By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie
The look on his face said it all! Nick Gray was delighted on Tuesday night after his side had salvaged a draw with a goal by Harry Powell in stoppage time against Bishop Auckland.
And afterwards, the Woodhorn Lane boss said: “When you’re 1-0 down after 92 minutes, you’re happy to take a point – and I thought it was the least we deserved. We had a disappointing result at Bridlington on Saturday but tonight I thought we started the game on the front foot. We asked questions of them (Bishop Auckland) and did really well and could have been one or two nil up. They have scored early doors and I was disappointed with how we conceded the goal. However our reaction was spot on – it was first class by the lads and they got their just rewards in the end.”
He continued: “The message to the lads at half time was to keep going – that was the hardest part. We thought there would be a reaction from them (Bishop Auckland) but our lads were proactive the whole time and I think it would have been a travesty if we hadn’t equalised to be honest. We were always hoping to get a bit of luck and we did in the end. The cross by Craig Spooner made the goal but the performance was really positive. If we had lost 1-0 it would have been no points out of six and the lads would have been dejected. You talk about getting your first points and the key word is consistency because the teams who do well in this league are those who play consistently. We have got it in our locker – we’ve just got to do it more often and have a bit more belief in ourselves.”
He added: “We have got a young squad – with some senior players mixed in – and there is still a bit of naivety but I thought the lads gave their all tonight and the fans showed their appreciation at the end. Speaking to some of the Bishop Auckland players coming off the pitch they said that we were by far the better side – and that’s credit to our lads against a very good outfit by the way.”
Ashington are without a game on Saturday and Gray said: “We’ll train on Thursday. There’s a lot of games coming up and I always try to balance home time, recovery, training time and game time and when they are here so long as they work hard they will get their rewards. We have got a big match away to Dunston next Tuesday (August 19) which we know will not be easy but if we play like we did tonight then we have got nothing to fear -and that’s not being disrespectful. We have still got lots to work on and as long as we keep believing about what we can do and what we need to do we’ll be alright but if you can’t take any belief out of that performance tonight then you shouldn’t be in football.” After Saturday’s defeat at Bridlington Town, Gray had looked for a reaction from his players and he added: “I thought the response the lads gave tonight was first class. I couldn’t have asked for any more. But what I ask of them now is to do it again and again.”