By Brian Bennett

Liam Wotherspoon made his debut for Ashington on Saturday after coming on as a first half substitute in the away game against Bishop Auckland which the Colliers won 1-0.

After putting pen to paper, the 29 year old said: “One of the big reasons I signed was because there are a good few lads at the club who I know really well – and I’ve also known manager Nick Gray and his assistant Liam McIvor for a while. It’s a good club. It looks like there is a good side here and hopefully we can go on a decent run between now and the end of the season.”

Speaking half an hour after the clash at the Vest Construction Stadium, Newcastle-born Wotherspoon – who is a branch sales manager – said it was a ‘great result:’ “I’ve been following Ashington’s results and they’ve been doing really well,” he added, “The second half today we just dug in, fought for every first and second ball and looked after each other whilst staying tight and compact. I thought we were brilliant and it was a great result.”

West Denton-based Wotherspoon – who revealed that his favourite position is playing behind the striker as a number ten – said he was happy with his contribution after he had  replaced the injured Josh Gilchrist ten minutes before the end of the first half: “I was trying to get off as many second balls as I could when I went up to join Hendo (Liam Henderson). Then it was trying to make sure that we defended really well because pretty much for the whole of the second half it was a case of ‘holding in’ and making sure that we hung onto the lead. We had a couple of chances at the end as well if only we had been a bit cleaner with our passing but we won the game. I was happy with my contribution and it was good to get the first game under my belt.”