By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

Ashington manager Nick Gray has hailed Karl Ross after the skipper turned in an ‘outstanding’ display in the Colliers 3-2 win over Ossett United on Saturday.

Although Ryan Donaldson got the nod as the supporters Player of the match, Gray said afterwards: “I thought Karl (Ross) was outstanding. He emphasised what playing for Ashington is all about. He’s played in a couple of roles today (right back and left back) which were unusual for him but he gave everything. He led from the front and you could visibly see he had taken a couple of knocks but he didn’t want to come off.”

The long serving Ross said: “Obviously we’ve got a couple of injuries and the gaffer (Nick Gray) said he thought I could do a job in those positions. I started at right back today but over the years I’ve played in several positions for the club.”

On the victory – Ashington’s third on the trot – Ross said: “It was a great win. We said before the game that three points would get us out of the bottom four where we have been for a while so it was an incentive for us. However we’ve created a mentality where we are winning matches and are on a run of form and we’ve made Woodhorn Lane a hard place for visiting teams to come. Today wasn’t the best of games – it was scrappy. We know we can do a lot better but at the end of the day we won and that’s all that counts.”

The 27 year old continued: “Ossett are a good side and they posed a threat from set pieces and long throw-ins. We are not one of the biggest teams in the league but I thought we dealt with things well. It was disappointing that after they (Ossett) went down to ten men, we conceded an equaliser and it was a case of regrouping and going again. We knew another chance would come our way because we were playing some good attacking football at times and after going 3-2 up, we rode it out in the end.”

Cramlington-based Ross concluded: “We’ve got a busy period ahead of us over Christmas and have got games against local sides. We want the local bragging rights and are going into the matches full of confidence off the back of three good wins and our aim is to continue to keep moving up the table.”

By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

Ashington manager Nick Gray said he was relieved as well as delighted after his side had won their third game in a row when they defeated Ossett United 3-2 at Woodhorn Lane on Saturday.

Gray commented: “My assistant Liam (McIvor) has jokingly said that I’ve got more chance of having a heart attack watching us play than if I smoked 50 cigarettes a day – and he’s right! It wasn’t a pretty watch today and we have played better this season and lost but it was an important win for us. We talked before the game that a victory was the incentive we needed to get out of the bottom four – and we got it.”

Gray continued: “First half I thought they (Ossett) were the better side. We scored at the beginning of the game but just seemed to sit back, relax and didn’t replicate what we had done to get the goal. We had opportunities to do it – but didn’t – then we got a second (goal) right on half time. I told the lads in the dressing room that the positive was that we were 2-0 up but the negative was that we needed to do better in the next 45 minutes. I also emphasised that we needed to keep 11 players on the pitch and had to work harder than them (Ossett). We gave away a disappointing free kick and they scored from it which gave them a lift. Then after that we dug in for five to ten minutes before they had their defender sent off. I don’t know what happened but the assistant has obviously seen something on the far side.”

He added: “Credit to Ossett because with ten men they still gave it a go and then they’ve equalised after a mishap between Andrew Anderson and goalkeeper Matty Alexander. However, I’ve got to give praise to my lads who came back and went ahead again – albeit with an own goal – but the biggest positive of the afternoon is that we won the game 3-2. We were down in numbers and consequently there wasn’t a lot we could change – I think we would have done if we could – but the key thing today was getting three points. I did feel for the opposition a little bit because I thought they played well but at the same time we have played well in games and haven’t picked up any points and over the season it evens itself out.”

The result saw the Colliers move out of the bottom four up to 15^th in the East Division table of the Pitching In Northern Premier League and Gray said: “The bottom of the table is so congested. You can drop into the bottom four or come out of it but when you’re in it, it’s for a reason. I suppose it’s the old cliché that you’ve got to concentrate on yourselves and we have had some important wins – if we hadn’t we would have been right in the mire. We had 14 players today and the lads have dug in and got the points. Before the game with our numbers being down I would have simply taken any type of a win – and that’s exactly what it was. You’re in football to win and credit to the lads.”

He concluded: “I want our standards to be high and although there is still a lot to work on, winning breeds confidence so we’ll dust ourselves down and prepare to face Bishop Auckland on Saturday.”

By Brian Bennett

Ashington are taking time to adjust to life in the Pitching In Northern Premier League’s East Division.

After winning promotion via an inter step play off final against Glossop North End, the Colliers are now in their third season in the league and after narrowly escaping the drop back into the Ebac Northern League last season, the Wansbeck side are currently fourth from bottom and in the drop zone this term.

