By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie
Ashington manager Nick Gray has hailed Karl Ross after the skipper turned in an ‘outstanding’ display in the Colliers 3-2 win over Ossett United on Saturday.
Although Ryan Donaldson got the nod as the supporters Player of the match, Gray said afterwards: “I thought Karl (Ross) was outstanding. He emphasised what playing for Ashington is all about. He’s played in a couple of roles today (right back and left back) which were unusual for him but he gave everything. He led from the front and you could visibly see he had taken a couple of knocks but he didn’t want to come off.”
The long serving Ross said: “Obviously we’ve got a couple of injuries and the gaffer (Nick Gray) said he thought I could do a job in those positions. I started at right back today but over the years I’ve played in several positions for the club.”
On the victory – Ashington’s third on the trot – Ross said: “It was a great win. We said before the game that three points would get us out of the bottom four where we have been for a while so it was an incentive for us. However we’ve created a mentality where we are winning matches and are on a run of form and we’ve made Woodhorn Lane a hard place for visiting teams to come. Today wasn’t the best of games – it was scrappy. We know we can do a lot better but at the end of the day we won and that’s all that counts.”
The 27 year old continued: “Ossett are a good side and they posed a threat from set pieces and long throw-ins. We are not one of the biggest teams in the league but I thought we dealt with things well. It was disappointing that after they (Ossett) went down to ten men, we conceded an equaliser and it was a case of regrouping and going again. We knew another chance would come our way because we were playing some good attacking football at times and after going 3-2 up, we rode it out in the end.”
Cramlington-based Ross concluded: “We’ve got a busy period ahead of us over Christmas and have got games against local sides. We want the local bragging rights and are going into the matches full of confidence off the back of three good wins and our aim is to continue to keep moving up the table.”