8th January 06 - Graham and Harry -Post Ossett - Pre Welling United

On the Sunday after Blyth threw away a 3-goal lead against Ossett, Spartans’ Assistant Manager Graham Fenton was still trying to fathom out what had happened.

“We started well but began to lose our way after the first fifteen minutes. Half time gave us the opportunity to re-group and we got hold of the game. But with ten minutes to go our work rate disappeared – I think some players thought the game was won. After that we just completely folded,” said Fenton, who was standing in for the absent Manager Harry Dunn.

So what exactly went wrong?

“I think there were two elements,” Fenton continued. “Indiscipline and a collective naivety contributed to the final result. To some extent the naivety was a result of a lack of experience in the squad but this is exactly the experience the players need to learn from. “It was a massive two points dropped by us but in terms of the forthcoming FA Trophy tie against Welling on Saturday at least it will be cautionary lesson.”

Manager Dunn’s absence was a result of him travelling to see St. Albans take on Saturday’s opponents Welling in a top of the table Conference South fixture which finished 3-1 to the hosts.

“ It was a good game,” Dunn reported. “The pitch had a slope like at Spennymoor and with St. Albans kicking down it in the first half they were all over Welling like a rash.

“The home side’s first goal looked offside while their second was from a deflected shot. The third was a bit of a fluke with a header after a shot which had hit the bar.

“The second half was a completely different story with Welling having 90% of the play and looking a completely different side.
“Day, in the middle for Welling, ran the show with the two lads up front looking like tidy players. The overall standard of the play was above Unibond Premier level with both sides enjoying knocking the ball around.

“From what I hear about our defending against Ossett we will be whipped if we play like that again on Saturday coming. Every team has a stinker now and again and we just have to hope that the Ossett game was ours for a while”

Dunn hopes to have several players back from injury for the Trophy tie including forward Liam Gildea, midfielder Christian Graham as well as influential defender Gareth Williams who missed the Ossett game through an incident in training last week.

Dunn concluded “We will have to be on our metal on Saturday and both Graham and myself will be working extremely hard during the week to make sure the lads are raring to go. This is a big game for us and we want to put Saturday behind us and put on a performance both for our own pride and for the Croft Park crowd.”