By Brian Bennett
Andrew Cartwright – who alongside Gary Ormston and Paul Robinson form the interim management team at Ashington whilst news of a new appointment at the helm continues – hailed the players after they had recorded a slender 1-0 win over Bradford Park Avenue on a bitterly cold night at Woodhorn Lane on Tuesday.
Striker Jay Errington netted the all important goal in the 68th minute which lifted the Colliers – who only a week ago were on the bottom of the league – into 12th place in the NPL East Division table.
Cartwright who led by example with an excellent display at full back, said afterwards: “Bradford started quickly – but I thought we dug in when it got tough. Then we had a couple of bits of quality in the second half where we carved them open and I think that’s the sign of a really good team because you don’t have to batter the opposition and have huge amounts of possession to win a match. The boys dug in; we scored the goal; defended really well and that’s what we needed to do to win the game.”
Cartwright reflected on the events over the past seven days at Woodhorn Lane including his new role alongside Gary Ormston and Paul Robinson as the interim management team: “Gaz Ormston was in the background when he was at Newcastle Blue Star supporting the guys,” he said, “whilst last year I supported Liam McIvor at Whitley Bay, so the two of us have been in and around supporting people but never where the team has been without a manager.”
The 29 year old said the players were ‘sad’ to see the departure of the management team and he took time out to applaud them: “It’s been a busy week,” he added, “Obviously there’s got to be a big thank you and well done handed out to Richie Hill, Andy Coyles, Jamie Tunstall and Lee Barrass because the boys really loved the staff and were obviously sad to see them go. However, although these things happen, it doesn’t mean you can sit around and not perform. It’s a new chapter at the club and you’ve still got to come and do your best. That’s what we’ve tried to do this week as the interim management team – and we certainly can’t fault the effort from the lads tonight. We are short on numbers and a few players are playing through injury – but we got three points and that’s all that matters. One win is great – but one win is not enough. I’m looking forward to whatever is to come because we’ll never get too high or too low. We’ll aim to go again on Saturday (at home to Grimsby Borough) when another win will be top of the agenda.”
Newcastle-born Cartwright – who runs his own football coaching business – continued: “We are due to train on Thursday but we’ll be checking on the boys first because there are quite a few of them carrying knocks and we would prefer to protect them a little bit until we get a few numbers back in the squad. We’ll reassess the situation but it’s important that we don’t rest up. We’ve got such a good squad but even allowing for the fact that players are injured it doesn’t soften the team up.” Midfielder Paul Van-Zandvliet has joined Hebburn Town in the NPL Premier Division whilst the Colliers have welcomed Andrew Johnson back into the fold and Cartwright said: “Paul (Van-Zandvliet) started the season really well and we wish him all the best because he’s going into a higher league. We all loved Paul as a person so we’re really proud of him. We’ve brought Andrew Johnson into the squad to strengthen us and I think he’s a really good signing for us. He’s someone who has got a lot of history with the club and he’s a top, top player. It’s good to have him back – but we need to get him back up to match speed.”