By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner emerged from a gloomy dressing room after the 1-0 defeat against local rivals Whitley Bay on Good Friday – and whilst he shouldered some of the blame for the reverse, the boss reckons his players are suffering from ‘burn out’ at a crucial point in the campaign.

A header from Seahorses defender Elliott Day at the end of the first half proved to be decisive sending the Colliers to defeat and the result also means that the coast club will be the only side to complete the double over the Wansbeck side this term after their 2-1 win at Woodhorn Lane on Boxing Day.

Skinner said afterwards: “It was a disappointing result and a disappointing performance if I’m honest – and I’ll take the lion’s share of the blame for getting a few things wrong today in terms of potentially the starting eleven and potentially the way we wanted to play because it didn’t work. The players do have to take a little bit of responsibility because it’s them who go out onto the pitch and perform – but I just think we are coming to the end of a long tough season and I think our fantastic cup run is starting to take its toll in respect of tired legs. We’re almost crawling towards the finishing line which isn’t great because we are at the business end of the season and hence that’s why in the last couple of games, I’ve tried to make two or three changes just to freshen things up.”

He continued: “In terms of the game itself, I thought it was a pretty even, scrappy affair with not too many clear cut chances. We conceded a really poor goal at a really poor time in first half stoppage time which means they (Whitley Bay) can keep getting their full backs and their wide players to try and double up down the sides and they can play the ball forward knowing that we‘ve got to come out a little bit to chase the game. However the biggest disappointment for me was that we just didn’t threaten their goal anywhere near enough. We had a lot of possession but again we played too safe – we were happy to turn and go back or go inside. What we really need now is for players to stand up and look to make key contributions and drive forward with the ball and look to play key passes that create key chances.”

Skinner added: “Possibly a draw would have been a fair result although our ‘keeper Karl Dryden has made at least one fantastic save early in the second half. I was right behind it and he’s tipped the ball around the post.”

Skinner was furious that his side were not awarded a penalty ten minutes from time when Ben Sampson was bundled over inside the area and said: “It was a penalty for me. I’m not blaming the referee today and he didn’t contribute to the result – albeit his key decision potentially cost us what might have been a point – but the whole standard (of officiating) across the league now is really, really poor. Not only would I take great pleasure in getting Ashington out of this league, I’d take great pleasure in getting away from the standard of officiating (in this league) because it’s not up to what it should be and if we go up a league hopefully the standard will be a little bit better. People look at the Northern Premier League and there are lots of ex Northern League teams in there and it’s becoming a really strong league – and that’s why this club (Ashington) are trying to work hard to get there.” Ashington have three games remaining starting with their final home fixture of the season against Thornaby at Woodhorn Lane on Saturday (April 15): “Three points is a must for us,” he said, “We’ll dust ourselves down; train twice this week and prepare for the game.”

By Brian Bennett

Supporters of Ashington FC will have an opportunity to put questions to manager Ian Skinner as the club will hold a ‘talk in’ following their final home match of the season against Thornaby on Saturday April 15.

The Woodhorn Lane boss said: “A couple of people approached me and asked if I would sit down and maybes have a chat with people – and it’s something which I have always been open to do previously so I’m hoping the fans will stay behind after the Thornaby game. In the past we have had a ‘talk in’ as a stand alone event and so not everybody could make it. I have no problem with it at all and it would be nice. I don’t get an opportunity to openly speak to people very often because it takes me a while to get in the clubhouse after games and when I do, lots of people have left.”

He continued: “I just thought that with it being our last home game, why not invite everybody to stay back for some refreshments regardless of where we are and what the situation is (in the league). If people want me to sit there and answer some questions, then I’d like to think I’m a pretty open and honest sort of person and I’ll be happy to answer them. Also it will be a good opportunity to say a ‘thank you’ to the fans who have been brilliant all season – they have come out in their numbers again today against Pickering – and their support was one again fantastic.”

By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

Ashington striker Lee Mason said he was ‘massively delighted’ to score the only goal of the game after returning to the starting line up against Pickering Town at Woodhorn Lane on Saturday.

As the clock ticked down towards the end of the first half, the 32 year old lashed the ball into the back of the net and he said afterwards: “It wasn’t the best of games – it was a bit scrappy on a heavy pitch – but I was delighted to get back into the team and to score but the most important thing today was us winning the game and getting the three points.”

