By Brian Bennett

Jamie Holmes made his debut for Ashington in their 1-0 defeat at promotion chasing Emley on Saturday.

The 27-year-old striker – who plays for Ebac Northern League first division outfit North Shields – has signed for the Colliers on a dual registration.

Newcastle-born Holmes – a marine engineer – said: “I’m home for a couple of months now and when I heard about Ashington’s interest I thought ‘why not?’ I already know most of the lads plus the management team of Nick Gray and Liam McIvor so I was happy to put pen to paper.”

Holmes, who is based in Wallsend, came on for the start of the second half at Emley and said: “I thought we started well in the second half but to be fair, I didn’t touch the ball much. It wasn’t that bad of a performance, but we need to be better in the final third.”