By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

Ashington manager Nick Gray is delighted after National League North leaders South Shields agreed to extend a loan deal involving teenage striker Louis Burns for another month.

Gray said: “Louis has done smashing for us. He’s come in under difficult circumstances – and it’s always difficult especially for a young lad to slot in when you are needing results. He’s still learning the game and is obviously keen to play every minute he can but I think he’s enjoying it and we are enjoying having him. I still think there’s a lot more to come from him as he improves but I love his attitude, mannerism and tenacity. He’s not frightened to get on the ball and in some of the games I think he’s had the most touches. He knows he needs to work on a couple of things – but he’s prepared to put the hard yards in.”

The boss continued: “We’ve had games called off which is disappointing but you cannot do anything about the weather. I had no hesitation in asking South Shields if we could extend Louis’s loan and I think he has earned it to be fair. He obviously wants to start every match but some games I’ve maybes went for a little bit more experience. He’s still very young but is getting a lot of good minutes here. The loan is for another month which is credit to Louis himself and I’m hoping he’ll get some games under his belt. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank South Shields and their manager Carl Magnay for their co-operation.”

Durham-born Burns said: “I’m happy because I’ll get more experience which is what I want. I’m enjoying being here with the lads and we’ve been on a good run but now we need to build on it and keep going. Despite games being postponed, we are still training and when the weather improves, there’ll be that excitement building up for the first game back for us to go straight away.”