The road signs on the way into Telford read “The Birthplace of Industry.” That may well be so but it was Blyth who where by far the more industrious on Saturday as the Spartans imperiously swept the Shropshire side away with a display of grit and guile.

The 2-1 scoreline did nothing to reflect Blyth’s all round superiority against their hosts whose showing was, at best, comprehensively underwhelming. Telford Manager Rob Smith put it even stronger “We were an absolute joke today from number one to eleven. The player’s ratings in the papers tomorrow should contain some nought out of tens. We trained hard this week and were up against a Blyth side which had just travelled over 5 hours on a coach, had some key players out and could only name 3 substitutes and they humiliated us! “I’m really hurting – this was the worst performance I’ve seen in nine years of management and we were lucky to get away with only a 2-1 scoreline. They could have had 6 or 7 ” he fumed.

Drawing breath Smith went on “It is not acceptable to me or the Club. I will have to look harder at myself as the buck stops with me. I’m shocked and appalled plus we’re kidding ourselves if we think we can progress in the League as things stand.”

Telford scorer Simon Forsdick said little to lighten the home mood. “We treat the FA Trophy with the utmost respect and everyone is very disappointed plus it’s got to be said that Blyth worked very hard.”

Smith’s opposite number Harry Dunn was quietly pleased. “Yes, we did well. We were by far the better side and could have scored a hat-full. It was a horrendous journey for us but we got on with the job. I thought Telford looked vulnerable at the back when we played them down there two weeks ago in the League so I reckoned we could trouble them with the pace of Andy Johnson and Martin Houlahan instead of using the big lads. Indeed they both took their goals well – the first being a calm finish and Houlahan’s similarly so after a neat one-two around Telford’s centre backs. “Michael Hedley did well just behind them with flick-ons and did what he had been told – ‘do nothing fancy and just keep the ball moving’.”

He continued “Defensively we had little to do with Adam Bartlett in our goal having a quieter time than in the League game although Andrew Leeson did extremely well to clear the ball off the goal line in the second half.”

Dunn is hoping to have strikers Phil Bell and Robbie Dale available again for next week’s clash at mid-table Alfreton. “It will give me some selection problems but as we get more players available again I’m hoping that the second half of our season will be a lot better than the first half.”

Certainly if the Telford match is anything to go by then Dunn’s optimism will be justified. As well as being the “Birthplace of Industry” Telford may prove to be “The Birthplace of the Spartans Revival” too.