By Brian Bennett
It was his first goal of the season – but Ben Sampson’s fantastic 20 yards lob against Heaton Stannington on Thursday will go down as another to add to his glowing collection.
It appears the midfielder only deals in extra special ‘goals’ – like the one he scored in the 5-0 win against Bishop Auckland two seasons ago which saw him lift the ‘goal of the season’ award.
Ten minutes from the end at Grounsell Park on Boxing Day, Ashington held a slender 2-1 lead – but had been reduced in number following Josh Gilchrist’s red card – when Sampson struck.
“I definitely meant it,” said the 26 year old afterwards, “At that point we were down to ten men and I’ve turned the lad and saw the ‘keeper off his line. I just thought to myself ‘give it a go’ and when the ball went into the top corner, I was absolutely thrilled to bits.”
Sampson was also delighted with the result: “I thought we deserved to win,” he said, “It was an early kick off, the sun was in everyone’s eyes, it was a warm morning and the pitch was heavy which made conditions difficult. They (Heaton Stannington) went ahead but weren’t creating loads of opportunities and we finally got the ball down and started to play. We were much the better team second half and I thought our quality shone through in the end.”
After playing the final 25 minutes a man short, Sampson said: “Playing with ten men can be difficult or sometimes it can be easier. We played against Ossett United recently who had a player sent off and breaking them down proved to be difficult. Today we stuck in and worked for each other as a group and we have got a great team spirit. We kept a good shape and caught them (Heaton Stannington) on the break with the third goal and I think that put the game to bed.”
Sampson gave his full support to the comment made by assistant manager Liam McIvor that the Colliers have turned a corner: “The boss (Nick Gray) has brought in some good players who are also great lads,” said Sampson who is based at Pegswood, “This is another win and we’re showing a bit of form and I agree with Liam (McIvor) when he says that it looks like we have turned a bit of a corner. We are now out of the drop zone and I’m hoping that we can kick on a little bit and have a good second half to the season.”
Assistant manager Liam McIvor said: “We need Ben to add goals to his game and he knows this. We talk about it all the time and even mentioned it just before he went onto the field as a substitute at Heaton Stannington. His goal was a wonder strike.”