Newcastle-born Mason described his goal: “As soon as I turned the defender and got back onto my right foot, I was always going to put my laces through it (the ball),” he added, “It was mainly about getting power behind the shot and hitting the target. I was massively delighted to see it go in and the fact that it went in off the bar made it even better.”

The win lifted the Colliers up into second place and Mason said: “We’ve just got to concentrate on trying to win every game and hopefully end up by either winning the league or finishing runners up and going into the play off.”

Ashington manager Ian Skinner said: “I was delighted for Lee (Mason) because he hasn’t really played a lot of football in the last month and he is second top goal scorer at the club. I felt I needed to give him an opportunity and he’s repaid the faith I had in him with a great finish. He made the goal all himself with a run, turn, shot and finish. It proved to be the winner and its funny how little things like that happen in football.”

By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner admitted that Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Pickering Town was by no means a classic – but it was nevertheless a case of job done.

Lee Mason – on his return to the starting line up – scored the goal shortly before the interval and Skinner said: “Obviously the place was a little bit flat after our defeat at Whickham on Tuesday night. We trained on Thursday and you could still see that there was a little bit of a hangover so all we tried to do was to take pressure off everybody and say ‘listen there’s a game of football on Saturday where we need to win. If we play to the levels which we are capable of, we can do that and we’ll worry about what happens after that.”

He continued: “I didn’t think it was a classic. Obviously Pickering are scrapping for their lives in the first division and I think they would have taken a 0-0 result from kick off! We expected that a little bit and we planned for them to sit in a little bit. We certainly dominated the ball and got into some good areas but didn’t really work the goalkeeper enough in the first half. And then to be fair from their corner, we broke really, really quickly and Lee Mason has put us in front with a tremendous goal.”

He went on: “Second half I thought we did everything right apart from adding to the score sheet and it’s a situation where you look at it and you think that although you are dominating the ball and getting into some key areas, whilst it’s only 1-0 there’s always a risk. I had a really attacking bench and you think ‘do I start and put two or three of those players on and see if we can get another goal when really 1-0 wins the game?’ so you are stuck in little bit of a catch 22 situation to be honest. With the pitch being difficult and having played on Tuesday, one or two of the players tired a little bit so I just got some fresh legs on to give us a bit impetus. It would have been nice to have got a second goal but ‘job done’ probably sums it up. We said before the game we needed to win against a team who were content to concede ground and sit in behind the ball and let us have it and even as the game drew on, they didn’t throw too many numbers forward. But what I liked about today is that we’ve bounced back – so credit to the players for that.”

Ashington now go to Whitley Bay on Good Friday and Skinner said: “It’s still about taking one game at a time. I know it’s a cliché but it’s all about on the day in the Northern League – anybody can beat anybody and this league is so unpredictable. We have got four games left and our aim is to take 12 points. Whitley Bay will be a tough game – it’s a tough place to go – and their manager Nicky Gray will have his side fired up. We’ll train on Tuesday and prepare for the clash but we’ll certainly not be looking beyond that.”

Defender Darren Lough has served his suspension and will be available for the encounter at Hillheads which has a 12 noon kick off.

By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

Ashington FC manage Ian Skinner – bitterly disappointed after his side 3-2 defeat at the hands of Whickham on Tuesday night – admitted that ‘it’s advantage Newton Aycliffe’ for promotion come the end of the season.

After leading at the interval through Karl Ross, the Colliers went 2-1 behind at Whickham to goals from Tom Romano and Scott Robson. Scott Heslop levelled but Romano got his second in stoppage time which sent the Wansbeck outfit to their seventh league defeat of the campaign.

“Tonight was a big game,” he said, “It was a game in hand – a game which had we won would have seen us go level with Newton Aycliffe at the top of the league. We are now three points behind them having played the same number of games so it’s advantage Newton Aycliffe. All we can do now is to look towards Saturday’s home match against Pickering Town, hopefully pick up three points and try to win every game between now and the end of the season. Wherever it puts us, we’ll have to accept because I’m a little bit old fashioned and over a 38 game season, the table generally isn’t wrong.”

As he looked back at the first half at the First Mortgage Glebe Stadium, Skinner commented: “I thought we started the game really, really well. We were bright and played with tempo; created a number of opportunities and probably scored the scrappiest of goals. A couple of chances fell to various people then the ball came out to Karl Ross and it wasn’t the cleanest of strikes but it’s gone in the bottom corner. They all count and to be honest I thought we deserved to be at least 1-0 up at half time.”

