As pre-season openers go, it’s safe to say that one probably won’t live to long in the memory.
Spartans lined up with Michael Hogan in goal, Joe Oliver at right-back, Ben Milburn and Ryan Donaldson at centre-back with trialist Henry Harvey (formerly of Blyth Town) at left back.
In midfield, new singing Lucas Reed played in a holding role – flanked by Michael Woods and Michael Ndiweni (listed as a trialist) with Gordon and Aitken on the wing. A trialist from last season in David Allasan, started up front to give us a 4-4-1-1 look.
Eyebrows were of course raised with Donaldson’s positioning, who’s never been known to play CB thus far in his career. As for Michael Ndiweni, the striker/winger began in a centre midfield/attacking midfield role.
In fairness though, Donaldson didn’t really do much wrong – putting in a competent display in defence. It’s unclear as to whether Ryan just filled at centre-back, or Nobby plans on using him there in the long term. Personally I would say Donaldson still has a bit more to offer further up the pitch – though I was surprised how well he coordinated in defence. In reality though, we would need to see him do that against better opposition.
New boys Lucas Reed and Ben Milburn were rather impressive in fairness. Sat in the holding midfield role, Reed was capable of dropping back into defence from his role in midfield, while also acting as a box to box midfielder at times. At one point he even managed to sprint all the way up the pitch and unleash a canny shot at goal.
Coming from the Gibraltar Football League, I was originally a tad wary about his ability – but he managed to put any doubts I had to bed yesterday. With some regular first team football against better opposition, Lucas may well grow into a key player.
As for Ben Milburn, I think he just likes kicking people. Fresh of his England University XI appearance, he spent most of the game sliding around the pitch and winning just about every ball. Given that Ben has been pegged (not literally) as a player with bags of potential for a number of years, I’ve no doubt he’ll thrive in this league if he’s given the chance. Especially if he has an older and more experienced partner alongside him.
I was rather excited to see Michael Ndiweni play, though him being shoehorned into a central role seemed to nullify him. Given that he’s at best on the wing, he was unable to really use his pace or superior technical ability to take on defenders one-on-one.
He did feature for Darlington last night and has trained with us, Gateshead and supposedly Hebburn in recent weeks – so I’d expect he wasn’t at his sharpest yesterday. Hopefully he gets another chance to impress next week against North Shields and Gateshead, while being used in a more natural position.
As for the first half, it was a rather dull affair. In all honesty, the best bit of play from Spartans came in the first half, with Billy Gordon darting past 2 or 3 defenders to unleash a shot at goal, only for David Allasan to tap home after the keeper parried it.
Formerly of Hebburn and East Kilbride, Allasan was on trial for us last season – though Fents decided not to offer him a deal. Used more as a winger previously, it was a bit of a surprise to see him used a sole striker – with Ndiweni just behind him. That being said, he did look very comfortable up top, and probably deserves another chance come Tuesday.
Michael Woods looked sharp in the heart of midfield, playing some good balls into forwards and keeping the midfield organised. Joe Oliver looked pretty solid at right back as well, with Benfield unable to do much down our right flank as he was in full control throughout the first half.
Benfield’s goal ended up coming from goalkeeping error – with Hogan rushing out to clear a ball on the edge of the penalty area but he missed it, leaving Benfield’s new signing Glen Hargrave to tap home into the back of an empty net.
The second half saw Spartans take control of the game in midfield, though they would largely be ineffective the final third. They defended well and the build up play was okay, but the play in the final third was a tad sloppy. In fairness though that was to be expected – given the number of trialists that were getting thrown on during the second half, so tactical cohesion wasn’t really a thing.
Benfield themselves looked okay in the fist half and did impress in short spells. They began to fade in the second half though, and their defence had to do a lot of work to keep the score at 1-1. In fairness though, they were dogged and probably deserved a draw.
As for the winning goal, Joe Oliver darted down the right flank to swing a cross in that a trialist (number 17 I think?) tried to stab home but the keeper pulled off a good block – but the ball was pushed onto a Benfield defender and it deflected off his foot into the back of the net.
A decent win, though not a very entertaining game it has to be said. Paying £8 to watch a team of trialists take on a bottom half Northern League team isn’t for most, with the crowd apparently being bang on 300.
None of us got a chance to check out the club store admittedly, though I’m sure we all will next week when the new home and away kits are out.
As for the scran, that was apparently fine as ever. Pieface ate it without complaint (which is a big compliment really). The pricing was still a bit steep however.
As for some of the other trialists that featured for Spartans yesterday, they included Gee Baltazar who played for us on trial last season. The winger spent last season with West Allotment Celtic after his summer with Spartans.
Marcello Benedetti was another former West Allotment Celtic player to feature yesterday. The former Sheffield Wednesday academy player had a 2 year break from football due to an ankle injury, returning to play for Seaton Delaval and Newcastle City in the Northern Alliance Premier Division. Last season he played 13 times for West Allotment, netting 3 goals. He moved onto Whitley Bay later on in the season and made just 4 appearances.
As for Henry Harvey who started the game at left back, he’s previously been with Newcastle Independent and Seaton Delaval in the Alliance Premier Division and Bedlington Terriers while he was at Morpeth’s academy. He spent some time with Blyth Town in the Northern League’s 2nd division last season, while also playing for the Three Sails Athletic on a Sunday.
While a few other trialists did feature, we’ve ne clue who they are just yet. Number 17 who looked played on the right wing looked canny, but the rest of the lads were largely forgettable. In fairness to some of them though, they didn’t really get much time on the pitch.
Harrison Clark missed the game, though he was doing some running in the warm ups – so I expect he’s shaking off an injury. Nicky Deverdics didn’t feature at all, with him seemingly acting as the assist manager for the day.
As present we’ve still ne idea who the assistant manager will be, though I don’t think many will be opposed to Dev’s getting the job – given his experience in non-league football.
Sporting Director Steve Howard oversaw this one as well, accompanied by former manager Tom Wade (who’s apparently played a part in scouting this summer) and former Newcastle United player Oliver Bernard.
And that’s pretty much it for yesterday. Apparently the radio coverage covered the news of Harrison Bond’s impending arrival like it had already been announced? So I’d expect the trio of Gateshead players that are meant to be arriving to be announced ASAP.
Onto Tuesday at Ralph Gardner Park we go to take on North Shields, who’ll likely give us a bit of a stronger test.