Ashington boss accuses players of 'lacking courage' in disappointing defeat
Ashington manager Marc Ellison pulled no punches when he spoke in the wake of his team’s 3-1 defeat against Bridlington Town at Woodhorn Lane on Saturday.
The boss talked about his players showing ‘a lack of courage’ and said that performances like in the second half which were witnessed by a crowd of over 400 ‘cannot be tolerated anymore’.
The Colliers frittered away chances in the first period before the visitors took the lead through Tom Allan. Although home skipper Karl Ross equalised shortly before half time with a fantastic strike, the coast side dominated after the break and deservedly took the points courtesy of goals from substitute Ifeanyi Nnenanya and Ben Tweed.
Ellison said: “First half, I didn’t actually think we were that bad. We had the lion’s share of possession and, yes, we were sloppy at times, but in my opinion we could have been three up inside the first 15 or 20 minutes and it might’ve been a different story. Then, before you know it, we’re 1-0 down from a free header scored by, ironically, probably the tallest bloke on the pitch (Tom Allan).”
“To our credit, we responded. We got them pegged back and Rossy (Karl Ross) has scored an absolute worldie to get us level going into half-time. At that point, you go into the dressing room in fairly high spirits.
“But what happened after that, I’m pretty much lost for words.
"We’ve got a real problem in both boxes at the minute. We cannot keep giving goals away the way we do, missing the chances we miss, and then expect to get anything from a game of football. But the most disappointing thing for me is the lack of courage when something doesn’t quite go to plan.
"We might as well have asked the referee to blow the final whistle when they scored the second, because barring two or three of them, the rest just packed in, went hiding or just looked completely lost. And that is not acceptable.”
He continued: “If we can’t or aren’t prepared to the basic of basics correctly or with any real purpose or desire we’re in big bother. And that may sound harsh as we’re a month into the season - but our standards need to massively, massively improve.”