By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie
Ashington manager Nick Gray was clearly disappointed after his side had failed to pick up their first win of the season following a 0-0 draw against local rivals Blyth Town at Woodhorn Lane on Saturday.
Gray was irked about several facets of Ashington’s play but was clearly left frustrated after his side had failed to break down a Blyth outfit who were forced to play 40 plus minutes of the second half with ten men after Marcus Giles had been red carded for a second bookable offence.
Gray said afterwards: “I thought we were the better team for the majority of the game as I felt they (Blyth Town) never really hurt us and didn’t look a threat. First half I thought we contained them well as they have got one or two lively players who we kept quiet. We had a couple of great opportunities when we put the ball into good areas and if we had scored then the game would have changed. At the interval, I asked the players if they could just step it up a little bit and be a little bit tighter out of possession and a bit more aggressive in possession. Blyth had a man sent off for a second yellow card but we didn’t take advantage of that situation at all. I thought we were laboured and were too slow in possession; we didn’t get the ball to where we wanted it to go and we were taking too many touches – and when we did get the ball into wide areas, the quality of the delivery into the box wasn’t good enough. We didn’t work the ‘keeper either. We’ve had a couple of shots in the second half but they went wide of the post – and we are really struggling to score and create goals.”
He continued: “We tried to be aggressive and get the three points but we didn’t help ourselves in the second half then ironically the most clear cut chance fell to Blyth in the last minute but young ‘keeper Tyler Jones has made a great one on one save. So at the end of the day, it could have been a worse afternoon – and that’s what happens if you don’t take advantage of the opposition being at a numerical disadvantage.”
He added: “We need to have a bit more belief and desire and a bit more forward thinking when we get the ball in the middle third and top end third but on a positive note it’s a clean sheet and a point. However, looking at the circumstances and the bigger picture – and without being disrespectful to Blyth Town – we should be looking to take three points but we haven’t.”
For the final quarter hour, Gray brought on Ethan Bewley who had signed in midweek from Ebac Northern League first division outfit Birtley Town and Gray said: “Both Liam McIvor (assistant manager) and myself have known Ethan for a while and he’s been doing quite well at Birtley. Ethan will give us energy and he’ll score goals but to be fair it was a bit of a risk putting him on as substitute as he hadn’t even met the rest of the lads until today.”
The Colliers, who are without a game this Saturday (September 6), will now have a break in fixtures of almost a fortnight until they travel to face Consett on Friday (September 12).