By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner has targeted maximum points from his side’s final two league games.

The Colliers host Thornaby at The dwmedia Stadium on Saturday (April 9) then travel to face Consett the following week (April 16).

Skinner said: “Our aim in the league is all about can we get six points because if results go our way and we win both games, it could see us finish third in the league table. So that has to be the target and see where it takes us. They are two big and very tough matches with the result at Consett possibly defining whether they finish first or second. For Saturday’s tussle against Thornaby, Max Cowburn, Bobby Taylor, Tom Bramley and Paul Robinson – who all missed out in midweek – come back into contention.

By Brian Bennett

Midfielder duo Craig Spooner and Ben Sampson earned warm praise from manager Ian Skinner on Tuesday night after both were on the score sheet in Ashington’s 3-1 win over Guisborough Town in the quarter final of the Ebac Northern League Division One Cup.

Spooner – on his return to the side – netted twice whilst Sampson notched his first goal of the campaign.

Skinner said of Spooner: “Craig has been in and out of the team of late. He’s been unavailable on two occasions and has also missed a bit of training plus he’s had a little bit of a niggle in his knee. Rather than play an orthodox winger, I just wanted us be a little bit more solid in wide areas but still look to exploit them (the wide areas) because that part of the field was somewhere where we thought we could get at Guisborough – and it has paid off. Craig slotted into that role tonight and has also scored two goals – but he’ll probably revert back to centre midfield on Saturday.” The boss said of Sampson: “People look and think he’s played a lot of the season at right back with the odd game in midfield – like at Whitley Bay when we won 6-1 where he was really, really good that day. Ben has got this ability to win the ball, intercept then drive forward with it and I think the last couple of games he’s been our best midfielder and that’s why I’ve looked to keep him in that position. I was delighted for him when he scored because he’s not renowned for his finishing and with it being the third goal which gave us a little bit of breathing space, it settled us – as well as the game – down.”

By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner admitted to using a bit of kidology with his Guisborough counterparts in the build up to his sides quarter final match of the Ebac Northern League Division One Cup against Guisborough Town on Tuesday.

The Colliers advanced into the semi finals following a fine 3-1 win with Craig Spooner scoring a brace and Ben Sampson registering his first goal of the season.

Skinner put his skipper Ben Harmison down to wear the number six shirt and announced that the recalled Thomas Kalthoeber would wear number nine: “As a manager, you try daft little things,” he said, “When we lined up to kick off, Ben was at centre back and Thomas up front. That was for the first minute only – then they swapped positions! You just try little marginal games because if I had put Harmison on the team sheet at nine, Guisborough’s management team would instantly have thought that ‘he’s playing up front’ and they would start to plan for that – and that was even the thinking behind it for the first minute of the game.”

He continued: “Ben then drifts up front and all of a sudden they (Guisborough’s management team) realise that but the game is under way and it’s difficult for them to get messages onto the players about what they are going to do to deal with it. That was the thought process behind it – so what I’ll probably do next week in the semi final against Consett is list Ben at number nine and play him at centre back!”

By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner admitted that Luke Salmon’s late red card in the excellent 3-1 victory over Guisborough Town on Tuesday night took the gloss off what was a ‘good night.’

The midfielder had been shown a yellow card in the first period of the Division One Cup quarter final tie for a challenge but with only two minutes of the 90 remaining, he was shown a straight red by referee Kirk Freeth after a needless lunge on the half way line.

Skinner said afterwards: “We are 3-1 up in the game and Luke has made what looked from where I standing, a reckless challenge and he will have to pay the ultimate price. It looked at least a yellow to me – and of course he was already on a yellow – but I was too busy plotting what we were going to do to actually see the card.”

Skinner added: “The sending off apart, Luke did well tonight. He works hard in that higher role on the left hand side which isn’t his natural position but he offers us that willing runner and he’s got some pace. Luke has made a daft decision with time running out and I was disappointed with him because it has taken the gloss off what was a good night.”

By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner was delighted on Tuesday evening after his side had won their quarter final tie of the Division One Cup against Guisborough Town with a merited 3-1 result over Guisborough at The dwmedia Stadium.

The reward for the Colliers is a home tie in the semi finals against Consett with the game scheduled to be played next Tuesday April 12.

