Blue Square North
Southport 2 Blyth Spartans 1

Spartans came away from the North West feeling very disappointed in not at least picking up a point in a very much improved performance.

It was the away side that made the better openings in the opening half an hour. Andrew Leeson finding Robert Dale down the left wing before Dale’s pass into Martin Houlahan saw the striker pull his effort narrowly wide. And then keeper Richard Whiteside’s poor clearance gave Dale the chance to try his luck from 40 yards but he put the shot just over the bar.

Then on 31 minutes the home side took the lead. A corner on the left floated in by Mark Duffy was flicked on at the near post by Kevin Lee for Chris Lever to head home at the back post.

The start of the 2nd half saw Spartans pressing again and Dale forced Whiteside into another save after a mazy dribble.

Then on the hour what could have been the deserved equaliser saw Gareth Williams first effort parried by Whiteside and from the rebound Williams hit the post with his effort.

2 minutes later the Spartans were 2 down. Peter Snowdon failed to clear a centre, Neil Robinson clearly handled the ball before releasing Mark Houghton to slot home.

Spartans got a life line on 71 minutes. A William’s corner head home by captain Snowdon.

Then late on good linkup between Adrian Webster and Houlahan found Chris McCabe who turned and shot over from 12 yards.

Spartans: - 1 Adam Bartlett, 2 Ben Christensen, 3 Andrew Leeson, 4 Peter Snowdon, 5 Richard Forster, 6 Gareth Williams (sub Richard Logan), 7 Adrian Webster, 8 Chris McCabe, 9 Robert Dale, 10 Martin Houlahan, Alex Gildea (sub Michael Hedley).
Sub not used: - Graham Fenton.