Whickham drew level within two minutes of the resumption with a controversial goal with Ashington claiming the ball had gone out of play for a goal kick. Skinner said: “We talked in the dressing room about doing the right things in the second half – but the start was disastrous. Obviously from where I was I couldn’t see if the ball is out (for a goal kick) but there’s a thing in football whereby if you are unsure you can usually tell by player’s reactions. Darren Lough left the ball and ran away from it – if the ball is still on the pitch why would he (Lough) leave it (the ball) and move away from it for there centre forward who started dribbling with it before putting it into the net? Everybody was looking as if to say ‘what’s gone on’ – but the goal was given.”

He added: “I’m proud of our defensive record this season in terms of before tonight’s game we had only conceded 30 goals in 32 league games – less than a goal a game – but anybody who saw our defending for all three goals tonight would be flabbergasted because they are very, very poor goals. There were individual errors within those goals but as a team second half defensively, we were all over the shop. We allowed Whickham to play more direct; we allowed them to play forward and run forward which they do well especially with the slope and we turned the game into a bit of a battle and a scrap and the squad I have assembled, without being disrespectful, aren’t battlers and scrappers – they’re footballers. Consequently it frustrates me when they decide to get into scraps and battles because that doesn’t suit us and that’s probably the reason why we found ourselves 2-1 down. We managed to equalise and when we did that we were the brighter team because we started to pass the ball again and I don’t know how many times in the second half I must have shouted to the players ‘keep passing it’. Then to concede another really poor goal and lose the game is very disappointing.”

For Saturday’s clash against Pickering Town at Woodhorn Lane (3pm), Skinner is hoping Dan Maguire and Andrew Cartwright – who both missed the Whickham game through injury – will be available but defender Darren Lough is ruled out through suspension.

By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner thought his sides 1-1 draw with Newton Aycliffe on Saturday was a fair result – but the boss believed a controversial incident just short of the half way mark during the second half was pivotal.

After skipper Ben Harmison had blasted home his 19th goal of the campaign to put the Colliers ahead on the stroke of the interval, defender Darren Lough was penalised for handball and red carded by referee Lewis Hardy with Liam Jarvie confidently scoring from the resulting penalty for the equaliser.

“The game obviously swung on a massive decision in terms of a handball and a red card,” said the boss afterwards, “I need to see the footage back so I can only speak from how far away I was at the time but my initial reaction is that it’s harsh – the ball hasn’t travelled very far – it hasn’t travelled across a lot of distance and the way I looked at it, the ball was kicked at Darren (Lough).”

Before kick off the County Durham outfit held a three points lead at the top of the league from the second placed Colliers who had a game in hand and reflecting on the clash, Skinner added: “If I’m honest, a draw is probably the result neither team wanted – but I thought it was fair and in the final analysis, I wasn’t too disappointed. Newton Aycliffe started the brighter than we did then we grew into the game a little bit and we had a period of about 20 minutes in the middle of the first half where we were the better side. We had a spell where we had four consecutive corners and fashioned one or two chances. Then they (Newton Aycliffe) came back into it a little bit towards the end of the half before we managed to score and go in 1-0 up at the break.”
He continued: “Second half we had a fantastic little chance within a minute after a great move. We got in but the ball just didn’t quite sit right for us and then credit to Aycliffe who came and attacked us and it was nip and tuck. After losing Darren Lough, we really became a little bit ragged. We weren’t quite sure of our shape; and they (Aycliffe) moved us around and also moved the ball well. However a cynical foul on Robbie Dale as he’s stepping through saw a second yellow for their lad (Ethan Wood) and then its 10 v 10. After that, the game probably ebbed and flowed a bit without either team really creating too many chances. I can remember a fantastic header at the back post by Jordan Summerly where the ball was stood up and their player is running onto it and Jordan has managed to back head it away. At the other end, Dean Briggs has cut in from the left and bent one (a shot) just wide whilst Scott Heslop has had a header which has gone just over. We’ve scored from open play and limited Aycliffe who have only scored from a penalty and I said it when we played them at their place – and I said it again before the game – nothing would be won or lost today. It’s a case of as you were only with a game less because we both got a point and our goal differences stay the same.”

He went on: “It was a good game between two good sides. Obviously it was first versus second which attracted a fantastic crowd of 941 on Non League day and they have seen a good game of football with two teams giving it their all.”

Skinner believes his side have got a ‘tougher’ run in to the end of the campaign as opposed to Aycliffe: “I certainly think we’ve got the tougher run in of the two teams,” he said, “If you look at it, we’ve still got to play Whitley Bay and Bishop Auckland who are wanting to be in amongst those top two places and literally everybody we’ve got left to face have something to play for – including Pickering Town and Thornaby who are scrapping for points to stay in the league.”

