By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie
Ashington striker Josh Gilchrist hit double figures for the season on Saturday when he scored a brace which helped his side to a convincing 4-1 win over Brighouse Town.
And afterwards the 22 year old admitted that wearing the number nine shirt is a big responsibility: “From a personal point of view, things are going well for me at the moment and I’m really enjoying it,” he said, “I seem to be in the right place at the right time and it’s a big role playing a number nine because you are expected to score goals. I think every now and then that I’m creeping up and scoring the goals which is the most important thing I can do.”
Wallsend-born Gilchrist, who is a car salesman, continued: “You always have targets in your mind but it’s pretty much a case of me trying to score in every game and play as well as I can for the team. I’ve set myself a target and there are still plenty of games left – so there are opportunities to score more goals and to help the lads out.”
On Saturday, Gilchrist netted the first from the penalty spot and the second in the last minute of the 90. He said: “I was pretty much settled in my mind what I was going to do with the penalty – it’s a case of putting the ball down and picking my spot. For the second goal, Wilson Kneeshaw has done well because he’s up against a strong lad. He’s managed to beat him with a bit of pace and skill and then it’s about me getting in between the two goalposts. I could have stayed out on the edge of the box but I thought if I continue my run, all Wilson had to do was slide the ball across which he did and it was a nice easy finish.”
On the game itself, Gilchrist said: “Today was a good win for us. We started off pretty slow, but we grew into the game and then dominated for much of the it. We just didn’t move the ball quick enough in the first half but manager Nick Gray and his assistant Liam McIvor told us that we needed to do things a bit quicker and with a bit more urgency. That’s what we did and we ended up winning the game nice and easy.”