By Brian Bennett

Ashington interim boss Marc Ellison was naturally disappointed after his side went down to a single goal defeat against Hallam at Sandygate on Saturday.

Blustery conditions spoilt the clash which was settled in the fourth minute when Leon Salmon-Howarth netted with a header at the near post.

Ellison said: “It was a tough game, but fair play to Hallam — they got their noses in front early and did what they needed to do to see it out. In the first half especially, I thought they handled the conditions better than we did and just showed that bit more desire to win the game.”

He continued: “We’ve had a potential penalty turned down and hit the post twice, so on another day we might’ve had the rub of the green go our way. That said, I don’t think we quite reached the level we know we’re capable of. We huffed and puffed, but the off-the-ball work that allows us to play the kind of football we want just wasn’t where it needed to be.”

He added: “We know we’ve got four massive games left starting against Heaton Stannington at home on Monday. Hopefully we can get a good crowd behind us and put in a positive performance to get us where we need to be. Since we’ve come in, I feel like we’ve made a lot of positive strides, but it’s about consistency now. We know it’s in there, and I’ll take it on myself to make sure we get it out of the group over these next four games, whatever it takes.”

The boss gave a special mention to the travelling fans: “Once again, the support today was outstanding and massively appreciated by everyone,” he said, “We’ll be doing everything we can to give them something to shout about in the weeks ahead.”