After 2 postponed games and countless arguments across Social Media, Spartans and Scunthorpe finally locked horns at Croft Park last night and the game ended up being one that’ll live long in the memory thanks to Billy Gordon’s late equaliser and some interesting decisions form the ref.
Prior to the game it was confirmed that JJ Hooper would join Michael Liddle, JJ O’Donnell, Alex Mitchell, Joe Oliver and Jordan Cook on the injury pile. Given that Hooper can be a game changer when he’s on the pitch and one of our only big physical threats at that end of the pitch, I feared we may be fucked without him.
On top of that, no Michael Liddle means no back 5 which has pretty much been our tried and tested formation for large parts of the last 18 months. Lidz is invaluable at the LWB position, and we simply don’t have anyone else in the squad who can offer the same attacking threat that he can at this position.
With that in mind, I really didn’t expect to get much from the game.
Due to those injuries we switched to a 4-5-1/4-3-3 with Bod’s moving over to LB, Forbes dropping back to CB alongside Finn. Hickey, Dev’s and McGowan were the midfield 3 with Charlie Aitken on the right, Thompson on the left and Harry Gardiner leading the line.
Scunthorpe may have been missing Cal Roberts and forward Whitehall was well of the boil, but that didn’t stop them taking control of the game very early. In the opening 15 minutes or so the visitors did little to really trouble Langley and mainly just held the ball in the middle park.
Things nearly went very wrong though as Scunny were awarded a free kick on the edge of box, though for some reason Whitehall dragged it back a few yards to take it. His effort looked destined for the top corner, but Langley was about to push it away.
Spartans did have a few chances to break as Scunthorpe pressed high up the pitch, but the ball would usually be lost or overhit as we just didn’t have the numbers going forward with Harry Gardiner looking rather isolated up top by himself as Will was often being dragged back to help the midfield.
Then came the big talking point. A ball was knocked on by Ogle from the Scunthorpe half and Whitehall was only just offside but play went on and FCD ended up taking it past Whitehall before losing the ball and Scales took advantage off his mistake and fired home.
Nobody in the crowd seemed to really complain and nor did the Blyth players, but the referee soon went over to have a chat with the lino on the far side of the pitch and the goal was ruled out. It seemed at first that the referee just gave Blyth a really strangely long advantage after the offside, which would have been a terrible call.
However, it turns out now that wasn’t the case. While the lino did flag for the offside on Whitehall, the ref didn’t see it. The play went on and after the goal, the lino pulled the ref over explaining that there had been a offside in the build up play. A great call from the lino to be fair.
The rest of the half saw Scunthorpe keep Blyth pressed down in our own third as they passed it about and tried to carve out chances. Spartans defence held out well and Forbes looked really solid, while Langley was collecting every cross Scunny put into the box.
The second half started and the flow of the game more or less stayed the same, with Scunny once again in control of possession and trying to breakdown the Spartans defence that was a lot more narrower and compact than usual. The change to a back 4 was working though, as all 4 defenders were zoned in and dealt with the Scunthorpe attack well as they limited clear cut chances.
About 10 min’s into the half McGowan darted past a few Scunthorpe defenders and managed to carve out a bit of space for Blyth’s first shot of the night, but that one went high and wide.
Blyth struggled to create many clear-cut chances after that, as Scunny pressed and pressed forcing some decent saves and catches from Dan Langley. Both Forbes and FCD were solid at the back and Evans and Bod’s were doing a brilliant job when it came to the away side trying to create something out wide and get in behind the defence.
Near the 80th minute mark Scunny might have had a penalty, as it appeared FCD brought down Wilson, but the ref ended up booking Wilson for diving. This seemed to nearly send Scunny gaffer Jimmy Dean over the edge but it was obviously down at the far end of the pitch, so we couldn’t really see a thing.
The deadlock was of course broken moments later, as Danny Elliot smashed a ball across the face of goal into the back of the net in the 81st minute. A good goal it has to be said, though Elliot’s celebrations were a bit over the top. You’d have thought he’d scored the winner in a World Cup final rather than scoring a goal in the National League North against a part time side with an average age of 23.
Arnison and Gordon came on to inject some fresh legs into the team as Blyth tried to have a go at grabbing an equaliser, but it just looked like the visitors would snatch the points and see out the game as they tried to keep the ball in the corner.
That didn’t happen though, as Finn’s clearance was captured in midfield and Arnison swung the ball out to Gordon on the right flank who took it past a defender or two and finally got a shot away which the Scunny keeper sort of juggled in the air as the ball went over the line.
Scunthorpe probably deserved to take the 3 points based on how much they dominated large parts of the game, but the Blyth lads gave it their all from start to finish and were rewarded for their sheer work rate with that equaliser.
I think were sometimes we forget how much fitter full-time clubs usually are and with our lads having just done a full day’s graft after travelling nearly 600 miles over the weekend, we should have been absolutely knackered at the end of the game and Scunthorpe should have seen that out comfortably. With that in mind, I was massively impressed with the lads commitment and effort last night and im thrilled they they were rewarded for their efforts.
Dan Langley won the the club’s Twitter poll for the MOTM award and I think he probably deserved it, though I think Forbesy deserves a bit of a shout out for his performance last night. Personally I’ve been hot and cold on him in midfield at times this season, but last night he was absolutely solid in defence and impressed a fair few of us.
As for Billy Gordon, that lad deserves a bit more game time. When he has played he’s been a threat and brilliant on the ball. He may have came into the squad without much fanfare in the summer but the lad seems to have bags of natural ability with the work rate to match. More of him please.
Defensively we were a lot more solid overall as well. Watching the highlights from Saturday made me feel sick in all honesty, as we gifted Hereford some absolutely shocking goals. Last night was a completely different story though and hopefully that continues, with the Hereford game proving to be a one off.
Onto Saturday against Buxton we go! Stay tuned for some news on on the foodbank collection for Saturday.
#HowayBlyth