By Brian Bennett
On-loan teenage striker Louis Burns grabbed the headlines after scoring Ashington’s winning goal in a 2-1 result against Lincoln United on Saturday – within a minute of coming on as a substitute.
Earlier Liam Henderson had put the Colliers in front before Kane Hutchinson-Wilkes equalised but despite bringing the three points back to Wansbeck, the Woodhorn Lane outfit remain in the bottom three of the East Division of the Pitching In Northern Premier League.
However seasoned striker Henderson believes Nick Gray’s side are improving all the time.
The 35 year old said after the game: “I think our last two performances – for 65 minutes against Garforth Town and probably 90 minutes today at Lincoln that we’re not too far away from turning the corner. Sometimes all it takes is a bit of luck – and I thought we got some today. Obviously it was another mistake and a poor goal which we conceded but if we can eliminate the errors, we can push on.”
A minute into the second half, Henderson struck the woodwork with an acrobatic overhead kick and he added: “We had enough chances but the longer the game goes on you start to think it’s going to be one of those days especially the run which we have been on. For my goal it was just about having the composure to get my head down and make sure that I got a clean strike. There were a lot of lads on the line but I was lucky the ball hit the back of the net. That’s two goals in my last two games and I’d like to think that the run will hopefully continue – but the main thing today was the three points because we massively needed a win.”
Gateshead-born Henderson praised the army of Ashington fans who made the round trip of over 340 miles: “It’s an absolute pleasure to see them come down in their numbers,” he said, “It’s a long way to come so hats off to them on a dreadful day weather wise. As usual we went over to thank them after the final whistle and it’s huge having their support – and especially the run which we’ve been on. We can only as a squad of management and players thank them and ask them to keep doing it because it does make a difference.”
On Saturday (November 29), Ashington are at home to Brighouse Town and Henderson added: “You can see the performances coming – it’s just turning that corner results wise. It’s nice to get the monkey off the back because the win on Saturday has been a long time coming.”