Mistake proves costly as Ashington do everything but score at Cleethorpes

Ashington lost at a wet Cleethorpes on Saturday. Picture: Ian Brodie

On Saturday the expression summed up Ashington’s afternoon as Cleethorpes pulled off a smash-and-grab raid when they scored with their only chance of the game to take all three points.

As a result, Will Annan’s goal early in the second half sent the Colliers to their fifth league defeat of the season.

It was a bitter pill for the Wansbeck side to swallow as they did everything but score during the game.

Indeed they could have nudged ahead as early as the fifth minute.

The quick thinking Craig Spooner played a free kick down the channel for Scott Heslop, whose shot on the turn went past home keeper James McKeown and was heading towards the net until the ball was cleared off the line by Jordan Cooke.

Spooner fired well over but after that, the only other semblance of a chance came as the half edged towards its conclusion.

Jordan Summerly and Declan Bisset combined to set up Spooner but he shanked his effort wide.

In the 52nd minute, it was The Owls who pounced to take the lead – after Ashington had lost possession.

Annan advanced before curling a superb right footer wide of keeper Karl Dryden and into the net.

Ashington bombarded the home goal in the final 15 minutes, but could not find a way through.

A chipped pass by Kyle Errington saw Heslop direct a header straight into McKeown’s midriff; a free kick by Spooner rattled the bar then a cross shot by Matty Dopson clipped the outside of the post.

With time running out, Ben Sampson and substitute Max Emmerson both unleashed right foot thunderbolts which were kept out by McKeown.

Speaking after the game, manager Ian Skinner said: “It was a hard one to take today to be honest because I thought from one to 16 we were really, really good. We looked very well organised and limited them to very little. In fact they only had one shot on target and scored and it came from a little bit of an error. Mistakes are part of the game and at the moment we just seem to get punished when we make them. However, I’m not sure I could have asked much more from the players.”