'Nowhere near' - Ashington boss Marc Ellison issues frank verdict on Bradford Park Avenue defeat

A subdued Marc Ellison delivered a frank and honest post-match verdict after watching on as his Ashington side crumbled to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of promotion-chasing NPL East leaders Bradford Park Avenue on Saturday.

“It was really disappointing,” the Woodhorn Lane admitted. “Everything which we had done well on Tuesday night against Lincoln United was non-existent today - the willingness to run off the ball in behind people, get close to people, pick up first and seconds, the bravery to want and to have the ball wasn’t there.

“We conceded poor goals again, including from another corner where there was no marking, and it was like watching two different teams from Tuesday night to this afternoon.”

He continued: “It was just a bit of belief to be honest - it just wasn’t there. I don’t know whether it was because we came to face a team who were at the top end of the table, but there was just something which wasn’t right. I said at training on Thursday night, and again at half-time, that it looked like a performance where the hardest thing after the win at Lincoln was to keep our feet on the ground and to think that we hadn’t cracked it - because they hadn’t - far from it.

“Some of them [the players] in the first half didn’t really offer anything, which was disappointing, because I asked us to kick on and get better and not just rest on one game [at Lincoln], because it doesn’t really mean anything.

“Yes, Bradford Park Avenue are a good team. They get after you and put the ball in the right areas, and they had obviously watched us as they set up to stop us playing - but you’ve got to find other ways to affect games of football. You’ve got to try and do something else - it’s cat and mouse situation isn’t it?”

Ellison added: “The message to the players at half-time was to have a little bit more about themselves. The team that I watched in the first half wasn’t the team I had seen on Tuesday night - from one to 11 there was only one change - Matty Alexander coming back in goal for Adrian Janusz. I don’t know what it was. Things which they’ve been doing really well, including the passing or body shapes or decision-making, was just all wrong today.

“The players just weren’t at it - they were nowhere near the levels that they gave themselves earlier in the week which was disappointing.”