Point for battling Colliers in pulsating draw with Consett

Action from Ashington v Consett, which ended 3-3. Picture by Ian Brodie.

Ashington 3Consett 3Danny Anderson’s first goal for two years earned Ashington a deserved share of the spoils in a 3-3 draw against league leaders Consett at The dwmedia Stadium on Saturday.

It was exciting. It was pulsating and it was captivating – and in perfect weather conditions, it was also on a day where Woodhorn Lane smashed the Ebac Northern League’s record attendance for the season to date with a superb crowd of 735 who certainly got value for money.

After going ahead just shy of the half hour mark with a brilliant goal by Craig Spooner, the Wansbeck outfit had to show all of their fighting qualities. Consett drew level through James Metcalfe, edged in front through an own goal and after a leveller from Luke Salmon, when ex Collier Dale Pearson made it 3-2 to the Durham side with ten minutes remaining it appeared that Ashington were going to be on the end of a hard luck story.

But the Colliers - who left every ounce of energy on the pitch – simply refused to give up and when Anderson tucked the ball into the net with four minutes of normal time remaining, it sent the home contingent into raptures.

After several near misses, including a Max Cowburn effort which clipped the top of the crossbar, Ashington finally broke the deadlock after 28 minutes when Spooner headed in from a Cowburn cross.

The Ashington crowd went wild but they were silenced ten minutes later when James Metcalfe equalised.

Ashington were caught cold at the start of the second half as within two minutes, the Steelmen took a 2-1 lead when Jake Orrell played the ball across the six yards box and it was deflected into his own net by Coppen.