By Brian Bennett

Ashington manager Nick Gray was ecstatic after his side came from behind to clinch a 2-1 victory over Bishop Auckland on Tuesday night.

And afterwards the boss said: “There are some happy faces in the dressing room – and I want to see happy faces more often! I’m delighted with the result. It was a great win and I thought we deserved it over the 90 minutes. It’s a good three points but it’ll be even better if we can get something from our game against Brighouse Town at Woodhorn Lane on Saturday. Our home form has got to be better. We’ve got 12 games left – six at home and six away – and if we get our home form right then we won’t have to come to away places where we are under the cosh at times. Bishops put balls into our box but we were brave. We headed a lot out and put our bodies on the line and as a group and as a unit, we dug in.”

He continued: “I thought Bishop Auckland started the game well. They got their noses in front and caused us some problems but as the match wore on we dealt with them then got the equaliser before half time.”

He added: “Second half we got into some good areas and had a couple of good chances to get another goal and eventually when we went 2-1 up, we had something to hold onto. I thought each and every one of my players was great. You look at the league table and you worry about it but if we continue to play like we have done tonight I think we’ll be alright. Now we’ve got to take the performance and result into Saturday’s home game against Brighouse.”

Two minutes after Gray had introduced Ryan Donaldson, the former Morpeth Town and Blyth Spartans player came up with the winner and the boss said: “I know the quality Ryan has got and I’m delighted for him. But I’ve been telling the players for weeks that if you don’t shoot you don’t score. Ryan did and hopefully he’ll get some confidence from it. After he came on he looked after the ball well and his game management was good. That’s what you want from your subs. They all came on and made an impact.