11th December Harry - Post Telford/Warrington preview.

“We’ve all had a good weekend,” commented Spartans boss Harry Dunn following his, and his teams, return from a long weekend which saw them grab a point at AFC Telford. “We travelled on Friday down to Nottingham and the lads were in bed before 10.30 and I think that preparation showed in our performance” Dunn continued. “However a good night was had in Nottingham after the game – and a bit of a later night!”

“We weren’t intimidated by their fantastic ground and large partisan crowd – we weren’t going to let it get to us. The facilities there are comparable to League sides but that leads to high expectations on their part. Telford manager Bernard McNally understands this and, in addition, he said before the game that he received a shock at the beginning of the season with their poor start. He knows he needs bigger and better players. Having said that they’ve picked up recently and it was never going to be easy for us.”

Dunn made a change to the line up in midfield bringing in former Blackburn player Graham Fenton for Christian Graham. “It was unfortunate for Christian” he said, “as he’s done alright in recent games. But Graham’s experience is handy. He does the simple things to keep the game ticking over.”

Dunn admitted he was content with a point. “We competed well in trying circumstances, knocking it about well. We should have had a penalty early on when Robbie Dale was fouled in the box. I believe that if we had got that we would have gone on to win the game. I told the lads at half time that we had to be careful for the first 20 minutes of the second period when Telford would be kicking towards their own fans. We did well to come back after conceding and the really pleasing thing was Scott Bell scoring. What’s more he took it really well, showing great composure.”

“Telford’s manager said after the match that we were as good as any other side they’ve played there this season.”

With the vital FA Trophy tie next Saturday at Warrington looming large the Blyth manager was reflecting on the fitness of his squad. “Hopefully Robbie Dale will be fit after coming off on Saturday with a calf problem. Plus Alex Gildea is suffering with a groin pull. More seriously Dale Crawford had to come off against Telford with another knee injury.

“With regard to Warrington I know of a few of their players including the Mitchell brothers up front but I shall be talking to several people this week to find out more. But they have a decent playing surface and I don’t intend changing the way we play and am hopeful of a result.
“It looks like they are not performing in the League but are going well in Cup competitions and we are aware that they beat our league leaders North Ferriby 6-0 earlier in the competition. We shall train twice this week and I’m sure we’ll be up for the challenge.”