He continued: “We’ll see how people have come through today’s game and prepare for our away trip to face Whickham on Tuesday night (March 28) but Damen Mullen, Ryan McKinnon, Adam Johnson and Lewis Suddick will all come into contention.”

By Brian Bennett | Photo: Rachel McDonald

Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner lauded praise on Darren Lough after the defender turned in a sublime performance on his return to the side – and also scored his first goal of the season – in the 3-0 win over Redcar Athletic on Saturday.

Lough had been sidelined for the past six weeks after he broke two toes in the away match at Pickering Town at the start of February.

But on Saturday Lough came back into the starting eleven: “I trained on Tuesday and Thursday and with Ryan McKinnon not available, I was told that I may be needed,” he said, “I had no reaction from the sessions and it was a sink or swim situation. I gave it a go and everything turned out okay with my foot – the only problem I had was that I got a bit of a dead leg in the first half but I managed to get through it and played for 80 minutes so I was happy.”

The 33 year old lynchpin was equally pleased to open his goalscoring account: “Ben (Harmison) flicked the ball on from Andrew Cartwright’s corner and I was caught in two minds so I just went to head it and I was delighted when it hit the net,” he said, “At the end of the day, we got the win and a clean sheet which is just what we needed going into Saturday’s clash against Newton Aycliffe.”

Lough – one of a plethora of signings by manager Ian Skinner in the close season – is delighted he put pen to paper for his hometown club: “I’m enjoying it,” he said, “The lads are spot on – and we play some nice football at times. We can change it up and we’ve got some great players that know exactly what they are doing on a football pitch.”

Boss Skinner said: “Darren would have played the last five games for us with a couple of broken toes if he could – but we just needed to manage him. He’s probably done two and a half to three training sessions and for today’s trip to Redcar, we knew Ryan McKinnon was unavailable so we had earmarked this as a game where we potentially would like to get him back on the pitch. Darren being Darren, after training on Thursday when I said to him ‘let me know what you are like’ – his response was ‘if you need me I’m ready and I’ll play.’ He may not thank me for saying this but he’s what I class as an ‘old school’ player at this level in terms of he never wants to come off the pitch and wants to win every game in training. What you see is what you get with him and he gives you everything he’s got – and he even chipped in with a goal today!”

He continued: “Darren also played with a bit of a ‘dead leg’ after he took a whack in the first half. We had to keep him moving at half time so when we got that second goal, with two strikers on the bench (Lee Mason and Scott Heslop), it was an opportunity to freshen the front up a little bit. We managed to get Dan Maguire off to protect him a little bit and asked Ben Harmison to drop into centre back which we know he can do. We put the two fresh forwards on to try and chase down a few more goals and I was pleased for Lee (Mason) who took his goal very, very well. He has had limited game time of late but we know if he gets the ball in the box that he is a very good finisher.”

By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner was delighted on Saturday night after his side had picked up another three points following a 3-0 victory over Redcar Athletic at Green Lane.

However the boss – who is always looking for the complete performance – expressed a tinge of disappointment after his side did not go on to make the score line even more emphatic!

Skinner said: “Our second goal – scored by Darren Lough – gave us breathing space and after that we really put our foot on the gas. We ended up scoring three but I was a little bit disappointed that we didn’t go on to make it five or six. However we’ll take a 3-0 win at a tough place like Redcar because they are a good side and not many teams will come here and win.”

Dan Maguire fired Ashington into an early lead with Darren Lough and substitute Lee Mason adding the others: “I just thought from the first whistle that we looked like we were going to be at it,” he added, “We started really brightly and within the first minute we got Jordan Summerly in wide left and he put a great ball across the face of the goal. We then scored a fantastic first goal with Dan Maguire doing what he does best, twisting and turning and cutting inside before he’s bent the ball into the far corner. For the first 20-25 minutes I thought we were in complete control then we lost our way a little bit. Sometimes in games you have too much of the ball in good areas and instead of players continuing to do what’s working, they decide that they will try to over complicate things and for 15 minutes it became a bit of a game whereby we didn’t play as well as we had started.”

