Ashington lose on the east coast as poor start to league campaign continues

Action from Ashington's game against Bridlington. Picture: Dom Taylor

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-minute 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.

There was little to enthuse over in the opening 10 minutes until a through ball saw the assistant raise his flag for offside against the home side. Everyone stopped except Glen Sani, who continued his run and netted wide of keeper Karl Dryden.

Referee Matthew Wright consulted 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 tame effort was easily held by Dryden.

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

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

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

Then came the two crucial moments 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.

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 and finished emphatically.

Ironically, the second goal led to Ashington having a prolonged spell of dominance, but they lacked a cutting edge up front.

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

On Saturday (September 9), Ashington make the short trip to face Dunston UTS in the Isuzu FA Trophy.