A SECOND-half comeback by 10-man Consett wasn't enough to secure a share of the spoils in a game where the main talking point was the referee. The man in the middle, Tom Rogers, from Darlington, showed home centre-half a straight red card and booked four of his team-mates and one opponent in a game where there wasn't a bad tackle.

It was one of his decisions, midway though the first half, which incensed the home team and supporters, led to the visitors' first goal, and ultimately cost Consett the game. Ryan Bell tried to control the ball on the bumpy pitch, it bounced away from him, and goalkeeper Peter Jameson picked it up the loose ball. To the astonishment of everyone in the ground, Mr Rogers adjudged Bell's mis-control to have been a backpass, and awarded Ashington an indirect free-kick 10 yards out.

The Consett wall are powerless to stop Walton making it 0-1

Skipper Carl Piecha was booked for his protestations, and Bell was then yellow-carded for encroaching at the free-kick, even though the Colliers player who was impeding Jameson from attacking the ball was allowed to continue. The ball was touched short to old boy Marc Walton, who lashed it through the defensive wall on the line, despite the best efforts of Jameson to keep it out. The goal was the signal for more Consett frustration to be directed at the referee, and Lewis Teasdale became the third Steelman booked, for dissent, before the game was re-started.

Gavin Ross in an aerial duel

Consett were clearly aggrieved at the incident, and seven minutes later their backs were even more up against it. With the ball not even in play, the referee took exception to something he thought David Scorer had said, and pulled out a straight red card.

Consett were forced to reorganise, with Bell moving to centre-back and Anthony Lund dropping to left-back, in a bid to make it to the break with no further damage done. But on 35 minutes, Walton scored his second of the game - and fourth of the season against Consett. A simple ball forward led to indecision between Bell and Michael Pearson, and Walton was quickly onto the ball. He carried the ball forward and to the right, and held off the challenge of Pearson to shoot across Jameson and into the corner.

The visitors led 2-0 at the interval, but it could have been much worse, as Ashington had dominated proceedings even before the refereeing controversy. Walton had just first chance after just six minutes, when he forced a save from Jameson after Piecha's header back to his goalkeeper fell short. On 10 minutes the young keeper pulled off a flying save from Jonny Godsmark, who hit his shot into the ground after being played in by Paul Buzzeo.

Walton was proving a particular thorn in Consett's side, and he forced saves from Jameson three times as the visitors created chances seemingly at will. Opportunities at the other end were at premium. Lund had the first effort on goal with a 20-yard free-kick five minutes in, and Bell was denied a penalty on 12 minutes when he burst into the box and seemed to be fouled as he tried to pull the ball back from the six-yard box, but that was as much of an attacking threat as Consett managed to muster.

The ball wasn't sticking at all with the front two, and Ashington were getting the ball forward quickly, which was putting the defence under almost constant pressure. As well as presenting a one-man barrier to Walton, Jameson also saved well from Michael Tait, and got up to thwart him from the rebound, then stopped Darren Lough capitalising on the loose ball after he had saved a Walton free-kick.

Half time: Consett 0-2 Ashington

Both sides made changes at half-time, Consett bringing on midfielder Jack Stanger for Teasdale in a tactical move, and the Colliers replacing Tait with Mark O'Dea. Within two minutes of the restart the home side were back in the game. Michael Mackay, who hadn't had a sniff at goal himself, crossed from the left for Stanger, and the teenager opened his Consett goal account by steering a header into the bottom corner. Jameson then saved from Jonny Godsmark, and the former Newcastle reserve set up Tommy English, who blazed over the top.

Anthony Lund pulls the trigger

After that, it was Consett who enjoyed more of the game, as they looked a different side to the opening 45 minutes. They passed the ball better, retained it better, and carved out more chances. Pearson was getting forward well down the right, and he created one chance for Mackay, who couldn't keep his header down, and another for Bell, who forced a save from Karl Dryden in the visiting goal. Dale Burrell then dragged a shot wide of the far post after good work by Matty Slocombe and Mackay.

David Scorer intercepts a pass

The referee incensed the crowd by booking Slocombe, (in for Richie Slaughter in the only change to the team which beat Spennymoor three days earlier) for an innocuous foul. But he did nothing when Walton played on and kicked the ball away after the whistle had cleared gone - and then gave Ashington two free-kicks in a minute right on the edge of the Consett box for high feet.

Right on 90 minutes Consett had a final chance to secure the point which their second-half performance deserved. Piecha's long throw down the left set Burrell away, he passed to Mackay and continued into the box to take the return pass, and drilled his effort wide.

Full time: Consett 1-2 Ashington

GARY WELFORD