Match Report

By Brian Bennett  |  Photo:

Two sumptuous strikes in the second half from Ahmed Salam sent Ashington spiralling to 2-0 defeat in their opening game in the Pitching In Northern Premier League clash against Bridlington Town on Saturday.

With three quarters of the game gone and with little in the way of goalmouth action, Salam’s double came inside a ten minutes spell.
For his first, Casey Stewart raided down the left flank and when he cut the ball back, Salam struck a first time effort from 20 yards wide of ‘keeper Matty Alexander and into the net via the post.

Salam’s second came in the 77th minute from a similar distance was an even better finish. Ashington allowed the number eleven time and space to cut inside before he curled the ball inside the far corner with Alexander rooted to the spot.

The first half was nothing more than a dour battle in the sunshine. In the 11th minute, Josh Gilchrist played a great ball into the danger zone from a free-kick but no Ashington player reacted to get on the end of it.

Two minutes later, home skipper Jacob Day was all set to unleash a drive until Andrew Anderson closed him down and made a superb block.
The only other incident of note came midway through when Gilchrist fired over from 22 yards.

Early doors after the break, Gilchrist had an effort blocked by ‘keeper Jonathan Dash and from the rebound, Liam Henderson’s half volley was snuffed out.

Then a cross by Rory Powell found Gilchrist but he directed his header straight at Dash.

Stewart put a ball across the face of the visitors goal then an effort from Salam was deflected for a corner.

Sandwiched in-between Salam’s two strikes, a long diagonal pass from Harry Powell reached Henderson but he lobbed wide at the near post.

That was that in a game where chances were few and far between.