Despite a thick fog resulting in poor visibility at Croft Park on Saturday, Blyth Spartans manager Tommy Cassidy (pictured right) made one thing clear after seeing his side suffer defeat by a single goal at the hands of Gloucester City.
With Spartans now 13 points from safety it appears just a matter of time before relegation from the Blue Square Bet North is confirmed but Cassidy has vowed to supporters of the club that he and his players will look to ‘give them something back’ in the remaining seven games of what has been a disastrous campaign.
A clearly disappointed Cassidy said after Saturday’s game: “This is why I’m down because they’ve come along to support us and probably expected us to win today.”
“They’ve stuck with us and we’ve got to give them something back.”
And although Cassidy cannot promise what would now be a miracle in guiding Spartans out of the relegation zone he is still determined to remain in with a shout of survival for as long as possible.
“After Vauxhall Motors next Saturday we’ve got Solihull at home on the Tuesday and if we can win those two games I’m not saying we will stay up but at least it will keep the season alive.” said Cassidy.
“The table doesn’t interest me at the moment.” he added.
“I know it’s out of our hands but I’m just concentrating on trying to get three points at Vauxhall next Saturday.”
Prior to the weekend, Spartans had enjoyed a five game unbeaten run and looked likely to continue that sequence on the evidence of the opening 20 minutes.
But with the misfiring hosts unable to take the lead the visitors grew in confidence and went ahead from the penalty spot on 50 minutes – which Cassidy believes changed the complexion of the game.
He said: “We started off well in the first 20 minutes but took our foot off the pedal a bit and once they scored it was a different ball game.
“There wasn’t a lot in the game and we were certainly as good as them but we’re missing someone who can put the ball in the back of the net.”
Cassidy added: “Overall I think we deserved a draw today but we need to try and win ugly at times and we can’t seem to do that.”
The Ulsterman viewed the loss as a missed opportunity to gain ground on the sides above Blyth as fellow relegation candidates Hinckley United and Vauxhall Motors played out a 2-2 draw on Saturday.
“I was more disappointed after today’s game than I was six weeks ago because today we had a chance to put pressure on the teams above us but we didn’t take it.
“I’m looking at the Vauxhall game now next week and if we can win that then we’ll still have a little glimmer of hope.”