It seems that whatever your viewpoint was at Croft Park on Saturday – Blyth were lucky to get the 2-1 win over Radcliffe Borough in the FA Cup second qualifying round.

Were the Spartans lucky? “Yes” says General Manager Ian Evans who watched from the stands. “Yes,” says injured Blyth captain Peter Snowdon watching from the bench.
Answering the same question boss Harry Dunn, jokingly, put it another way, “Well, we didn’t plan to play rubbish and sneak it at the death!” he suggested.

“We actually had a decent start,” he added. “However we made problems for ourselves from our own slack play despite Radcliffe being sluggish in attack. Plus in the first period we were powder-puff up front. It turned into an open game but the players and the crowd were getting increasingly agitated as it went on.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy as I’d been tipped off that Radcliffe were not as bad as their League position suggested and their Manager told me before the game that they felt confident” said Dunn.
“To be honest with ten minutes to go I would have settled for a draw and being careful not to concede on the basis that we could go down there for a replay and play much better.”

Dunn was just relieved to have got through to the next round which will be played in a fortnight’s time.
“We managed to scrape through and when you look at some of the other results from the weekend you just have to be happy with that” he said citing the surprise defeats of Telford, Burscough and Gateshead. “You can take nothing for granted in the FA Cup so we’re just pleased to still be in the competition.”

Blyth midfielder Chris McCabe had another influential game driving the team on passion and verve. Dunn was particularly happy for him when he popped up the nudge the ball over the line for the winning goal.
“Chris deserved that because he has played ever so well for us over the last few games.”

Adam Bartlett, the Spartans’ England C goalkeeper, was pragmatic about the visitors’ stunning equaliser early in the second half.
“I don’t think Howson will ever do that again – it was just one of those efforts!” he suggested. “Maybe I was a little too far out of my goal but it was unstoppable.”