By Brian Bennett

Ashington interim boss Marc Ellison kept his postmatch comments to a minimum after the Colliers had played out an uninspiring goalless draw against Grimsby Borough on Saturday.

The Mariners arrived at Woodhorn Lane one point behind the Wansbeck outfit but in truth, the game had a 0-0 look about it with the way things panned out in the opening half.

Ellison said afterwards: “In all honesty, it was a bit of a damp squib. We played nowhere near to the levels we’ve set in the last couple of games. However, a point is a point and we’re a point better off than we were at 3 o’clock.”

Midway through the second half, home skipper Karl Ross saw red for the second time this season for a tackle but Ellison said: “Although we seemed a little flat today compared to the previous games, the red card seemed to spur us on a little bit and to be fair we looked more likely to nick something after Rossy’s sending off.”

He continued: “I’ll keep my comments short and sweet and I don’t want to talk about officials but we probably could’ve had a penalty in the first half and we had a goal from Louis Burns chalked off for offside in the second period. Saying that, there is also an argument that Grimsby could’ve had a penalty as well. There’s nothing to speak about really so we’ll take the positives of a point, train well in the week and prepare to be ready for Friday night’s trip to face Newton Aycliffe.”