By Brian Bennett
Ashington manager Marc Ellison was delighted with his side – even though he admitted that they were not firing on all cylinders – after a 3-1 win over Beverley Town at Woodhorn Lane on Saturday.
With Storm Boelo wreaking havoc up and down the country, it was credit to all concerned that this game not only started but got finished as Ellison acknowledged afterwards: “It was a big three points,” he said, “It wasn’t the best game in the world because I think the conditions played their part for both teams. I’ve just said to the players in the dressing room that we’ve probably played better and lost. It wasn’t our best performance but we‘ve dug in and taken three points – and that’s all that matters.”
Ellison admitted that he didn’t want to hear the half time whistle: “First half we started slowly and I thought until they scored, that we weren’t really at our best. The movement wasn’t quite there but once we conceded we seemed to perk up a little bit and I think half time probably came at the right time for them (Beverley). We seemed to have the bit between our teeth for the last 15 minutes or so and if there had been another 10-15 minutes, we probably would have scored another couple as I thought we had them on the ropes.”
Ellison thought his side should have been 1-0 up – before the Beavers broke the deadlock at the other end: “Five minutes before they went ahead, I thought Oli (Thompson) has probably got to score after he’s gone through one on one with only the ‘keeper to beat,” he said, “I don’t know if Oli has had a bit of a nose bleed with too much time to think about it and been foiled by their ‘keeper then Josh Gilchrist missed the target with the follow up chance – so we should have been in front. However, after going behind, the reaction from us was brilliant and it was two great deliveries from Dean Briggs and Jude Cogdon which set up the two goals for Josh Gilchrist and Ryan Wombwell respectively.”
Four minutes into the second half, Liam Henderson added Ashington’s third and Ellison added: “It may sound strange but I don’t know if we scored the third goal too early as daft as it sounds. I wanted us to push on and score four or five (goals) only I thought we dropped off and took our foot off the gas when we should have got after them a bit more. But listen – we’ve got three points so there’s no complaints.”
The boss was ‘happy’ with the performance of Dean Briggs who he signed last week on a dual registration with ENL side Blyth Town. Briggs has worn Ashington’s colours before and Ellison said: “Dean fitted in okay and I was happy with him. I’m sure he’ll be pleased to get an assist (for the first goal) but I think we need to get some games into him. Jude Cogdon was also good but for me the Player of the match today was Josh Gilchrist.”