Poor defending cost us the game, says Ashington manager Ian Skinner

After leading at the interval through Karl Ross, the Colliers went 2-1 behind at Whickham to goals from Tom Romano and Scott Robson. Scott Heslop levelled but Romano got his second in stoppage time, sending the Wansbeck outfit to their seventh league defeat of the campaign.

“Tonight was a big game,” he said. “It was a game in hand – a game which, had we won, would have seen us go level with Newton Aycliffe at the top of the league.

“We are now three points behind them having played the same number of games, so it’s advantage Newton Aycliffe.

“All we can do now is to look towards Saturday’s home match against Pickering Town, hopefully pick up three points and try to win every game between now and the end of the season.”

As he looked back at the first half, Skinner commented: “I thought we started the game really, really well.

“We were bright and played with tempo; created a number of opportunities and probably scored the scrappiest of goals.

“I thought we deserved to be at least 1-0 up at half time.”

Whickham drew level within two minutes of the resumption with a controversial goal, with Ashington claiming the ball had gone out of play for a goal kick.

Skinner said: “We talked in the dressing room about doing the right things in the second half – but the start was disastrous.

“Obviously from where I was I couldn’t see if the ball is out (for a goal kick) but there’s a thing in football whereby if you are unsure you can usually tell by players’ reactions.

“Darren Lough left the ball and ran away from it – if the ball is still on the pitch why would he leave it?”

He added: “Anybody who saw our defending for all three goals tonight would be flabbergasted because they are very, very poor goals.”

For Saturday’s clash against Pickering Town, Skinner is hoping Dan Maguire and Andrew Cartwright, who both missed the Whickham game through injury, will be available, but Lough is ruled out through suspension.