He continued: “To be fair, we didn’t have a lot to say to the lads in the dressing room and second half we pretty much dominated the game – apart from one pivotal moment when our ‘keeper Karl Dryden has made a double save. Obviously they (Redcar Athletic) have had a player red carded which is always difficult – but it’s equally as difficult to play against ten men as sometimes the dismissal can galvanise a team. However, after the sending off, I thought for about five minutes that we were very good in what we did. We kept the ball for long periods and took the sting out of the game and made Redcar have to move from side to side and made them have to chase it (the ball) and basically what you are psychologically doing is telling the opposition that it’s going to be a long second half!”

He went on: “Now we’ll dust ourselves down, train this week and prepare properly for our home game against Newton Aycliffe on Saturday (March 25). Fingers crossed we should be looking at having a full compliment of players including Ryan McKinnon and Adam Johnson who were both unavailable at Redcar.”

Kick off on Saturday is 3pm.

By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

Ashington FC skipper Ben Harmison scored his 18th goal of the season which gave his side a last-gasp win over Guisborough Town at Woodhorn Lane on Saturday.

And afterwards, Harmison – who netted with a header – was full of praise for his team mates: “We’ve got great character in the group,” he said, “We pushed and pushed and didn’t give up or think about taking a draw – and eventually we got the goal and the three points which we deserved.”

Harmison thought his side played some good football – but he was also left frustrated: “I was disappointed with our quality in the final third and the lads will be brutally honest and admit that it was very poor,” he said, “We just rushed things and lacked composure but in the last ten minutes we kept going and started putting some good balls into the box. We put pressure on and won the penalty and after stepping up to take it, Damo (Damen Mullen) was unlucky that the ‘keeper has parried it.”

However Ashington recycled the ball which led to Harmison’s winner: “Craig Spooner has put a great ball over to the far post because he had his back to us,” he said, “I’d like to think I’m quite hard to handle when I’ve got a run on the defenders – so I was pleased. Guisborough are a good team and they will beat a lot of teams but I thought we played some good football and moved the ball around. It was just in the final third where we were poor – and if we had been a bit better we could have scored a few more. It wasn’t until Paul Robinson came on and changed the game as he gave us width down the left hand side. Paul and Jordan Summerly were brilliant – they love linking up together – and they caused Guisborough loads of problems with two versus ones.”

He concluded: “We’ve got some tough fixtures coming up and we’ll continue to tick them off one by one.”

By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie

Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner admitted that his side had left it late before they claimed their 21st league win of the season with a 1-0 verdict over Guisborough Town at Woodhorn Lane on Saturday.

The Colliers consolidated their second from top placing in the first division of the Ebac Northern League thanks to a brilliant header by skipper Ben Harmison in the final minute of the 90 and a delighted Skinner said afterwards: “We left it late at home again but we got the three points and that’s all I asked for before the game. We now have eight games remaining and know what we have got to do to achieve what we want to achieve.”

Skinner added that his side took time to get into the contest against a resolute Guisborough side “I didn’t think we started the game particularly well,” he said, “Guisborough were brighter than us – and they had two really big chances. Michael McGee was clean through and our ‘keeper Karl Dryden has made a good save then Jack Blackford has hit the crossbar. It took us a while to get going but from the 18-20 minutes mark we came into our own, moved the ball a bit better and the theme of the game was that we got into some great wide areas but our final ball was below par. We scored a very good goal following a deep cross when Dan Maguire heads it back across and it comes off a Guisborough hand and Ben Harmison fires it into the roof of the net then for some reason, the referee has ruled that Maguire has handled it and disallowed the goal. However, although we came in level at the interval, we finished the half strongly.”
Skinner was happier with his side after the break: “Second half I thought we dominated large parts of the game,” he said, “Guisborough have sat really, really deep and tried to see if they could play a bit on the counter attack if I’m honest despite offering very little – and I can’t think of a save Karl (Dryden) had to make. We did really well in terms of managing possession. I thought we moved the ball and got into some key wide areas but that final ball let us down and as the clock ticks down you think ‘lady luck is not quite shining on us at the moment.’ Then we get a penalty and miss it and the amount of spot kicks we have spurned this season (five) is frightening to be fair. However there was a long, long delay from it (the penalty) being given to it actually being taken and that’s difficult to deal with physiologically. To our credit, we’ve kept the ball alive after the save by the goalkeeper and managed to hang a decent ball up to the back post – and If you want anybody to meet a ball hanging in the air from about three yards out at the back post, it’s Ben Harmison!”

Ashington now prepare for a trip to face Tow Law on Tuesday night (March 14) with the game potentially coming too soon for Scott Heslop and Darren Lough who are on their way back from injury.