Skinner admitted before the contest to being greedy as he looked for his outfit to turn in a five star showing as well as clinch victory and afterwards he said: “I thought we got a little bit of both if I’m honest. Obviously we got the result which was the biggest plus and keeps us in the competition with another game at home against Consett – who have scored a late winner to go through – but I was pleased with many aspects of our performance. For some reason, the wind likes to whip up at Woodhorn Lane and it did so tonight as we came out and were playing into a fairly strong wind first half. We met Guisborough a couple of weeks ago with a bit of a scratch side – and that’s not me making excuses and with no disrespect to the players who played that day – but we had a much stronger team out tonight.”

Skinner revealed that he had done his homework on the Teessiders earlier in the day: “I watched the game back a couple of times from our defeat by them recently and spent all afternoon, plotting on what we needed to do and the way Guisborough played that day because having won 6-1, the law of averages suggested that they were going to come and play the same way – and they did – whilst we changed a little bit. Thomas Kalthoeber declared himself fit after playing part of a game on Sunday to make sure he was okay and that news gave us a big boost really and freed Ben Harmison to play up front. We knew Guisborough would come and press us really, really high. So by having Luke Salmon wide left and Harmison down the middle, it allowed us to play over the press and play a little bit longer – which isn’t our usual way of playing – but sometimes you’ve got to be big enough and brave enough to say ‘if that’s what’s going to work for us tonight then that’s what we have got to do’.”

He went on: “I thought we took Guisborough by surprise and did play over the press as we looked to play two versus one in wide areas. We managed to do that and got some joy down the sides. We asked Craig Spooner to play out in a wide sort of role, knowing that that was an area we were going to target – and to be fair, he’s scored two good goals. Overall it was a fairly even game but on chances I thought we probably deserved to win it. We also defended really, really well for a period until we conceded a little bit of a soft goal – it’s a great strike by the way – but we’ve got to try and get some pressure on the ball especially knowing he (Joseph Bartiliff) is hitting it wind assisted and they pull it back to 2-1. After that, it was nice that the lads steadied themselves because we’ve got a little bit of a habit that once we concede one, we sometimes concede another quickly.” He went on: “We got into half time and obviously the big factor for us second half was coming down the bank with the wind on our backs. I thought we went a little bit too long, too often and maybes could have used the ball better whilst Guisborough had one or two flashes where they looked dangerous. Our ‘keeper Adam McHugh has made a good save with his feet and then we’ve had a chance and then scored a third goal and if I’m truthful I think it knocked the stuffing out of them (Guisborough) a little bit. They knew that had they got another goal, they were back in the game but at 3-1 they lost a little bit of belief. We still went a little bit too long and sat a little bit deep at times but given the results we’ve had of late, that was understandable. We started to put our foot on the ball and put one or two passes together and managed to keep the ball for little periods as well as mixing things up a bit and to be honest, we saw the game out relatively comfortable in the end.”

By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner looked on as his outfit arrested a four match losing streak on Saturday with a 3-3 draw against basement side Billingham Town on Teesside.

Now Skinner says the Colliers season hinges on Tuesday night’s Division One cup quarter final tie against Guisborough Town at Woodhorn Lane: “We’ll be treating the cup game just as we do with every competition where we want to try and win it,” he said, “I just hope that we apply ourselves and play the way we are capable of and hopefully on the night that will be enough. I think we’ve proved already over the course of the campaign that on our day we can be a match for anybody in this league and it would be nice to have something to show for it at the end. I look forward to a game of football every week – whether it’s the league or the cup and I’ve said it many times before that on the day all that matters in cup football is the result. Yes as a manager you would like the perfect performance and the result to go with it – but if you just get the result and the performance is below key at least you progress.”

He continued: “Tuesday’s game is massive because our season hinges on it. We’ve got two tough league games left against Thornaby and Consett and we still want to finish as high as we can but the cup game against Guisborough gives us an opportunity to go further in a competition which we can still win.”

Skinner believes the Ashington supporters have a vital role to play: “Hopefully our fans will come out in their numbers and stick with us – as they already have done this season – and the noise they generate can make a massive difference to our players. It would have been nice to have got a win at Billingham Town over the weekend to go into Tuesday with more confidence but it wasn’t to be.”

Skinner revealed that injuries have clouded his team selection for Tuesday’s 7.30pm kick-off at The dwmedia Stadium: “We’ve got a few walking wounded and will need to check on the fitness of Max Cowburn, Jordan Lashley and Jamie Hanson,” he said, “I would imagine Hanson will be a big doubt whilst hopefully the other two (Cowburn and Lashley) are just knocks. That said we’ve got Bobby Taylor who can come back into contention.”

