By Brian Bennett

Ashington manager Marc Ellison looked on as his side conceded a late equaliser against NPL East Division table toppers Liversedge at the Meat Drunkery Clayborn Stadium on Saturday.

And afterwards, the boss admitted that he was disappointed following the 1-1 scoreline: 

“I’d have definitely taken a point before the game, away from home against a side sitting top of the league who have scored plenty of goals this season,” he said “But if I’m being completely honest, I find myself a little disappointed that we haven’t come away with all three points, and I think that says a lot about where this group is at now. A few weeks ago I was really questioning the players and the performances we were putting in. But over the last week of football, every single one of them has been fantastic, and they deserve a lot of credit for the way they’ve responded.”

Ellison reflected on a dour and uneventful first period: “I thought we looked a little leggy in the first half, if I’m being honest,” he added, “We weren’t getting close enough for the first and second balls like we did on Tuesday (against Garforth Town) and we were probably a little bit off it physically. That said, there were still some decent passages of play and we stayed in the game. The half-time message was really about getting a bit more belief into them because I genuinely thought there was something in it for us. We needed to be braver, believe in ourselves a little bit more and trust what we’d been doing. And if I’m being honest, I thought we deserved more than the point we’ve come away with.”

He continued: “They’re top of the league for a reason (Liversedge). They’re a good side and they’re very good at what they do, but I don’t think they caused us too many problems over the 90 minutes. Yes, we didn’t create anything that was really clear-cut either, but over the course of the game, in my opinion, we were the better side.”

The boss lauded his players: “I can’t sit here and complain about a point away from home against the team at the top of the league, but the fact I’m disappointed we haven’t won it tells you everything about the progress we’re making. We’re building performances every single week now, and that’s what we’ve been asking for. A few weeks ago, we were talking about the lack of consistency and standards. Now we’ve gone away to the league leaders, competed for 90 minutes, arguably been the better side and come away disappointed with a draw. That speaks volumes about the character of this group and the direction we’re heading in. I’m really proud of every single player today.”

He went on: “There’s still plenty we can improve on, but we’re starting to look like a team that belongs in these games rather than one that’s just trying to survive them. We’ll take the point, take the positives and keep building.”