By Brian Bennett
Ashington won for the first time in eight league games with a 2-1 victory over Ossett United on Saturday – and manager Nick Gray and his assistant Liam McIvor were united in their postmatch thoughts.
Gray said: “I’m thrilled for everyone at the club really, the fans, the committee, the staff but more importantly the players. The win has been a long time coming and to be honest we’ve been close on a couple of occasions. However I thought that Tuesday night against Matlock Town – even though we lost the game 3-2 – gave us a bit of realisation that if we started believing in ourselves we can pick up some points. Today we were very good from the first minute to the last although it was soured a little bit near the end when they (Ossett) scored but it would have been criminal if they had gone on to equalise. I had a gut feeling before the game and lucky things turned out well for us.”
McIvor said: “I thought we were excellent and pressed them (Ossett) well. Our intensity levels were really good today and we took the game to them – something which I haven’t seen us do many times this season. The likes of Matlock Town, Bishop Auckland and Middlesbrough u21’s came to us at Woodhorn Lane with intensity – and we lift our game when we play against better teams – but it was about time we started taking the game to our opponents and we did that today. We got what we deserved but now we’ve got to kick on and put points on the board. We know we are a good team and we have got some good players in the changing room but the position we are in makes us look as if we are a bad team.”
Before the contest Ashington were on the bottom of the East Division table in the Pitching In Northern Premier League but the win lifted them up four places to 18th.
Gray added: “To be fair, I haven’t looked at the table for the last two or three weeks because I knew we hadn’t won a game so I knew where we would be – and people love reminding me of it. But listen – it’s a long season and we’ve had a tricky start. People like Scott Lowery, Ben Sampson, Michael Colquhoun and goalkeeper Matty Alexander weren’t in the squad today whilst Tyler Jones has come in from Newcastle United and has been brilliant for us in goal. Today he stood up well and has make a fantastic save with the score at 0-0.”
Gray continued: “Ossett had about three chances in the game. They scored a good goal near the end but it was still disappointing to concede and with five minutes of time added on all I wanted was to hear the final whistle. It would have been an injustice if we hadn’t won the game and I’m delighted. We said it was going to be a big week with back to back home games to follow after today and we’ve made the best start possible. We were backed by supporters who came along this afternoon which was great – but to be honest we haven’t performed for them until today and the lads need to start to do that to show them (the supporters) what good players they are. Hopefully the players have now got belief and confidence which will do them the world of good. I said recently that we’ve got a good squad on paper – but paper doesn’t win you anything on a football pitch. Let’s hope we have turned the corner – and I’m confident that we have – but football is a funny game and let’s see what we are saying this time next Saturday. I thought against a good Ossett side that we made them look pretty average – that’s not being disrespectful – but I don’t think they can have many complaints.”
McIvor added: “I didn’t think we were that bad in the first half against Matlock Town last week because we matched them for tempo and no-one had a bad game – it was just the goals we gave away. Today we have done really well – but when they scored towards the end, it was a long five minutes of time added on when you are desperate for three points. For the first time this season, our subs bench was the strongest we have had in terms of strength and depth. We have got 18-19 players and it’s time for us to kick on.”