Wey once again, that didn’t exactly go to plan. Spartans were played off the park by Blyth Town, who for the second year running romped to a 4-0 win – lifting the inaugural Gateway Cup in the process.
Prior to the game on a sun-kissed evening at Gateway Park, we were all greeted with a warm welcome by Town First Team Chairman Scott Douglas at the gate. A Blyth lad who’s been involved with Town for a little over 12 months, Scott has always been an absolutely gem every time us lads been to Town over the last year or so.
A very open and honest bloke who’s a good laugh to be around, it’s clear that him, Sandra and Jeff Orr have clear and solid plans for Town’s future. And to be fair to all of them, they seem to be doing things the right way on and off the pitch.
Before the ‘action’ got underway, we enjoyed a few rounds of Cruzcampo – one of which Scott kindly got in for us lot. Though we all paid that back several times over afterwards, by staying at Town’s clubhouse for a good few hours after the final whistle – which was more than needed in end!
As for the scran, that was actually quite canny. Rather than the usual bait hut, they brought in a burger van called ‘Wor Scran’ for the occasion – which was really good value for money. A solid 8.3/10 from us!
Anyway, now it’s time to talk about the football…
Spartans began with Harrison Bond in goal (yet to be announced Gateshead player on loan), Joe Oliver at right back, Donaldson and Clark at centre back, with trialist left back Henry Harvey returning to the starting XI.
Michael Woods and Dev’s began in the centre of midfield, while trialist Belchior Rodrigues began as the number 10. Forward Michael Ndiweni returned, finally playing as a striker – while new man Benedetti and Hartlepool United youngster Max Storey played on the flanks.
As for Town, they were actually without a few starters. Club captain Joe Gibson missed the game, while winger Brandon Slater and a few other regulars from last season began on the bench – along with a whole host of their new signings.
As for the game itself, it’s rather pointless over describing it. In short, the first 15(ish) mins were mostly dominated by Town. Spartans did string a few passages of play together, but Town began to take control of the game, finding success down both flanks.
30 mins in, Town finally broke the deadlock. Dan Wilson latched onto a loose ball, taking it past Harrison Bond and firing into the back of an empty net. Que ‘pint time’ for the Spartans fans behind that goal, who had not seen much inspiring football thus far.
While most of us missed it, Town did make it 2-0 right before halftime. Spartans heads had completely dropped after conceding the first goal, and Town were able to comfortably carve Spartans open for Ben Franklin to score.
Before most of us made it out for the second half, it was 3-0. Nen of us knew what happened, though it sounded like a ball had been deflected past on onrushing Spartans player into the back of the net, to realistically kill off any hope of Spartans mounting a real comeback.
In all honesty, none of the Spartans contingent were truly bothered or surprised by that, as Town had been that dominant throughout most of the game. Quite frankly, they were in the midst of teaching Spartans a footballing lesson.
By the time most of us had reached the doorway of the clubhouse (or in some cases left) it was 4-0, as Louis Calvert had tapped home in the 83rd minute.
While Spartans had made a number of changes by this point, none of them were really able to make any real impact on the game – and Town ran out 4-0 winners in very comfortable fashion. Had Town taken their chances, it could have even been 5-0 or 6-0!
Despite winning by the same margin they had done last year, Town had somehow cruised to an even more comfortable win than they had 12 months ago. Other than a few flashes in first half, Spartans once again, offered very little going forward for the 4th game in a row.
Town almost won the game without their manager or assistant – as Mickey Connor was still away on holiday, and assistant Gav Fell had been stuck in Turkey! The latter of the 2 arriving just 4 min’s before the kick off. Longtime physio Alan ‘ruff’ Rutherford was also a miss, leaving coach Dave Patterson and keeper coach Paul Mulligan to prepare the Town lads for the game.
Once again though, it’s more than clear that Spartans are in desperate need of a total fucking shake – and the last two performances and results seriously needs to act as a wake up call.
Again, it’s difficult to blame Nobby. It feels like he’s being hung out to dry at present – and he seriously needs some experienced players in to bolster the squad. He’s been left to build an entirely new squad from scratch, has little to no contacts in the non-league game – and has been presented with a group of trialists that for the most part, just won’t make the grade.
In short, he really needs to cast some magic if we’re going to be contenders in the Pitching In Northern Premier League Premier Division this season. At the rate we’re going, we’re at serious risk of doing a Bradford Park Avenue.
Sadly though, nobody seems to have a clue what the plan is going forward. Nobody seems to want to take accountability for what’s going on as well, which is truly terrifying. In short, people at that football club need to step up and face up to our current plight.
At present, it feels like we’re sleepwalking into yet another relegation battle. And if we don’t add some real quality to the squad in the next few weeks, we are truly fucked.
The mentality of the football club is best summed up by the player that is already actively touting himself to other teams, looking to get one of the deals he was offered elsewhere in the summer.
Finally though, we do have to genuinely congratulate Blyth Town for their performance last night and thank them for their warm welcome once again. A well ran team with a clear vision going forward, chances are they’ll be gunning for promotion once again this season!
