Agonising one run defeat for Ashington 1sts against Castle Eden

However, in pursuit of the home sides 162, Pearcey - whilst eulogising about what he described as being an unbelievable innings from Ian Sharkey - highlighted that the turning point was at the start of the Ashington reply (161) when they lost four of the top order with only 18 runs on the board.

The result saw the Harlepool based outfit regain top spot in the North East Premier League first division table as they leapfrogged over the Mighty Acorns with only two games of the season remaining.

Pearcey said: “It’s a strange one because the way we batted at the start, we didn’t give ourselves much of a chance - but the knock by Ian Sharkey was unbelievable.

"It not only brought us back into the game but also gave us a chance of winning - and to lose was a tough one to take.

"We know that if we had won today then another victory against Philadelphia on Saturday would have guaranteed us promotion – but we’ll dust ourselves down and look forward to this weekend.”

Pearcey lost the toss and said: “I thought we bowled pretty well and the seamers started well in particular Matty Collins. Things were going along well until we got them (Castle Eden) eight wickets down – then there was a partnership of 49 and they got more runs than we would have liked. Nevertheless I was still happy to limit them to 162.”

He continued: “Castle Eden have got two decent opening bowlers but there were two or three loose shots from us which could have been better and losing four quick wickets was a turning point.

"To be fair David Rutherford and Cam Nichols batted well but it’s the best innings that I have ever seen from Ian Sharkey. I wasn’t nervous until we needed 15 runs to win then it became realistic that we could get over the line. Sharkey put every bad ball away and it was a shame he was on the losing side - if we had won the game we would have talked about Sharkey’s knock for years to come.”

Pearcey added: “We have two games left - but our sole focus will be on Saturday’s home clash against Philadelphia.”