By Liam O’Brien
Blyth Spartans travel to the Horsfall Stadium to take on Bradford (Park Avenue) on Saturday with Lee Clark’s side looking to win their first points of the campaign.
A tough start for Spartans sees them without a win in the opening four games, however can take the positives from their first-half performance at home to Hereford last weekend.
But Clark and co will feel this is a good opportunity to register their first points of the season against a Park Avenue side, who themselves haven’t endured the best of beginnings.
The opposition
Bradford (Park Avenue) are in a similar position to the Spartans this season, both enduring a summer of change on-and-off the pitch.
Like Blyth, Bradford appointed a new interim manager in Marcus Law and like Clark, practically inherited and acquired a whole new playing squad for the upcoming season.
The two sides’ start to the term is uncanny, with Bradford suffering four heavy defeats this season – including back-to-back 5-0 defeats – but do have a point on the board after a 1-1 draw at Gateshead.
Manager
Marcus Law is currently in-charge on an interim basis after replacing Garry Thompson, who only replaced Mark Bower in the summer, left on August 7.
Law won the Southern Football League Premier Division Central title with Kettering Town last season, which saw them promoted to the National League North, but he left the role in June 2019.
Key man
Summer signing and former Sheffield United defender Ryan Cresswell is a key figure for Bradford and brings with him a wealth of experience having made over 260 EFL appearances.
Cresswell has also appeared for clubs such as Eastleigh, Northampton Town, Fleetwood Town, Southend United, and Bury FC.
Last meeting
When the sides met at the Horsfall Stadium in January, Robbie Dale broke the club’s all-time appearance record with his 626th outing in Green and White.
However, it wasn’t to end on the highest notes for Dale, whose 93rd-minute penalty was saved by Steven Drench to deny Spartans a 2-1 win.
Sean Reid opened the scoring in the first-half, however, Blyth were pegged back when Connor Branson levelled against the run of play.