However Woodhorn Lane boss Nick Gray reckons that in all his 17 years of management, he has never known a league to be so congested: “It’s ironic that at the time of me saying this, we are in the bottom four – yet the team who are fifth top are only nine points ahead of us,” he commented, “I have never known a league table to be so tight and I hope no-one will take this the wrong way but I think the Ebac Northern League was stronger ten years ago (than this league). It’s quite an open but crazy league and shows that generally, every team has a run of indifferent results. Consett for instance started the season flying but they’ve had some challenging times over the last six weeks until they had a good result against Bradford Park Avenue. The league is wide open – there are two or three teams like Redcar Athletic, Matlock Town and Dunston but that apart, there is very little between the others.”

He continued: “For me, it’s about gaining confidence and being consistent. We’ve had a couple of false dawns but that’s what we are striving for at Ashington. We’ve had back to back wins and if we hadn’t got them, we could have been right in the mire. This month is important because we are playing teams around us so we need to get positive results in those games because what we don’t want is for those other sides to gain ground on us.”

Gray admitted that bringing new players to the club is not a straight forward scenario: “I have tried (to get players in) but we cannot compete financially with teams in our area and that’s being realistic,” he said, “We are where we are and we have a good group (of players) at the club who will fight tooth and nail and give everything and I’m confident we’ve got a squad who will get us away from the relegation zone.”

He went on: “Some players don’t want to do the travel and in addition they can usually get a better deal around the doors. Credit to the lads who play at this level because it’s certainly not for the financial side of things but for the love of the game and wanting to do well for the club.”

By Brian Bennett

Ashington manager Nick Gray expressed his disappointment after Friday night’s clash against Consett in the Pitching In Northern Premier League was called off by referee Elliot Cowens less than half an hour before kick-off.

“I was disappointed,” said Gray, “Obviously both teams were at the ground when it started to rain about 40 minutes before kick off. It’s one of those now where you only need one or two to give their thoughts to the referee and the referee has to consider it – and that was from both sides to be fair. The referee was quite happy to start the game but wasn’t confident that it would get finished and I think what happens is that kidology creeps in with thoughts about where one team goes ahead and wants play to continue whilst the team who goes behind wants the game to be called off. I’ve never known as many abandonments as we have now but I understand the referee’s situation and accept it. The Consett manager wanted the game off and when the referee asked me for my opinion, I initially declined to comment. I then said that I would accept whatever decision he arrived at and the referee called it.”

Gray then gave a glowing tribute to groundsman Scott Robson. The Woodhorn Lane surface took a battering in the game against Brighouse Town the previous Saturday but after hours of dedicated and sterling work, Robson amazingly transformed the pitch into a perfectly playable condition before the late rainfall.

Gray said: “Scott did a fantastic job and I’m disappointed for him because obviously he tried his best to get the pitch fit to get the game on tonight.”

Meanwhile the boss gave an update on the four Ashington players who are nursing injuries – Scott Lowery (knee), Jay Hornsby (foot), Liam Miller (quad) and Ryan Wombwell (hamstring): “Scott isn’t far away and Jay is looking to train next week,” he said “Liam is probably two weeks away whilst Ryan was ruled out tonight and has no chance for the home clash against Ossett United on Saturday (December 13). We’re probably looking at the game against Blyth Spartans on Boxing Day for Ryan to make a return to the squad.”

By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

Josh Gilchrist notched a brace to help steer Ashington to a second win in a row as they toppled Brighouse Town 3-0 at Woodhorn Lane on Saturday.

And afterwards, the striker reflected on the fact that whilst he celebrated his 23^rd birthday with a double strike, he could have finished with a hat-trick!

Wallsend-born Gilchrist netted just before the interval then tucked away a 75^th minute penalty – before he was substituted by manager Nick Gray.

Ten minutes later, the Colliers were awarded a second spot kick and Gilchrist said: “The boss decided to take me off – I don’t know whether he thought it was a case of ‘job done’ or that I was possibly tiring in the conditions. If I had stayed on, I would have taken the second penalty and hopefully bagged a hat-trick on my birthday! However, the most important thing today was us getting the win!”

Gilchrist – a car salesman – steered the ball home for Ashington’s opener just ahead of the interval: “It was big turning point 100 per cent,” he said, “We had the wind on our backs in the first half and it was important that we took advantage of it. To get our tails in front just before half time was massive. Second half we could either go and boom it against the wind or try and play on the bottom. We played through Brighouse and broke the press. The pitch was wet and soggy but breaking the lines we managed to create some goalscoring opportunities.”

Gilchrist described his opener: “Liam Noble has had a shot on target which the ‘keeper has spilled. Harry Powell put the ball back across goal and there was a bit of a scramble on the line. It was a case of me getting into an area where I thought I could get a toe on the ball and I’ve just managed to nick it over the line.”

The forward was involved in the second goal when he was upended in the area: “The defender had a couple of nibbles just outside the box,” he said, “I tried to stay on my feet with a view to getting a shot off but he nibbled one more time when he pulled my shirt in the box and the referee gave a penalty.”

