Wey, no two ways about it, that result was painful in every sense of the word.
Last night’s 2-1 loss to Darlington now marks 10 league games in a row without a victory, in which we’ve gained just 2 points out of a possible 30.
In that time we’ve dropped from 10th place where we were 2 points off the play offs, to 18th place and 2 points above the drop zone. Sadly, this season has just completely fallen off the rails in the last 2 months or so.
Darlo set up with Matty Cornish, Cedric Main, Mitch Curry and Cam Salkeld all in the starting XI, so they had plenty of attacking options and were clearly looking to have a real go and take the game to Blyth.
As for Spartans, we set up in 5-4-1 formation with the 2 number 10’s and 2 lads in midfield, with the only change from Saturday being Finn Cousin Dawson returning to the squad at the expense of Joe Oliver.
For myself and a few others, changes in terms of the shape/set up were needed on top of a few personnel being rotated in/out of the team – so the tone around the club and the fed shed before the game amongst the lads was one of frustration.
Darlington probably started the brighter of the 2 teams, though both sides looked rather nervy in the opening 10 min’s or so. The only real chance Blyth had came from Lidz who didn’t hit his effort all that cleanly after Rhys hoyed a ball in from the right flank.
Former Spartan Matty Cornish was played in by Will Hatfield who had began to run the show, and after breaking into some space he launched a shot over the head of Alex Mitchell.
At first I thought Mitchell was looking a bit flat footed for the goal, but after watching it back it’s clear you would need a prime Adam Bartlett type of player to keep that out.
Spartans did grow into the game a bit, with goalkeeper Young being forced into a brilliant save after Will McGowan’s ball was diverted at goal by someone.
After that though Darlington seemingly began to boss position, with Will Hatfield playing well and running the show while bullying our midfield at times, despite Darlo’s frontline taking their foot off the the throttle in the later part of the first half.
Finn Cousin Dawson did have a chance at goal, as he launched a headed effort at the goalmouth but full back Kal Griffiths was able to boot it off the line.
Blyth continued to grow into the game as the first half went on, as we did begin to pass it about well and controlled some possession but we didn’t do much with it. Once again we just looked lacklustre in the final third though and just didn’t create much of note, and we were just to slow when it came to moving the ball around the pitch.
Before the end of the half, Jordan Cook was forced off with an injury and replaced with Luke James. Unsure if Cook will be out for a while or now, but I hope it’s nothing that serious.
As the second half got underway, Darlington took a hold of the game again lumped pressure on Spartans. Early on in the half Jamie Hutchinson’s favourite player (Tom Platt) rattled the post and Alex Mitchell was forced into making a decent save from Will Hatfield.
By now we were at the mercy of Darlo. They began to run at our defence and winger Mitch Curry had an effort at goal from 20-yards out that only just went passed the post. It would only take a few more minutes for someone to make it 2-0 though, as forward Cameron Salkeld was allowed to dance through defence and slot a ball into the corner of the goal under Alex Mitchell.
At this point I’ll admit, I pretty much just lost interest in the game and started re-watching the video of Humey getting ran over on repeat just to cheer me up.
To be fair though, the lads heads did not drop and they continued to chase balls down and graft. By now Hooper had been brought on and so had Zanda Siziba, as we seemed to make a switch to what looked like a 4-3-3.
After a bit of an overlap, Evans did have a run towards goal before Young tipped his effort over the bar. Darlo almost struck back though, as Reeve had to clear an effort from Jarrett Rivers off the line.
Spartans maintained pressure on the visitors in the final 10 min’s as we finally began to look like a proper threat in goal, before Siziba finally netted a goal after a goal mouth scramble following a Nicky Deverdics corner.
The lads had a real go in the dying moments of the game, with Hooper’s header was booted off the line.
Sadly though we left it to late to come to life, and Darlington picked up a deserved win.
After the game the players and management received an enormous backlash from the terraces, which is something I can’t say I’ve seen for a long time. Ultimately though supporters frustrations boiled over after what has simply been a dreadful 2 months. Slipping back into yet another relegation battle for the 5th season in a row is just dejecting.
Afterwards in the club that the players and the management were upset/frustrated with last night and our form of late in general. It was obvious that they all really care about the place and want to succeed here at Blyth.
Looking at the remaining fixtures though, I have faith that we can beat the drop. After the last few games it’s really hard to be positive about things right now of course but we’ve got enough about us to stop up, especially when you look at who the likes of Banbury, Rushall and Peterborough have left to play.
At the moment I’m unsure of the breakdown when it comes to crowd numbers, but I’d suspect that Darlington probably had as many in the away end as we did in the home end. At most we probably had 650 at Croft Park last night, which is poor turnout but at the same time – I really don’t blame anyone for not bothering with last night.
With the teams form dipping and performances dropping off in recent weeks – it’s tough for the 200/250 floaters we have to justify the time and money it takes to follow the club.
Off the pitch though, it wasn’t a good night. It appears that alcohol will be stopped from coming into the ground after a plastic pint glass was thrown onto the pitch, which the referee noted and put in his report.
Whilst personally I don’t exactly see a major issue with half a pint of lager being hoyed in the general direction of an opposition goalkeeper, these days if anything gets thrown on the pitch the FA are shit hot on the issue – as fine’s and further scrutiny usually follows.
It’s sad that after having pushed for alcohol to be allowed into the ground for so that it looks like it’s being taken away already.
On top of that were a few other rumours flying round last night, one being that the Supporters Club was being scrapped. Oh according to someone, Nigel Pearson is line to be our next manager? That makes my top 5 ‘Maddest Blyth Spartans rumours list’ for sure.
Ultimately last night was an almighty kick in the dick. We’re down but certainly not out. The lads really need a pick me up ahead of the weekend, as we face yet another 6 pointer away Southport, who’ve just won 3 games on the bounce and beat play off chasing AFC Chester City last night.
