By Brian Bennett

Ashington boss Nick Gray has praised Josh Gilchrist – who was one of his first signings when he took over the reins at Woodhorn Lane.

The attacking midfielder joined the Colliers from fellow NPL East Division side Dunston UTS and offered to play for the first month without receiving a penny as he wanted to prove his worth to Gray and his assistant Liam McIvor!

Gray said: “I still scout for Newcastle United and I saw Elliot Anderson and Josh when they were 14 years of age and to be honest there was nothing between them – they were two very good players. Whilst Elliot has moved on from Newcastle United to fellow Premier League club Nottingham Forest, unfortunately it didn’t happen for Josh. He got released from Newcastle United at 16 then when I was manager at Whitley Bay he joined us where he performed smashing for me. He then went to Dunston UTS where again things didn’t work out for him.”

Gray continued: “Because he had moved up the footballing ladder from the Ebac Northern League with Whitley Bay to the NPL at Dunston UTS, Josh wanted to stay at that level and even offered to play for us for a month without being paid and I said to him ‘we’ll review it after two weeks.’ Obviously he showed glimpses of what he can do in his first three games for us then on Saturday against Bridlington Town he scored a hat-trick and we won the game 3-2. Josh scored his first goal then when we were awarded a penalty he wanted to take it. That shows confidence which is massive in football and after he netted convincingly from the spot he went on to complete his treble.”

Gray went on: “Josh’s first two weeks are now up and I could have taken the liberty by saying that we’ll stick to the agreement but I wouldn’t do that – it wouldn’t be fair to him. He’s a good kid and I think it shows something about the person which Josh is where he is prepared to show his ambition and his quality by coming to us for free. In this day and age there are not many players who would have offered to do that.”