By Brian Bennett

Andrew Johnson says he is ‘really happy’ to return to Ashington – after the news of him putting pen to paper for the Colliers was announced yesterday.

Johnson was with the Woodhorn Lane outfit as a teenager before he left nine years ago: “I’m really happy to come back to the club,” he said on Monday night, “It’s a nice thing to come full circle. I thought the time was right for me to return to the club and hopefully we’ll be trying to have a successful season.”

Following the departure of joint head coaches Andy Coyles and Richie Hill at Ashington last Wednesday, Gary Ormston – who along with fellow senior players Andrew Cartwright and Paul Robinson have been placed in charge as an interim management team – said: “We got wind of Andrew falling out of love with football and we got in touch with him. He was interested and said he fancied giving it a go especially with it being his hometown club where he grew up as a footballer. We looked at our forward line and thought we needed a bit of experience – so to it was a no brainer to try and get him in. We have got AJ onboard and although he’s probably not match fit, he will be in the squad and up for selection for tonight’s NPL East Division home game against Bradford Park Avenue.”

Ormston added: “Football turns around quite quickly. We were asked to look after this squad of players because we are quite close to them. It was also to help the club out so they can get the right manager in.”

Kick-off tonight is 7.45pm.