By Brian Bennett

Jordan Lashley came off the bench to help rescue a point for Ashington after scoring a late equaliser against Billingham Town on Saturday.

The 23 year old – who after being introduced as a substitute scored four in the league clash at Redcar Athletic at the beginning of last month – said: “It’s always good to get on the score sheet especially in the role of a substitute because that’s what the manager asks of you – to try and get a goal and make an impact. I think when we went 2-0 up, we became complacent and that’s why we had lapses in concentration and made some mistakes and let them (Billingham) back into the game. They’ve then rode on the momentum and gone 3-2 up, sat back in and tried to defend what they had. However, overall, I was disappointed that we couldn’t get a win.”

Lashley – a chat advisor for BT- now turns his attentions to Tuesday night’s home clash against Guisborough Town in the quarter finals of the Division One Cup: “I’m happy to start or be on the bench – as long as I can help the team in any way,” he said, “Obviously you want to be starting games but we’ve got to go into the game with the mindset that our season depends on this cup because for the past four and fives games we have been lack-lustre and poor and we really do need to finish the season strongly. The cup is a really good opportunity for us especially with the winners having a home tie in the semi finals.” He continued: “It’s going to be a test because obviously we were put to the sword by Guisborough in our league game a few weeks ago when we were really poor. It hurt losing 6-1 against them at home and there was silence in the dressing room afterwards because everyone knew the result was much below the standards which we have set.  I’d like to think that we can put on a show for the supporters because they are coming along spending their hard earned money to watch us – and if we can play the football which we know we are capable of and the crowd can cheer us on, then who knows?”

By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC’s left sided player Luke Salmon emerged from the dressing rooms after the 3-3 draw against Billingham Town on Saturday and helped to clear up the ‘incident’ which occurred with only seconds of the contest remaining by emphatically stating that the whole of the ball had not crossed the line when he made his last ditch clearance.

The Bedford Terrace side thought they had scored a dramatic winner until Salmon got back to steer the ball away to safety.

The 30 year old said: “I’ve got a habit of going back onto the line all the time – our ‘keeper Adam McHugh knows I do that – and obviously it’s worked today as I got the ball away. It was very close – but it wasn’t a goal.”

North Shields-born Salmon added that he came off the Bedford Terrace pitch ‘upset’ following the result.

Salmon scored the second goal for the Colliers – but was also involved in Billingham’s equaliser (2-2) after he had back-heeled the ball inside the Ashington area: “We should have won but personally I came off more upset than thinking I had had a good game,” he added. “The lads are disappointed with a draw because they know we are a better side than what we showed.”

When Salmon netted in the 11^th minute, the goal put the Colliers into a commanding 2-0 lead which they let slip with the Teessiders going ahead 3-2 early in the second half before substitute Jordan Lashley levelled: “lt’s always good to score,” he said, “I was up in the box and Jamie (Hanson) just tried to repeat his first goal. I anticipated seeing the ‘keeper (Jack Norton) parry the ball away and it bounced in front of me and I just finished it.” Meanwhile Salmon is hoping to be in the squad on Tuesday night when Ashington face Guisborough Town in the quarter final of the Division One Cup at The dwmedia Stadium: “We got annihilated by Guisborough recently in the league match but it’s another game on Tuesday,” he said, “It’s good to still be in a cup competition and it makes our season a bit more exciting. Our crowd are always class so it’ll be great to have them behind us. Week in week out they always spur us on and I’m looking forward to it.”

By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner was left pulling his hair out after his side threw away an early two goal lead at Billingham Town on Saturday and came within a whisker of losing the contest at Bedford Terrace.

Skinner said afterwards: “I thought I had seen it all in football. However, I’m not sure I can believe the game which I’ve just witnessed in terms of a team (Ashington) who started really brightly, played quickly, were on the front foot and tried to go out and find a little bit of confidence to play the way we had played earlier in the season. We came out and did that and Jamie (Hanson) scores a brilliant first goal following a great move up the side, a great ball in and he did really well to finish it. We’ve worked a little bit with Jamie making those runs and have talked to him about that run across the front post. Then it was almost a carbon copy for the second goal really only this time the goalkeeper (Jack Norton) has made a fantastic save from Hanson and Luke Salmon has done what he does really well – following things in and has managed to prod the ball home. At 2-0 you think ‘this could be good’ and what we needed in terms of a win going into a cup game against Guisborough on Tuesday night – then we slowed the play down, stopped playing quickly, wanted too many touches on the ball, dwelled on the ball in really bad positions and conceded a really poor goal. We didn’t deal with the ball over the top and the player has wriggled free. We tell people to open their shoulders in the middle so they can see the player and the cross coming in but they’ve closed their body off and watched the ball and left Terry Stephenson with a free header in the six yards box.”

