Spartans winger Robbie Dale reflected on the 5-3 Doodson Sports Cup win over Stocksbridge Park Steels and insisted extra time should have never been needed. It was Dale who gave Spartans a 4-3 lead in extra time and that coupled with Daniel Maguire’s first goal for the club ensured that Paddy Atkinson’s side were in the hat for the third round draw. Dale though feels his side should have wrapped the game up much earlier. He said “We should have had it sewn up when we were 2-1 up and we had chances to do that but we got sloppy. We let them get the lead that they should never have had and we were thankful for big Andy(Jennings) for taking the game into extra time. We were the better team and our fitness meant that we were always confident of winning in extra time.”
With four goals in three games against the South Yorkshire outfit this season Dale is something of a nemisis for the Steels. The winger grabbed a brace at Croft Park in Spartans opening home game of the season and in the return fixture just three weeks later he curled a twenty yard effort that was probably surpassed by his wonder goal tonight. Dale revealed his delight at the goal and joked of his fondness of playing the Steels. He said “Yeah I like playing them, I’ve scored a couple of good goals at their place this year and I guess they are just a lucky team for me. I was really happy with tonight’s goal but it’s more important that we have won the game.”
Whilst Dale is somewhat a veteran at Spartans one player who is just starting out his Croft Park career is striker Daniel Maguire and the youngster netted his first Spartans goal to seal the win. Dale was delighted to see the former Seaton Delaval striker get his maiden goal in the green and white and his admiration of the striker’s finish. “It’s always nice to get your first goal and it’s great that it was the killer goal. In fact I was just saying it’s probably the hardest chance he has had in the games he has had. It’s on his left foot with the keeper coming out and he got about a yard to aim at and he has nailed it, the keeper didn’t stand a chance.”
Since the festive break Spartans have been in much improved form with a narrow defeat to table toppers North Ferriby United the only negative in the last four game and Dale wants his side to carry on their form over the coming weeks. He said “It’s great to get two wins in a row and we are confident. We have a couple of tough looking games coming up starting at Chorley on Saturday but we have to build on what we have.”