and we need to nip that situation in the bud straight away.”

He continued: “Bishop Auckland have got one over on us but I think it will give the lads an extra incentive to put right what we have done wrong tonight because we felt it was a smash and grab from them. We felt we deserved the win and were the better team so obviously Saturday is the time for us to turn things around and get the right result.”

The game – which has a 12.30pm kick-off – is being beamed out live by the BBC on iplayer, red button and online and Ross, who is based in Cramlington, added: “It’ll probably be the first time for most of our lads to be on live TV. It’s a great thing for the club and I’m delighted for them because people work so hard. It’ll be a big day and there will be a big crowd and all of the lads are looking forward to it. There’ll be a buzz when we walk into the ground on Saturday but when the first whistle goes, we will be focussed purely on the game. Sometimes you don’t even hear the people around you so the TV cameras will not be on our minds during the 90 minutes.”