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.

By Brian Bennett

Three defensive blunders inside the first half hour left Ashington with a mountain to climb in their clash against Bridlington Town on Saturday.

Conditions on the East Coast were perfect for football and it was the Colliers – with Sam Fishburn, their on-loan striker from Scunthorpe making his debut – who started the game well until they pressed the self destruct button in the 11^th minute.

The Wansbeck side won a corner but lost possession and play moved swiftly to the other end with Bridlington forcing a flag kick of their own on the left.

The ball was swung across where the unmarked Dan Hartley smashed it home with his right foot at the far post.

Barely two minutes later, ‘The Seasiders’ doubled their lead following a simple route one move.

Goalkeeper Jack Hall’s clearance bisected the Ashington defence and allowed Josh Barratt the opportunity to lob the ball over the advancing Ryan Catterick and into the net.

The visitors were shell shocked by the quickfire double but they eventually settled down and had their first opportunity when Josh Gilchrist struck a free-kick from 25 yards narrowly wide.

However midway through the half, the Colliers missed a glorious chance to reduce the deficit when Kyle Errington crossed from the right but Ben Sampson – arriving at the near post – placed his header wide.

On the half hour, the home side added a third. They took advantage after Ashington had given the ball away from a throw in and after making progress down the left, when it was played across the area, Sam Leverett was allowed acres of space to place his effort wide of Catterick.

After the interval, the Wansbeck side got the start they were looking for when they pulled a goal back. Skipper Marc Ellison crossed into the area and Sampson made no mistake as he lashed the ball into the roof of the net.

The goal gave the Colliers a much needed boost and five minutes later, there was a scare in the home area. Sampson found Errington whose cross was finger-tipped onto the bar by Hall and hastily cleared away.

That was as good as it got for the Colliers.

Within minutes Bridlington came close to restoring their three goals lead when Sam Kay fired just wide of the far post.

‘The Seasiders’ managed the remainder of the game whilst Ashington struggled to make any impact on the home goal.

Consequently the final half hour meandered to a dour conclusion.

By Brian Bennett

Ashington’s disappointing start to the season continued on Saturday when they went down 2-0 away to Bridlington on the East coast.

This was their third league defeat of the campaign and once again it was a game where over the 90 minutes, they matched their opponents for endeavour and were certainly not outplayed but ultimately were undone twice within a 15 minutes spell in the second half.

Colliers boss Ian Skinner handed debuts to Simon Jakab and Declan Bisset whilst Jordan Summerly slotted in at left back on his return.

Max Emmerson was named on the bench but pulled up in the pre match warm up and was replaced by goalkeeper Max Coombe.

There was little to enthuse over in the opening ten minutes until a through ball saw the assistant raise his flag for offside against the home side. Everyone stopped except Glen Sani who continued with his run and netted wide of ‘keeper Karl Dryden.

Referee Matthew Wright then consulted with his assistant before disallowing the goal.

On the quarter hour, Lewis Dennison was clean through after getting the better of a tackle with Darren Lough but his powder puff effort was easily held by Dryden.

The game was switching from one end to the other but with defences on top and chances were consequently at a premium.

Ashington’s first shot of the game came two minutes later which saw Damen Mullen’s long range right footer palmed away by home ‘keeper James Hitchcock.

The best move of the match by either side came in the 33^rd minute after Mullen and Summerly had combined down the left but when the latter cut the ball back, Karl Ross fired over the bar.

Then came the two crucial moments in the game as Bridlington took charge.

With only five minutes played in the second half, the Colliers were caught napping after the home side had forced a corner on the left.

Ashington allowed Cam Cunningham to play the corner short to Matty Dixon and when he whipped the ball over, substitute Benn Lewis headed in.

Worse was to follow as Sani beat the offside trap, went through and finished emphatically driving the ball into the top corner of the net past Dryden.

Ironically, the second goal led to Ashington having a prolonged spell of dominance. They were the better side but lacked a cutting edge up front or their final pass went astray.

And when substitute Ben Sampson had an effort cleared off the line with quarter of an hour remaining, the Colliers must have known then that it just wasn’t going to be their day.