There were some old faces in attendance for a presentation before kick off at Croft Park on Saturday.

Unfortunately there were no new faces in the Spartans’ playing squad for the match. And they were long faces in the crowd after 90 minutes.

The Non League Directory award for Blyth’s contribution to non league football over the last 30 years was received by several former players and Managers although the performance, which followed the presentation, did little to reflect past glories.
Blyth boss Harry Dunn was not helped in this regard as two possible new additions to his squad couldn’t be secured last week. It left his squad brittle and vulnerable for a game which was full of blood and thunder but which was ultimately frustrating for both players and spectators alike.

“Former Middlesborough player Dean Gordon decided to join Whitby Town and I haven’t been able to get hold of Harrogate’s Manager Neil Aspin to try and sign the experienced striker Kirk Jackson,” said Dunn. “I’ll be asking Aspin about Jackson when we play his side in the Setanta Shield this Tuesday.”

Blyth will be without forward Phil Bell for a couple more weeks and were also without new attacker Andrew Johnson who had booked holidays before joining the Club.

But it wasn’t only up front which left Dunn frustrated. “We were awful defensively,” he added. “We conceded bad goals – in fact all six goals in the game, including our own, were shoddy! “When we went one up after two minutes I thought – champion, but whereas we battled hard last week at Kettering we were bullied out of Saturday’s game and sometimes played like we’d never seen a ball before. Adrian Webster and Alex Gildea in midfield were knocked out of their stride and Redditch’s route one football gave us problems. They had no stars in their team but they worked hard.”

Blyth goalkeeper Adam Bartlett complained that he had been fouled for the first goals while Dunn was left to rue a penalty claim which didn’t go his way when Robbie Dale was fouled in the first half. “Their player should have been sent off for kicking Dale but just as the referee at Kettering was eagerly on top of everything this one let things go!”

The Spartans travel this weekend to Southport who, like Kettering, are full-time and Dunn anticipates what he calls “another difficult weekend.”