By Brian Bennett
Ashington manager Marc Ellison pulled no punches when he spoke in the wake of his sides’ 3-1 defeat against Bridlington Town at Woodhorn Lane on Saturday.
The boss talked about his players showing ‘a lack of courage’ and said that performances like in the second half which were witnessed by a crowd of over 400 ‘cannot be tolerated anymore.’
The Colliers frittered away chances in the first period before the visitors took the lead through Tom Allan. Although home skipper Karl Ross equalised shortly before half time with a fantastic strike, the coast side dominated after the break and deservedly took the points courtesy of goals from substitute Ifeanyi Nnenanya and Ben Tweed.
Speaking after the contest, Ellison said: “First half, I didn’t actually think we were that bad. We had the lion’s share of possession and, yes, we were sloppy at times, but in my opinion we could have been three up inside the first 15 or 20 minutes and it might’ve been a different story. Scotty (Scott Lowery) has had a free header and completely missed it. Macca (Tom McIntyre) has put one over the bar from inside the six-yard box and Gilly (Josh Gilchrist) has danced through a few challenges inside the box and still somehow missed. Then, before you know it, we’re 1-0 down from a free header scored by, ironically, probably the tallest bloke on the pitch (Tom Allan).”
“To our credit, we responded. We got them pegged back and Rossy (Karl Ross) has scored an absolute worldie to get us level going into half-time. At that point, you go into the dressing room in fairly high spirits. More of the same, and it’s a great opportunity to put three points on the board. So much so that they made a triple substitution – so we were definitely doing something right. But what happened after that, I’m pretty much lost for words. We’ve got a real problem in both boxes at the minute. We cannot keep giving goals away the way we do, missing the chances we miss, and then expect to get anything from a game of football. But the most disappointing thing for me is the lack of courage when something doesn’t quite go to plan. We might as well have asked the referee to blow the final whistle when they scored the second, because barring two or three of them, the rest just packed in, went hiding or just looked completely lost. And that is not acceptable.”
He added: “It’s not the first time already this season that we’ve been okay – or even better than okay – in the first half, only to completely fold in the second. So now I’m starting to look at myself. Am I missing something? Am I not motivating them enough to complete a full 90 minutes? But the majority of the players who are here now were also here at the start of last season, and we’re starting to show similar signs to what we saw when the previous manager was here – I think I’m maybes starting to share some of the same frustrations. It’s been a tough transition from being a player to becoming a manager. These are lads who have been your mates, and then suddenly you’re standing in front of them asking more from them. Maybe I’ve allowed those friendships to cloud my judgement a little too often. But that second-half performance is not a reflection of me as a person or as a player, and it definitely will not be a reflection of my football team.”
He went on: “So if things need to change, they need to change now – and they need to change quickly. Because what we saw in that second half cannot be tolerated anymore. I don’t expect us to be battering teams every week. We know who we are and where we are as a football club. But what I do expect is 110% commitment from lads who want to back each other up, play with a smile on their face, and have enough about them to give me, their teammates and this football club something to be proud of. At the moment, we’ve got too many who are nowhere near the standards expected when it comes to the non-negotiables of the game. And, if I’m honest, it’s getting a bit boring having to repeat the same things every week. If we can’t or aren’t prepared to the basic of basics correctly or with any real purpose or desire we’re in big bother. And that may sound harsh as we’re a month into the season – but our standards need to massively, massively improve.”