By Brian Bennett
Central defender Chris Reid popped up to score a precious goal in Ashington’s 2-0 win over Brighouse Town in West Yorkshire on Saturday.
Reid’s calm and assured finish – which any striker would have been proud of – came midway through the second half with the final outcome confirming the Colliers their place in the East Division of the Pitching In Northern Premier League next season.
The Woodhorn Lane outfit have been in and around the relegation drop zone and the 36 year old said afterwards: “The first feeling is one of relief. We all had belief that we would stay up but to get over the line is sometimes easier said than done. I actually thought we played some really good football in the first half and we created seven glorious opportunities. But what happens is, the further into the game it goes and they keep bobbling wide, you start thinking ‘maybes it isn’t our day.’
Reid – who was born and who is based in North Shields – described his goal as being ‘really important:’ “When I saw the ‘keeper coming towards me, my thoughts were ‘just don’t miss,’ he said, “I always open up but the ‘keeper had closed that angle down so the only thing I could do in my head was to take the ball around him and he gave me the opportunity to tap it in and I did. I’ve scored some good goals in my career but in terms of the time and what it meant in the context of the game, it was a really important goal. I was delighted. When I came to the club, the one thing we all had on our agendas was to make sure we stayed in the league and everyone to a man deserved that – that’s not just the players – that’s everyone behind the scenes as well.”
Reid was happy with a clean sheet: “We have all defended properly,” he added, “The basis of a good team is clean sheets. It wasn’t pretty at times when we drew a couple of games 0-0 and we weren’t clinical in front of goal – and it started to feel like that today. However, I thought everyone was brilliant. We didn’t know what was happening elsewhere – we just had to focus on ourselves and win the game – and we did that.”