By Brian Bennett
Ryan Wombwell scored for the second game in a row for Ashington as they clinched a 3-1 win over Beverley Town in their NPL East Division clash on Saturday.
The 25 year-old struck the equaliser from a Josh Gilchrist corner in Thursday’s Newcastle Flooring Northumberland Senior Cup tie against Newcastle University which the Colliers won after a penalty shootout. Then on Saturday, Jude Cogdon swung over a free-kick which Wombwell headed firmly home.
Afterwards, the versatile Wombwell – who can operate as a defender or in midfield – spoke about his ‘double’: “Both were off set pieces to be fair,” he said, “Jude (Cogdon) and Josh (Gilchrist) have both got great deliveries with set plays and there’s probably been too many occasions this season where they’ve put the ball in and we haven’t got on the end of them. So when the ball fell to me in the last two games I was delighted to score both. On Saturday the wind probably helped because the ball came to me with a bit of pace on it and I didn’t have to do much but head it and it went in.”
Newcastle-born Wombwell praised his team-mates after they fell behind: “I thought we started the game alright to be fair,” he added, “Obviously conditions played a part and it was tough out there. The wind was probably stronger than we thought it was going to be and obviously they went 1-0 ahead which was disappointing. However, I thought our reaction was really good because when things have gone against us in the past, it has let us down and we have folded.”
Wombwell, who is based in Lemington, continued: “The third goal (scored by Liam Henderson) was massive and to be fair we said in the changing room that it was freezing cold outside and it was important that we started the second half well. 2-1 is a tricky scoreline because they (Beverley) could come out and have a reaction and it can go against you but scoring early did help and take the pressure off a little bit. To be fair we didn’t quite go on from there and kick on. Going 3-1 up so early, we dug in but I thought we could have gone on and put the game to bed.”
He went on: “It was a huge win – 100 per cent. You look at the league table and I think West Auckland were down around us a few weeks ago but they’ve jumped up to eighth place with a good run and if you can do that it can lift you. However, our win today has got to be the start of a run for us and we’ve got to take it into next week (at Hallam). We spoke about the cup game against Newcastle University last Thursday which we won on penalties, today (v Beverley Town) and next Saturday (v Hallam) being three massive must-win games and in the league matches that a point wasn’t enough – we had to get all three. It’ll be the same again on Saturday but if we have the same attitude which we had today, we should be okay.”