Gilchrist netted from the spot but explained: “It was an important penalty for me because I missed the last one I took against Newton Aycliffe. However, I had no hesitation in stepping forward and credit to manager Nick Gray because he backed me and told me I was on penalty kick duty which gave me a little bit of confidence. I scored with four or five penalties last season and I always thought that if I got another chance that I would score and it would get my tail up a little bit.”

Gilchrist believes confidence has started to return to the side: “It was definitely a team performance today,” he added, “I think we have been on the wrong end of some difficult results recently. Did we deserve them? I don’t think so but that’s football and you sometimes find yourself getting beat when you don’t deserve to. We have got lads playing with a bit more confidence now and we’re playing the right way. We are also starting to find our feet a little bit and hopefully we can kick on from here.”

By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

Ashington’s assistant manager Liam McIvor was delighted after watching the Colliers master a stamina-sapping pitch at Woodhorn Lane before sealing a 3-0 victory over Brighouse Town on Saturday.

Josh Gilchrist put them in front on the stroke of half time with the striker – who was celebrating his birthday – adding a second from the penalty spot with quarter of an hour of the contest remaining.

Louis Burns wrapped up the win towards the end with another penalty which had seen Brighouse reduced to ten men when ‘keeper Michael Acquah was sent off.

Beaming manager Nick Gray and McIvor emerged from the dressing room and the latter said: “It was a fantastic win – and in conditions which were similar to the previous week when we took all three points against Lincoln United. Nick (Gray) said if we don’t make a mistake we’ll win this game – and he was right. Brighouse were dangerous on set pieces because second balls can just land anywhere but credit to the boys who were solid – as well as being brilliant.”

With the interval approaching, Gilchrist broke the deadlock and McIvor added: “The goal changed the half time team talk a little bit. All we said to the players was to continue what they had been doing; get men behind the ball and get the ball out wide because we thought our wide players – who have got pace to burn – would cause them (Brighouse) damage. We popped the ball around and it was a great second half for us. As a rule when you play in conditions like we experienced this afternoon games are never pretty – and it was all about us digging deep; holding onto our lead and getting that second goal.”

McIvor thought Ashington were awarded two ‘stonewall’ penalties which he said were expertly converted by Josh Gilchrist and Louis Burns: “For the first, the defender has had two bites at Josh (Gilchrist) whilst for the second, credit to young Sam Davison who chased the ball down,” he commented, “I thought Sam (Davison) was excellent when he came on as a substitute because he harried the Brighouse defence and skipper Karl Ross was excellent after jumping in as an emergency right back after Ryan Wombwell had gone off injured.”

Ashington now turn their attentions to Friday night (December 5) when they host Consett: “I can’t wait,” added McIvor, “We have got players returning to the squad which is another boost for us. We’ll assess everyone over the coming week and we’re hoping for another big crowd.” Kick-off is 7.45pm.

By Brian Bennett

Teenage striker Louis Burns came off the bench for Ashington at Lincoln United on Saturday – and within a minute had not only netted his first goal for the Colliers but also bagged what turned out to be the winner!

The Wansbeck side claimed a much-needed 2-1 win in Lincolnshire and Burns said they have now got to push on in their bid to get away from the relegation drop zone.

The 18 year old – on-loan from South Shields – said afterwards: “To be honest I was a bit annoyed that I didn’t start. However, I knew when I came on that I would get a chance and I would have to take it. There wasn’t much going on in the game – it was quite scrappy – and other than my goal I only had a couple of touches.”

Lincoln ‘keeper Heath Richardson parried an effort from Josh Gilchrist with Burns tucking away the rebound: “I just wanted to make a clean contact with the ball because the ‘keeper was quite close at my feet,” he said, “The ball has gone under him (Richardson) and into the net and it’s the goal which got us the three points so I’ve got to be delighted with that.”

Durham-born Burns added: “We’ve got to push on. We needed a result and got one today – but now we’ve got to build on it.”

By Brian Bennett

On-loan teenage striker Louis Burns grabbed the headlines after scoring Ashington’s winning goal in a 2-1 result against Lincoln United on Saturday – within a minute of coming on as a substitute.

Earlier Liam Henderson had put the Colliers in front before Kane Hutchinson-Wilkes equalised but despite bringing the three points back to Wansbeck, the Woodhorn Lane outfit remain in the bottom three of the East Division of the Pitching In Northern Premier League.

However seasoned striker Henderson believes Nick Gray’s side are improving all the time.

The 35 year old said after the game: “I think our last two performances – for 65 minutes against Garforth Town and probably 90 minutes today at Lincoln that we’re not too far away from turning the corner. Sometimes all it takes is a bit of luck – and I thought we got some today. Obviously it was another mistake and a poor goal which we conceded but if we can eliminate the errors, we can push on.”

