Once again, it all looks like it’ll go down to the wire. Scunthorpe United require one more win in order to secure 2nd place home advantage in the play offs and a bye in Quarter Final’s. As for Blyth, we need 3 points and more from the team with the best home record in the league.
The Opposition
Since this is 4th time we’ve previewed a Blyth Spartans vs Scunthorpe United game this season, we won’t waste your time by going into great detail on each of these lads as we’ll just be repeating ourselves. In short, Danny Whitehall is mint. Cal Roberts is a belta and just coming back from injury. Former Derby County man Jacob Butterfield is having a very good season in midfield – as is Kian Scales.
In fairness they have a lot more about them than just those lot – and it’ll take a lot to get a result on the day due to the quality they have.
With it being their final home game of a fairly disappointing season for them, they’ll likely want to put on a show wrap up 2nd place in style.
Blyth Team News
JJ O’Donnell is of course done for the season, as is Michael Liddle it would seem. Alex Mitchell won’t be back for this one as far as I’m aware – nor will forward Harry Gardiner. Midfielder Harry Arnison is also expected to be missing as well. Joe Oliver, Malakai Reeve & Jordan Cook all returned to the side last week and may be in contention to get a start on Saturday, but we’ve ne idea just yet on the progress of forward JJ Hooper.
Predicting a line up here is rather tricky again due to injuries but based on previous games, if Hoops is set to return then he’ll likely comeback from the bench. That would leave Jordan Cook and Luke James to lead the line for Blyth, likely in 5-3-2 set up.
A back 4 is still a possibility as well if Shawsy and Dickman want to use Bod’s at LB, and move Thompson onto the wing in more of a 4-5-1 set up. Like we’ve seen in previously in the season, we may even see Joe Oliver inserted back into the team with Evans moved over to LB. Either way, it’s all going to be a bit of a headache for the management team.
Fan Info
At present we still have a fair few seats left on both supporters busses. If you’re interested in getting booked on, you can find all the information you’ll need here. For those that are already booked on the bus, please can you make sure you keep it tidy and use the bins provided, and if you are brining any ‘beverages’ onboard – please bring them in a backpack or something like that.
Soulsby will also be doing another one of his famous predictors which will more than likely take the entirety of the journey, so make sure you bring some change for that and a few domino cards.
Instead of doing some kind of fancy dress, this year we’ll just be having a retro shirt day! So dig out your favourite old Spartans shirt if you’re coming down and can still fit into it. If you can’t, by all means grease up or just paint it on.
Before the game we’ll be heading to a pub called Take A Gander, which is located on the picturesque outskirts of Scunthorpe. They have a wide variety of stuff on tap including Carling, Madri, John Smiths, Carling’s weird version of dark fruits, Neck Oil and something called Reveller?
They’ll also be hoying some free bacon sarnie’s on as well. Hopefully we should land right before the Toon vs Spurs game starts for those wanting to watch that. Come 2:30pm, we’ll be shooting straight off to the ground.
We’ll be seated in the south end of the ground in the AMS stand, tickets for which you can find here. At present we only have one section open for tickets which you can see below. I’d except once we start selling more tickets a bigger part of the away section will be open. Thankfully for us, they sell drink at the ground.
As for pubs near the ground, you’re shit out of luck in all honesty. The Iron Bar at the other end of the ground does welcome away fans, as does the Hungry Horse located in the same industrial estate.
Afterr the game we’ll be straight back on the bus, and likely be heading to the Masons for some celebratory or commiseration drinks.
Ref Watch
Saturday’s referee is Jake Allsopp, a former Birmingham FA young referee of the year. He’s dished out 25 yellow cards across his 6 National League North and South games this season. It seems he’s reffed in the Southern Premier League for most of this season, and doesn’t seem to have caused too much controversy. At least not yet anyway.
Betting Preview
Naturally Scunny are favourites for this one and the odds are rather short for them according to this really dodgy website I’ve found, as Oddschecker hasn’t got anything for National League North or South yet.
Getting a result against these is going to be a big ask. My head says they’ll get a reasonably comfortable win, but I can’t help but hope we’ll pull out a draw or possibly even sneak a win with a bit of luck. Either way, it’s safe to say I’m already fairly stressed ahead of Saturday.