Blyth’s 4-1 victory on Saturday in their friendly against Clitheroe at Croft Park was judged by assistant manager Colin Myers as ‘very pleasing.’
However Myers, who was in charge of the team in the absence of boss Tom Wade, was not entirely happy.
“The big thing about the game was the fact that we played so strongly in the final 20 minutes,” he said. “We finished much stronger than Clitheroe which showed that what we have been doing in training is paying off in terms of our fitness. On the other hand our passing was disjointed and quite poor. We were passing the ball in the wrong areas and across the back four far too often with no purpose of going forward. We were also guilty of doing things too slowly, although it was quite hot! Clitheroe were a decent side especially in the middle of the park but we got to grips with them in the second half.”
During the game Myers was frequently heard exclaiming ‘Too straight!’
He explained: “We needed to angle our passes more to get behind their fullbacks. Hitting it too straight just ended up with their centre backs or the keeper getting the ball. It also becomes dangerous for our forwards, inviting the defenders to go through them on the basis getting to the ball.”
Striker Robbie Nolan scored two excellent goals and made a third.
Myers was delighted for him.
“Robbie is getting better with every game and scoring goals is obviously going to improve his confidence. I think that he and Daniel Maguire can form quite a partnership up front. Both are difficult to play against and work well together. You could see glimpses of that early on in Saturday’s match.”
Myers was definitely NOT delighted when full back Gareth Ayres headed straight for the dressing room on being substituted early in the second half.
“I was not pleased at all,” he commented. “I went after him and told him to get back out and on to the bench to support his team. We can’t have people acting individually like that, it’s a team game and we have to stick together. To be fair to him though, he was angry with himself because he thought he’d had a bad game.”
The Spartans brought on their third goalkeeper of the match with 30 minutes remaining. The trialist impressed Myers.
“He looked good, commanding his box well, organising the defence and reading the flight of the ball really well. His distribution was quality as well. We will take another look at him in our friendly with Morpeth on Tuesday.”