By Brian Bennett
Ashington manager Marc Ellison admitted that he was massively disappointed with his sides’ 2-2 draw against Stocksbridge Park Steels at Bracken Moor on Saturday.
Benji Shodeinde fired the Colliers ahead in the first period and Josh Gilchrist added a second after the break. However Steels’ substitute Josiah Dyer came off the bench to score twice in the final ten minutes with the equaliser coming from the penalty spot in time added on.
Ellison said: “Obviously to be 0-2 up and only end up coming away with a point is massively disappointing. In the first half we were nowhere near our best again, but after a few discussions at half time I thought we were a lot better in the second half. I’m gutted for the lads because they’ve put a real shift in and, for large periods, looked comfortable. Yes, the first goal we conceded needs to be dealt with a lot better, but even then, for the next 10 minutes or so, I didn’t really feel troubled.”
The boss then touched on the penalty incident when ‘keeper Matty Alexander was penalised after he had collided with home sub Thomas Marshall: “I’ll need to watch the game back to see the penalty again, but how a player can have a shot, miss the target, and Matty’s momentum then takes him into the player and it’s given as a penalty is beyond me,” he said, “The referee didn’t have a great game, in my opinion, and there was definitely more than one other incident that could have changed the outlook of the game earlier. However, it’s not a blame game. We can only control the controllable situations we find ourselves in, and we didn’t do that for at least one of the goals conceded.”
He added: “So yes, we’re bitterly disappointed not to take away the three points because it would have been a brilliant win for us, but I’m proud of the lads, especially with quite a few key players missing. We’ll take the positives from a point on the road, which we would have taken before the game, but ultimately it’s a little bit bittersweet. It’s another point on the board and we’ll celebrate every one we pick up.”
New signing from Redcar Athletic, Bryan Taylor was forced off at half time with an injury and Ellison said: “We’ll have to assess Bryan in the week. It doesn’t look great and I think he may have pulled his hamstring, but we should have a few more bodies back for Wednesday at Guisborough, which is going to be another really tough game.”