By Brian Bennett
It was a jubilant Ashington manager Nick Gray who emerged from the dressing room on Saturday after his side had taken a precious three points following a hard fought 2-1 win in testing windy conditions over Ossett United.
Now the Woodhorn Lane boss has stressed that his team have got to build on the result as they head into their programme over the Festive period.
Craig Spooner and Josh Gilchrist both scored in the first half on Saturday but when the Colliers missed chances to increase the lead further then Eddie Church pulled a goal back for Ossett United, Gray’s side faced a test of character.
However they passed with flying colours and only had one blip as they restricted the visitors to one long range effort by skipper Josh Burns which cannoned off the woodwork.
Gray said afterwards: “First of all, I’m delighted with the three points for everyone at the club, the supporters, the committee, the staff and the players – even the ones who didn’t get on today have got an important part to play in the team. When you are playing teams around you, you have to get one of two results – a win or a draw. In the last couple of games, we’ve let teams around us gain on us by not getting anything so today was really pleasing – but we have got to build on it. We now prepare to go into the away clash against Heaton Stannington on Boxing Day which we know is going to be a difficult game. It’s a local derby but our confidence will be a lot higher than it was a week ago.”
He continued: “We are not getting carried away because there are still things to work on – that’s for sure. It’s a good three points today but that’s all it is. There’s no point in getting three points then losing the next game. The size of the win today can be gauged by the fact that Ossett United were top of the form table – now we’ve got to put a run together of our own. I would have taken three points and a poor performance today – but we got the win and a good performance and I thought we dug in when we needed to and created chances.”
He added: “The players have had some tough challenging times. I haven’t minced my words with them but they haven’t hidden on the pitch either. However there were some good performances out there today and the key thing was not just the lads who started – it was the whole squad.”
Gray was pleased yet disappointed after his side went into the break with a 2-0 advantage: “We started well and could have been three or four up by half time,” he said, “Obviously you still take the 2-0 lead but it was probably a little bit disappointing not to get that foothold of three or four goals. We tweaked things during the interval because we saw what the conditions were like and the lads took things onboard. We said we would still get chances in the second half because they (Ossett) would have to change their game a little bit and take gambles and risks. The first couple of opportunities of the second half came to us and we were hoping to get on the score sheet again because it would have made our lads more relaxed and comfortable. Consequently it was disappointing to concede the goal straight after half time but we kept on going and didn’t sink and the lads stuck to the task. Ossett had one shot from 40 yards which bounced off the bar and yes we’ve had a little bit of luck – but I thought we earned it. I always say you don’t make luck – you earn it and I thought we fully deserved all three points in the end.”
Gray said the club have still got goals to aim for: “We are half way through the season and although the first half hasn’t been good enough – we can change it around. We’ve got the second half to improve and we’ve got a semi final tie in the Newcastle Flooring Northumberland Senior Cup to look forward to – so there are still plenty of opportunities here.”
He concluded: “We’ve had some words this week and spoke as a group in training and addressed things which we need to do better. I thought we did do things better today but there is still room for improvement.”