admitted that his side got precisely what they deserved at the weekend with defeat against fellow title chasers Castle Eden. The Mighty Acorns went down by 38 runs in what was their first reverse of the season in the Dukes ECB NE Premier League’s first division. Ashington were previously top of the table but slipped down to third as a result and they will approach Saturday’s home clash against Gateshead Fell – which represents the half way point in the campaign - with McCafferty stating that as a vacant Saturday follows, it is important that his side bounce back: “We didn’t start well in the field at Castle Eden and didn’t quite recover - and the performance was below par,” he said afterwards, “It was a difficult wicket to hit boundaries but not to stay in and score runs. Nobody apart from Ben Harmison and the two openers (Jack Jessop and Michael Levison) applied themselves or occupied the crease and looked to bat time and we didn’t deserve anything out of it. Naturally it’s disappointing to lose the leadership but with a performance like that, you cannot expect to be top of any league. We needed three or four runs an over and supporting Ben (Harmison) was our number one priority – but the batting performance - myself included – was massively off key especially the shot selection with too many players giving their wicket away. I don’t think we have become complacent - I just think it’s an application issue and people didn’t apply themselves enough in the second half today.” Looking ahead to the forthcoming tussle against Gateshead Fell, McCafferty added: “Apart from Castle Eden, things have gone well for us this term and if we win on Saturday, we will look back and say it has been a successful first half. After the Gateshead Fell game, we then have a free week - so it’s really important that we go into that free weekend on the back of a win.”