Blyth Spartans will face a Monday night trip to the Horsfall Stadium as they take on Bradford (Park Avenue) in an Emirates FA Cup second qualifying round replay.
The Spartans were not able to advance to the third qualifying round of the FA Cup on Saturday as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Croft Park after Jack Bodenham’s opener was cancelled out by Harry Colville with just eight minutes left to play.
TICKET INFORMATION
You can buy tickets at the gate on the day. All ticket information is as follows:
- Adults – £13
- Concessions (over 65) – £10
- Students (with a valid ID) – £5
- Youth (12-17) – £3
- Under-12s are admitted for free
TEAM NEWS
Jordan Hickey was withdrawn on Saturday afternoon which looked to be due to a knock, questions remain over his availability for Monday night’s replay. Nicky Deverdics took part in the pre-game warm-ups and Graham Fenton mentioned in his post-match interview that he is pushing close to returning to action.
So to Lewis Knight, however, his progress on his individual setback seems to be a little further adrift than Deverdics’ situation.
WHAT WE’RE SAYING
Following a draw against Bradford (Park Avenue) in the FA Cup, Graham Fenton said: “Poor. No two ways about it, it was boring, it was slow. We had half a team who had performed well enough on the day and half the team who didn’t.
“The biggest disappointment was some of the character traits we showed today were disgusting and it won’t be tolerated at this football club, so the players will learn or they won’t learn and if they don’t learn they’ll not be here.
“It’s that simple, that was disgusting at times of certain people, so it’s up to the characters coming back bounce and show us that they got personality and character, work ethic, resilience, humility, honesty, traits we talk about.”
OPPOSITION
Residing at the Horsfall Stadium, The Green Army currently play in the Pitching In Northern Premier League Premier Division, having been relegated from the National League North the season prior finishing in 23rd place on 46 points, four behind the Spartans.
This season, Bradford (PA) had a slow start to the season, having not won until their fourth league game. They sit 16th in the Northern Premier League on eight points, most recently losing their last league match 2-0 away to FC United of Manchester.
In the FA Cup, Park Avenue joined in the first qualifying round where they beat Consett AFC 2-0 away from home at Belle View Stadium.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
After a draw at Croft Park in the FA Cup second qualifying round Mark Bower said: “It turned into a crazy one didn’t it, in the second half, especially end to end and you know first half we started ok, we kept the ball reasonably well in our half and when we went forward we weren’t great as we gave it away too often.
“Our chances, not chances on goal but when we got in the final third, that final pass let us down. They’re a possession-based team, they kept the ball well which caused us a few problems and got in behind, scored a goal where we had opportunities to clear and we didn’t deal with that very well and the lad hits it well from the edge of the box.”
LAST TIME WE MET
On Saturday the sides were held to a 1-1 draw at Croft Park as Jack Bodenham opened the scoring from the edge of the area, but Harry Colville scored the equaliser with eight minutes to play.
On February 20, 2023, Blyth won 1-0 through a goal from Troy Chiabi just before the hour mark. The Green Army’s Reece Staunton was also sent off in the 95th minute of the match.
Earlier this season at Croft Park Bradford (PA) got the better of Blyth during their Tuesday night trip to the North-East as Eddie Church’s early goal after 13 minutes was the only goal of the game as Blyth lost 1-0.
MEDIA COVERAGE
You can follow all of the action on Monday night via our social media platforms.