By Brian Bennett
Ashington manager Marc Ellison thought Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw against local rivals Morpeth Town was ‘probably a fair result’ in the end.
The Colliers trailed to a goal just past the half hour mark from Morpeth skipper Jeff Henderson – who was sent off on the stroke of half time following an off-the-ball incident – but Ashington lynchpin Paddy Almond scored a fabulous equaliser in the 75th minute.
Ellison said: “I think, in the end, a draw was probably a fair result. I was quite frustrated with the first half, if I’m being honest. I didn’t think we really got going at all. I thought Morpeth looked like they wanted to win the game a little bit more than we did, and that’s something we had to address at half-time. I didn’t see what happened with the sending-off, so I can’t really comment too much on that, but obviously it came right on the stroke of half-time and, when you’ve got that extra man for the second half, you’ve got to try and use it to your advantage.”
He continued: “The message at half-time was pretty simple really – we had to liven up, we had to show a bit more urgency, and we couldn’t come back in after 90 minutes without something to show for it. We knew we’d probably have the majority of the ball with the extra man, and that was the case. We kept knocking on the door and eventually got the equaliser. It was a great finish from Paddy (Almond), and then you think, with 15 minutes or so left, surely we can go again and maybe nick another one, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.”
He added: “So, yeah, I think a point is probably fair in the end. It’s a good point on the board in our first league game and we’ll celebrate every point we get this season. Every point is a point closer to where we want to be. It’s also another home game unbeaten, which I think takes us back to February when we lost to Emley, so that’s something we’re really pleased with. We’ve spoken about making this place a really difficult place for teams to come and pick points up, and that has to continue. We have to pick up as many points as we possibly can at home. And the supporters are a massive part of that. They were brilliant again tonight, and hopefully they’ll keep turning up, keep getting behind us and keep making plenty of noise.”