By Brian Bennett
Maybes he was just being coy – but Jamie Holmes was certainly not over egging the goal which he scored in Ashington’s fully merited 3-1 win over promotion chasing Emley at Woodhorn Lane on Saturday.
The 27 year-old striker joined the Colliers a couple of weeks ago on a dual registration with Ebac Northern League first division side North Shields and ironically made his first outing when he went on as a substitute in the away clash against Emley in West Yorkshire.
He was handed his full debut the following week in the 2-2 draw against Belper Town – in a game which saw him have a weak penalty saved by ‘keeper Kieran Preston.
Now Newcastle-born Holmes is hoping that Saturday’s wonder goal – a sumptuous right footer from 25 yards into the top corner of the net – will atone for his blemish from the spot: “It was one of my better strikes,” he said afterwards, “It was a good set by Liam Henderson who laid the ball off nicely for me to run onto. However, those ones can easily go over the bar so I just tried to get over it enough and when I hit it, I could see that the ball was going to beat the ‘keeper. I was naturally delighted because it put us 2-1 ahead in the game – and for me it makes up for that penalty I missed the other week against Belper Town.”
Holmes – who is based at Walkergate – said the players found the conditions challenging: “The first half was very difficult,” he said, “We were against the wind – so to go in at the break 1-0 down wasn’t that bad. We started the second half very well and had the wind on our backs – and as soon as we scored the first, I knew we were going to get one or two more. It was a massive result but the lads have got to kick on. The club are still only three points above the drop zone so they still need to win a few more.”
Holmes – a marine engineer – is beginning to get his fitness back as he explained: “I hadn’t played football for four months so I felt a bit sluggish in my first couple of games but I feel a bit sharper now. All of the lads are sound – I knew most of them anyway as well as the management team of Nick (Gray) and Liam (McIvor).”
Boss Nick Gray said: “It was a great goal by Jamie. I said to him that as a group this year we haven’t worked the goalkeepers enough. He’s hit it sweetly – admittedly wind assisted but what a strike – even if there had been three goalkeepers in goal they aren’t going to save that!” Gray continued: “Jamie has got loads of ability but he’s got to have a bit more belief in himself.”