By Brian Bennett
Ashington manager Marc Ellison was understandably disappointed after seeing his side go out of the FA Trophy on Saturday following a penalty shootout against fellow NPL East Division outfit Guisborough at Woodhorn Lane.
The game finished 1-1 after 90 minutes with Guisborough skipper James Frazer’s header in the opening minutes of the second period cancelling out Noah Cunningham’s first half strike. The visitors then cliched their place in the next round after winning 4-3 on penalties.
Ellison said : “It wasn’t the most exciting game of football I think anyone will watch this season, but after last week’s disappointing performance, I’m really pleased with the attitude and application we showed today. In my opinion, we probably should have won the game inside the 90 minutes. I thought we grew into the game as the afternoon went on and, considering the conditions, I thought we handled them well in both halves.”
He continued: “I know Matty (Alexander) has made a brilliant save in the first half, but again I think we could still have gone into the break two or maybe even three goals to the good with the chances we had. Then the start-of-the-second-half hoodoo strikes again, which is something we need to look at – they get one back and start putting a bit of pressure on us early doors, but to be fair to the lads, they got themselves together, sorted it out and, like I’ve already mentioned, I thought we got better as the game went on — both with and without the ball.”
Ellison spoke highly of his squad: “We had a really young side out today. I’m pretty sure Rossy (Karl Ross) was the only one in his mid-twenties, with Jack (Gibson), Jude (Cogdon), Oli (Thompson) and Noah (Cunningham) all teenagers, and the twins (Rory and Harry Powell) are only a year or two ahead of them as well. So I’m really pleased for all of them. They put a real shift in for each other and, at times, played some decent footy too. There was a lot more togetherness about us today, and that was important after last week. Obviously, penalties are a lottery and unfortunately this time we’ve come out on the wrong side of the shootout, which is disappointing.”
Josh Gilchrist stepped up to take Ashington’s fifth penalty knowing that he had to score – but whilst the striker put his foot through the ball and struck it with plenty of power, it went over the bar.
Later Gilchrist received some words of encouragement from his boss: “It’s not quite going for Josh at the moment and he’s beating himself up in there, but we have to remember how young he actually is,” said Ellison, “He’s been around for a while, so sometimes you forget that. We all know how good a player Josh is, and we’ll get around him as a group. Hopefully, the next chance he gets, he can get himself up and running for the season because there’s no doubt he has the ability to do it.”
Ellison concluded: “So, although we haven’t won the tie and we know there’s still plenty to improve on, I’d say I’m relatively pleased with the performance today. Most importantly, after last week, I wanted to see a reaction, and I got one. There’s plenty for us to work on, but today gives us something positive to build on.”