‘Disjointed’ Ashington lose at home to Thornaby

There was nothing to choose between the sides particularly in the second period of a mundane encounter until Ashington’s rhythm received a setback when defender Thomas Kalthoeber - who had received treatment in the first half for a shoulder injury- went down again which forced him off:.

“Obviously I’m disappointed that we have lost the game,” said Skinner afterwards,

“It wasn’t much of a contest if I’m honest. It had a bit of an end of season/pre-season friendly about it for 60-65 minutes with both teams happy to have the ball and pass it without ever threatening the goal and I don’t think either goalkeeper has had a save to make in the first half.”

He continued: “After the break, obviously Thomas Kalthoeber has had to come off injured and as playing Ben Harmison as centre forward helps us to stretch the opposition, we’ve tried to not instantly drop him (Harmison) back in.

"We have asked Yannick Aziakonou to slot in at centre back and we probably became a bit disjointed which contributed towards the only goal of the game which I think was the only shot on target throughout.

"Thornaby have scored - and then for some reason the game burst into life for the last 20 minutes with flailing arms, horrible tackles, scuffles, a red card, yellow cards - and I don’t know how it all came about.

"Certainly I didn’t see it turning out that way but in the end, we probably haven’t threatened the Thornaby goal anywhere near enough whilst they’ve had one opportunity which they have taken.

"All in all it was not a great spectacle and not a game I’ll watch back too many times - and in a nutshell, it was a drab end of season game to be honest.”

A goal just past the hour mark by substitute Jamie Davis clinched Thornaby all three points from this Ebac Northern League first division encounter at The dwmedia Stadium on Saturday.

Davis - who was introduced for the start of the second half - received a sidewards pass from Craig Hutchinson before burying a right foot effort past home ‘keeper Adam McHugh.

However the goal lit the touch paper as the clash developed into a feisty affair after what had previously been a very ordinary end of season contest.

The defeat leaves Ashington eighth in the Northern League Division 1 table with 57 points from 37 games.

On Saturday they travel to take on Consett in a replay of their Division 1 Cup semi-final from Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in Division 2 of the Northern Alliance, Blyth Town lost 3-1 at home to Boldon CA, with Waldon scoring their only goal in injury time.

On Saturday, Blyth Town are home to Durham City whilst Bedlington Terriers, who were without a fixture at the weekend, are away to Boldon CA.