By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie
Nick Gray didn’t have to speak about being disappointed and frustrated after his side had played out a 1-1 draw against high fliers North Ferriby at Woodhorn Lane on Saturday – the expression on his face said it all!
After the visitors had been reduced in number following Louis Kirk’s red card two minutes into the second half, Josh Gilchrist fired the Colliers in front but the ten men of Ferriby went back home with a point as a cool finish by Charlie Clements with a little over ten minutes remaining levelled the scores.
A furious Gray commented: “One hundred per cent it was two points dropped today and what I will say is that when it went to 1-1, I thought they (North Ferriby) were more likely to score again than us. The game was there for the taking from the first minute of the second half right the way through. The sending off obviously helped us and we got our noses in front but missed some good chances. We still gave silly free kicks away even though we talk about not doing that and to be fair our ‘keeper Tyler Jones has made two unbelievable saves from set plays.”
He continued: “We gave them (North Ferriby) a goal by over playing in the wrong area and people have got to learn. When they went down to ten men, they worked harder than us – and that shouldn’t happen because we have got to raise our game. We made wrong decisions and played sideways and backwards passes too much and invited them on. Credit to them, they worked hard and got the equaliser but for me it was avoidable.”
Chances were at a premium in a dull opening period. It was past the quarter hour mark before Lewis Dennison missed out with a close range header for North Ferriby – before Liam Henderson fluffed his lines when he stroked wide of the upright: “Liam said he should have scored after what was a good move,” added Gray, “I thought we began the game slowly but grew into the half as it progressed. We got more possession but didn’t use the ball wisely enough and at half time I said to the lads ‘let’s look after the ball a bit better’ – and we started the second half okay. We got our noses in front and with no disrespect to the opposition, when you are 1-0 up against ten men you should control the game but we didn’t. That was disappointing and we’ve got to learn from it. It’s a point more than we had before kick-off but I do feel it was two points dropped.”
Ashington travel to face Newcastle University on Thursday night (October 23) in the Newcastle Flooring Northumberland Senior Cup and Gray added: “It’s a one-off game and we’ve got to make sure that we’re ‘at it’ and focussed. We’ll dust ourselves down and prepare for the match but it won’t be easy. It’s a competition where the final is played at Newcastle United’s St James’ Park and all players relish the opportunity of playing there. With that incentive, if people can’t raise their games then they shouldn’t be in non league football.”