A minute into the second half, Henderson struck the woodwork with an acrobatic overhead kick and he added: “We had enough chances but the longer the game goes on you start to think it’s going to be one of those days especially the run which we have been on. For my goal it was just about having the composure to get my head down and make sure that I got a clean strike. There were a lot of lads on the line but I was lucky the ball hit the back of the net. That’s two goals in my last two games and I’d like to think that the run will hopefully continue – but the main thing today was the three points because we massively needed a win.”

Gateshead-born Henderson praised the army of Ashington fans who made the round trip of over 340 miles: “It’s an absolute pleasure to see them come down in their numbers,” he said, “It’s a long way to come so hats off to them on a dreadful day weather wise. As usual we went over to thank them after the final whistle and it’s huge having their support – and especially the run which we’ve been on. We can only as a squad of management and players thank them and ask them to keep doing it because it does make a difference.”

On Saturday (November 29), Ashington are at home to Brighouse Town and Henderson added: “You can see the performances coming – it’s just turning that corner results wise. It’s nice to get the monkey off the back because the win on Saturday has been a long time coming.”

By Brian Bennett

One swallow doesn’t make a summer nor one result make a football season.

However, Ashington FC’s assistant manager Liam McIvor was understandably delighted on Saturday after the Colliers had won for the first time in nine matches in the East Division of the Pitching In Northern Premier League as they look to get out of the drop zone.

McIvor saw second half goals from Liam Henderson and substitute Louis Burns clinch a 2-1 victory over Lincoln United who had Kane Hutchinson-Wilkes on the score sheet.

The win didn’t take Ashington out of the bottom four but a cock-a-hoop McIvor said afterwards: “It was a massive win. The scoreline says 2-1 but potentially on another day it could have been four or five. We really deserved it. From the first minute to the 90^th I thought we were outstanding – and this on the back of a run of bad results. We wanted the lads to stand up and be counted and that’s exactly what they did today. To be honest the conditions were an absolute mudbath but we couldn’t have asked for any more from the players.”

McIvor reflected on a first half which somehow remained goal-less: “We created some good chances,” he said, “We’ve had one cleared off the line and a header which fell to Karl Ross – and they were big opportunities and I think if we had gone in at the interval 1-0 up no-one could have argued because we were the team who were creating the chances. At half time, we just asked the lads to remain positive and to keep taking the game to them (Lincoln United) because I feel that if we sit and absorb pressure we concede goals and we cannot afford to do that – we need to give it a go. The plan was to use our wide men – Josh Gilchrist and Liam Miller – and I thought the two of them were outstanding and were a threat.”

McIvor was disappointed with the goal which Ashington conceded: “Lincoln got back on terms after an error which shouldn’t have happened – but we responded,” he said, “If the game had finished a draw we would have been kicking ourselves at a missed opportunity and two points dropped so credit to the boys who kept going. It was a great substitution by manager Nick Gray to put Louis Burns on. With his first touch he has scored the winner – so what more can you say?”

Ashington now head into a sequence of matches where four of their next five are at home and McIvor added: “The games we have in the run up before the turn of the year are against sides in the bottom ten so we’ve got to be taking points off teams. It’s a long season and we need results on the table. Today’s victory was a start – it was 100 per cent deserved – but now we’ve got to back it up.”

By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

Ashington’s assistant manager Liam McIvor expressed his frustration after the Colliers were on the wrong end of a 4-1 defeat against Garforth Town at Woodhorn Lane on Saturday.

McIvor said afterwards: “There are fine margins in football. For 55 minutes. I thought we were the best team and were 1-0 up. It’s crucial points like we’ve went through two versus one down the side and it’s a poor ball put in which went straight into the ‘keeper’s hands. It’s frustrating because we practice those type of situations – then the Garforth ‘keeper has just launched the ball and the kid (Luke Aldrich) has pulled it out of the air and put one in the top corner.”

He continued: “Frustration was also the name of the game when we went 2-1 behind because it was from a set piece. The players knew all about them (set pieces) as to who man marks who and I don’t know who lost their runner. For the penalty, I thought from where I was standing that it looked more a free-kick to us – but the ball travelled a long way before the penalty incident occurred and the last goal we got caught. We knew this could happen but we needed to try and get another goal because if we had, it could have changed things.”

McIvor was reasonably happy with the way the first half panned out: “Garforth are doing well in the league – but I thought we were doing well and it’s the best I’ve seen us as a team. I wasn’t surprised when we took the lead because I thought we were a bit of a threat today and we created a lot of chances. The goal gave us something to hold onto – but it was a big moment for us just before they equalised. We were in a good area and it’s all about what we do in the opposition’s box – and we need to have a bit more quality.”
 
Ashington travel to face Lincoln United on Saturday (November 22) and McIvor added: “It’s a massive game for us. We made substitutions today to try and protect some of the players who were on yellow cards because we need everyone available.”