ALNWICK Town emerged from a hectic Bank Holiday period with one point from two games.

The St James' Park side were held to a draw against Ashington Colliers on Monday, having lost 3-0 at Ponteland United two days before.

And for long-standing chief Mac Belisle, Town's Ashington clash saw him make an unexpected return to his familiar St James' Park dugout.

Alnwick had been handed seven consecutive away games to finish the season meaning Mac had managed his last game on home soil with a 3-0 triumph over Heaton Stannington last month.

But with the Colliers ground unfit to play on, the fixture was reversed and played at Alnwick.

Cue one last match at St James' Park for Mac.

And he almost got the perfect send-off ... again.

But a David Brown strike 20 minutes from time spoilt the party.

The game, on the whole, was a mostly uneventful encounter.

A tight first-half saw the sides restricted to mainly half-chances.

Alnwick had their moments – efforts from Tom Vickers and Richard Brown which were saved by Ashington stopper Jonathan Taylor.

At the other end, a Patrice Butters shot flashed wide while an excellent block from captain Bryan Murray stopped a goal-bound effort from Paul Keys.

The second-half followed suit with chances scant at either end.


Town made the early blows. First, a clever, low free-kick from Neil Catlow almost surprised Taylor, who spilled the initial effort, while a Brown shot four minutes later was held by the Ashington keeper.

Ashington could have snatched the lead in the 55th minute but goalkeeping rock Brian Brooks pushed David Brown's shot round the post.

The deadlock was broken though on the hour.

Keeper Taylor flapped at a corner and the ball fell at Gary Patterson's feet. The midfielder tapped the ball into an empty net from just four yards.

Town almost doubled the lead five minutes later thanks to the excellent and ever-busy Tom Vickers.

David McCann pushed the ball down the line to Richard Brown who raced into the box and towards the byline. Wiping the ball back to Vickers, the striker shimmied past a defender to make space for himself and placed the ball towards the far post. But Taylor made amends for his earlier spill to produce the save of the game, turning the ball round the post.

His fingertip save proved decisive as just moments later David Brown struck from the edge of the area to level the scores.

Ashington could have taken all three points shortly after but a last-ditch tackle from Bryan Murray stopped substitute Nicolas Storey teeing up a shot when through on goal.

The draw saw Town climb to fourth from bottom on 27 points, sitting five points and three places below Ashington.