By Brian Bennett
Ashington manager Nick Gray pulled no punches on Saturday after his side had allowed ten-man Carlton Town to bundle in an equaliser as the teams played out a 2-2 draw at Woodhorn Lane.
Gray’s outfit are in the bottom four of the Pitching In Northern Premier League East Division and points are precious. However after going behind to a wonder goal by Lawrence Stewart Gorman, the Colliers turned the game on its head when Josh Gilchrist netted with a penalty and Michael Ndiweni scored a delightful second whilst the visitors had Oliver Clark red carded.
But even down to ten men, “The Millers” came out on top in the second period with Gray furious that his side had failed to see the game out and he labelled it as being unacceptable: “At half time we were 2-1 up and had the ascendancy and I told the players not to do certain things yet Carlton – with ten men – were the better team second half and credit to them. When a team goes down to ten men after 35 minutes and you get your noses in front you’ve got to be taking three points – nothing else is acceptable on my terms.”
The boss was also left frustrated by a lack of effort by ‘certain personnel:’ “I’m disappointed because you can’t win games of football if only half of the team puts the effort in,” he said, “Whilst it was great to see Karl Ross return to the side following injury – and he tired which was understandable – I think some players need to look at Craig Spooner as an example for his work ethic because if we had the effort all over the park we wouldn’t be where we are at the wrong end of the table. There are things which have got to change because if they don’t, then we will be in this battle all season – and I don’t want that to be the case. One thing I am with players, whether they like it or not, is that I’ll be brutally honest with them and certain personnel have got to do more in games. It was disappointing that we lost Bailey Geliher who pulled up with an injury in the warm up because we weren’t able to change things – but we’ve got to do better to win games of football. Overall, it was one point gained – a point more than we had before the game.”
Gray looked back to the kick-off: “They (Carlton) started the game brighter than us,” he said, “We talked about them having had a long travel so we had to start on the front foot and take the game to them but at times I wonder if players are listening and the bottom line is that the responsibility lies with me. I’m really disappointed yet probably a little bit relieved that we got a point which should never ever be the case when you are playing against ten men at home. Every game is a winnable but losable game – it’s how you approach a game and how your mentality is and you’ve got to be ‘at it’ for 90 minutes. Carlton kept at their game from the first minute to the last. When they went down to ten men I thought they were ‘gone’ a little bit but we didn’t take that to them in the second half. We just sat back and they got confidence by us being lackadaisical, being poor in our decision making, through lazy play and not being quick enough in our movements. Carlton came out second half and they were the better team and that shouldn’t be the case and I’ve got to ask questions why that was. When you are on top in games you’ve got to make it count but has there ‘keeper had a shot to save?”
On the goals conceded Gray said: “Their first goal was great technique and a great finish but we can do better with the marking for the header then we have to have someone who closes the player down whilst the equaliser was disappointing with a ball played to the far post.”
Of the well worked goal by Michael Ndiweni, Gray said: “It was a great goal but we didn’t do enough of it – you can’t just turn it on like a tap.”
Gray concluded: “Personally I’ve had a tough challenging week as a family with bereavement and I wish everything was as simple as football.”