By Brian Bennett
Manager Nick Gray looked on as Ashington fell to their seventh defeat in a row against North Ferriby at the Dransfield Stadium on Saturday.
However the boss – who took over when the Colliers were already on a losing streak – said after the 2-0 reverse that the results which have gone against his outfit have fired him up.
Gray commented: “I’ve been in these situations before. I’m not a patient person but I definitely know what we need and although it may take longer than I thought, we’ll definitely get there. I’m disappointed for the fans who came down to give us great support once again but all the things which are going against us makes me even more determined to succeed – and I’m confident that I will.”
He continued: “Credit to the lads who travelled down today because they gave their all and I’m finding out more about the job (as manager) all the time. We are going to strengthen the squad – some players have left whilst others couldn’t commit today and we do need numbers. I knew what my task was when I came into the job. Nothing has changed but I’m not just going to sign players for the sake of it.”
Gray reflecting on the first half said: “I thought we gave a good account of ourselves. We came in 0-0 at half time and with a bit of better execution in the final third we could have had our noses in front. The last couple of games we have played well for 45 minutes but we have got to do it for longer periods of the game.”
He added: “Second half we switched off. I don’t know if we could have stopped the ball coming up and possibly won the header – then one of their midfield players has ran off us and rolled the ball into the back of the net. It was disappointing and you could see that it deflated us a little bit but give credit where it is due because the lads kept going. For the second goal, we have got to stop the cross and it just shows how crucial the first goal is at this level.”
He went on: “We came down with a tough squad to be fair and that was disappointing but it is what it is at the minute. In the final third we haven’t got entries in today and if I’m being honest we need to do better as a unit because we are not testing the ‘keepers.”