Ashington 0-2 Steels

Stocksbridge Park Steels beat Ashington for the first time in their history thanks to a strong second half performance.

The first half was not one for the purist as both teams struggled to make chances. The best it got for Stocksbridge as a corner routine which was flicked onto the near post for Elliot Owen but his shot was blocked by a defender. At the other end, Andrew Johnson was able to turn his man in the box but his effort would be right at Ben Townsend.

The second half contained much better football as both teams opened up as they looked to take the lead. Jack Tinker came close to his first goal when his strike from a narrow angle went just over, while Ashington were busy at the other end but Stocksbridge’s defence meant that Townsend didn’t have to do too much.

Ashington will be irritated as they did put an onslaught of set pieces on the Stocksbridge goal, but the Steels were able to resist. And they made the Colliers pay for it. A change in the front three worked well, as Alex O’Connor’s cross was headed onto the post by a diving Jack Haslam. Dan Hernandez was first onto the ball, played it back into the danger area and Danny Deakin tucked it away to give Stocksbridge the lead.

The home side started desperately looking for an equaliser and weren’t far off on occasion. Craig Spooner had a close range shot saved by the legs of Townsend, and then certainly caused a fright for the travelling when his long range free kick whizzed just past the post.

Stocksbridge were able to kill the game off though. O’Connor played a great ball through and substitute James Morris got onto the ball, only to be taken out by goalkeeper Dan Staples. With Hardwick off the pitch, O’Connor stepped up and sent Staples the wrong way. With Ashington struggling to create a response after this, it was enough to get Stocksbridge all three points on their longest away trip of the season.