He continued: “We then think ‘let’s steady this’ but how do you legislate for someone back heeling the ball in the box when you are defending and you can’t see what’s behind you? They pinched the ball and score – that said Luke Salmon it was with the error but then he’s probably saved us a point at the end. Luke has gone from following in and scoring to costing us an equalising goal by back heeling the ball in the box and then by hook or by crook with last ditch defending has managed to get the ball off the line literally in the last few seconds. To be fair our ‘keeper Adam (McHugh) has made a great save in stoppage time at the end of the first half for us to go in level. Then we come out second half where we still wanted to be positive and recreate that first 20 minutes but we conceded. I thought it was a foul (on Ben Harmison) if I’m honest but they’ve scored and then we’ve had a sin bin in amongst all that. In the first half Jamie Hanson hit the post then in the second half we’ve hit the post again, the crossbar twice and all of a sudden I’m wondering ‘is it meant not to be?’ In the last three of the 90 minutes plus the added time, we could have won it after getting into some fantastic positions but our delivery today – whether it be in open play or set play – was really poor – then Billingham have had two great chances to win it.” He went on: “I’ve probably seen Ashington’s season in one game today – for the first 20 minutes the Ashington who have done really, really well this campaign and who have played some fantastic free flowing football and have scored some really good goals but then I saw the achilles heel Ashington who like to make things interesting and concede poor goals defensively as a team. We are great when we are going forward and scoring goals but for 25 minutes until half time when we haven’t got the ball, questionable in terms of how hard we work to make it difficult for the opposition. That Ashington carried on a little bit after the break then during the last ten minutes or so, you see the front foot Ashington who appeared to be stronger again and who looked as if they had the legs on them (Billingham). Certainly in the closing stages we looked fitter and were moving the ball and causing them problems. Having said that, we nearly got caught – but it’s a point which stops the run of four consecutive defeats.”

Photograph: Ian Brodie

By Brian Bennett

March has been a month of frustration for Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner. His side collected a midweek win at Redcar in addition to a Division One cup victory over Thornaby but are now on an unwanted run of four consecutive defeats in the league.

However, ahead of Saturday’s match against Newton Aycliffe the boss received some positive news from Tom Bramley and Ben Sampson after both declared themselves fit and available for selection – and Skinner was able to include both players in his squad of 16.

Bramley – out for over six months with an ankle injury – was named on the bench whilst Sampson was included in the starting eleven and had a superb match in the middle of the park.

Skinner said: “Tom (Bramley) has been out a long time but trained on Thursday and came through okay. We suggested he might need to try his ankle out so we put him in the squad today as a precaution really given the circumstances we found ourselves in last week where we were really short on centre backs. It wasn’t really to involve Tom if I’m honest then before the game, I thought we were a little bit short up top because of the injury to Adam Johnson. We played Jamie Hanson and Jordan Lashley up front and gave them an opportunity and I thought if the game wasn’t going our way and we needed to chase it, then it was an option to put Tom (Bramley) at the back and push Ben Harmison up top. As soon as Ben went up there for the last 20 minutes it was almost panic stations in the Aycliffe back line! He wins things and brings the ball down and brings people into play. Ben did really well to play the ball on for Jamie (Hanson) and then Jamie has put it on a plate for Harmison to tap it in for our goal. We’ll see if Tom has any reaction but if not then it gives us a little bit of a lift at both ends of the field.” Skinner also showered glowing praise on Sampson: “The hamstring injury which Ben picked up seems to have settled down really well and quickly so it mustn’t have been as bad as first feared and been more of a twinge as opposed to a pull, strain or tear,” he commented, “Ben trained last week and said he felt comfortable and that he had no reaction – so I put him straight into the side and I thought he was excellent. He gave us that bit of presence and was really good at breaking the play up – but what I really liked about him today was once he won the ball, he was really positive in driving forward. He carried the ball and drove at the opposition – and opposition players don’t like you running at them. I thought Ben would be in the running for almost being one of our best performers on the day and I was delighted he came back in. It was definitely a plus point and we can now consider him moving forward.”