By Brian Bennett
Ashington manager Nick Gray says his players have got to ‘turn up’ for two big games over the Easter period following Saturday’s 1-0 defeat against Garforth Town.
The boss takes his side to face already relegated Sheffield FC on Good Friday before the Colliers host local rivals Heaton Stannington at Woodhorn Lane on Monday – but he is becoming increasingly frustrated not knowing what kind of display he will be see from his outfit: “We don’t know what we are going to get from the players and as a result we are getting Jekyll and Hyde performances,” he said after the visitors clinched all three points following an own goal by ‘keeper Ryan Catterick: “We seem as if we are going to turn the corner then we start to go back. Today there was nothing in the game and I didn’t think either team deserved to win it and it’s a hard one to take. Ryan (Catterick) has made a mistake and held his hand up but to be fair to Ryan he has done smashing for us since we signed him. However, I thought there were only about three or four players who did their jobs for us today – and you cannot win games of football with that. You’ve got to take responsibility yourself and I think that’s where the game is going a little bit. People always look to blame someone else, but you’ve got to look in the mirror first. Did we do enough to win the game? I don’t think we did but they (Garforth) got their noses in front, and we haven’t tested their goalkeeper nor did we use the extra man after they had their defender sent off.”
He continued: “They had two decent chances in the first half but for me on our home turf we’ve got to take the game to them. No disrespect but we’ve got a lot more to play for than them. We got into some good areas but made poor decisions, were poor with our passing and got caught up with poor offsides so it’s a disappointing day. Now it goes down to another week where you are thinking ‘what’s going to happen?’ We’ve got the quality to do it but at this time of the year it’s not about the quality – it’s about the mentality of winning games of football which will get you over the line and we have got to look at ourselves and see if we have got that.”
He went on: “We have a big weekend ahead of us. If we had got three points today, we would have been happier, but we have got two teams around us to play (Sheffield FC and Heaton Stannington) who are also fighting for points. Unfortunately, Sheffield have been relegated but that means nothing. I know they will be up for the game, and they will play with freedom. Our players have got to know the importance of next week and make sure they are ‘at it’ from the start. We had enough quality to win the game today but we didn’t do enough. That’s down to us as a unit and I’m really disappointed – but the league table doesn’t lie.”
Ashington played against ten men from the 53rd minute when Harry Viggars was sent off and Gray added: “We didn’t make use of the extra man – it’s as simple as that. They filled holes whilst we didn’t move the ball or put three or four passes together. We weren’t aggressive enough, we just laboured, and we’ve got to get ourselves right. If we look after ourselves, we’ll be fine – but it doesn’t come easy.”
He concluded: “Squad wise Harrison Clark and Ryan Donaldson both returned after injury and hopefully there will be one or two more to follow.”