Ashington defender Darren Lough gets end-of-season award from club's management

Lough said: “The news came as a complete surprise.

“The full squad played well throughout the season, including our fabulous run in the Emirates FA Cup, then clinching promotion to the Northern Premier League, so overall it was a great campaign.”

However, there was an unfortunate twist when, in the closing minutes of Ashington’s final Ebac Northern League first division clash of the season at Bishop Auckland, the 33-year-old was forced off after breaking his nose.

The Colliers had gone into the contest knowing a draw would see them finish as league runners-up and take them into the Inter step play-off final, and at the time of Lough’s injury, the scores were locked at 1-1.

He said: “I knew straight away it was broken.”

“It was frustrating because I knew if we saw the game out that we would be through.”

The Colliers duly got the result and played Glossop North End in Derbyshire the following Saturday in the play-off, but Lough was a non-starter.

“To be honest my nose didn’t feel too sore at the time,” he said. “In the end I had to wait two weeks to have it reset.”

Lough kept a close eye on his team’s progress at Glossop. “I followed the game online,” he said. “Once we took the lead I thought we would go on to win it – and we did just that.

“I was buzzing when the final whistle came.”