Blyth Spartans return to Croft Park after two away games as they host Hereford in the Vanarama National League North.
The Spartans lost their first league game of the season in the 93rd minute against Scarborough Athletic as Harry Green won the game for The Seadogs, giving them their second win of the season.
Spartans now sit sixth in the National League North table having won two and lost one.
TICKET INFORMATION
You can buy tickets with cash or card at the gate on the day or online here. All ticket information is as follows:
- Adults – £15 standing
- Concessions (over 65) – £9
- 11-16 Years & Students – £6
- Under-10s are admitted for free when accompanied by a paying adult.
To be seated in the Port of Blyth main stand, an extra £2 cost will be incurred for each category.
TEAM NEWS
Despite playing on Tuesday night, Jack Bodenham’s suspension will be enforced from last Saturday when he was sent off against Warrington Town and he will miss the match against Hereford.
Harry Arnison is edging nearer to a return to action off the back of injury but JJ O’Donnell is expected to be absent against Hereford after being withdrawn at half-time against Scarborough on Tuesday evening.
New signing Joe Oliver will be in contention to make his debut for the Club having been confirmed on Friday evening.
WHAT WE’RE SAYING
After suffering their first defeat of the season against Scarborough, Graham Fenton said: “It’s a difficult one to take when you’re conceding in injury time at the end of a game, but I’d say there are a lot more positives to take than negatives.
“If they’d have scored in the first half, it would have been easier to take as they had us under pressure at certain times, particularly under pressure from set-pieces and things like that.
“We know how they play, it’s very direct, get it in their half and they have bright forward players who cause you problems at times and they did it on occasion, but second half we adjusted things and dominated large periods of the second half without creating too much.”
OPPOSITION
Known as The Bulls, Hereford FC were founded on December 22, 2014, after Hereford United dissolved on December 19, 2014. Gaining three promotions in their first three years as Hereford FC, they have been an established National League North club since they arrived in the division in 2018.
New manager Paul Claddis has so far overseen a 2-2 opening draw away from home against Kings Lynn Town, a 1-0 win against Darlington and most recently another 1-0 win at home to newly promoted side, Rushall Olympic, through Jordan Cranston’s penalty which was converted on the stroke of half-time.
They ended last season in sixteenth position in the National League North, winning 15 out of their 46 league games, finishing with 55 points.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Following their second 1-0 win in a row to continue their unbeaten start, Paul Claddis said: “Let’s be honest, I thought we were poor, I thought Rushall were much better than us.
“I’ll look back at the game and make my mind up exactly where it went wrong, but I’m not going to sit here and criticise these players, I just said to them after the game, there were 22 new players which were brought in together for eight weeks, we’ve gone away to Kings Lynn on a long travel, home to Darlington with a massive crowd, and home tonight with the pressure on us to go and win the game.
“We’ve taken seven points from three games, so let’s not be too gloomy and it’s not bad to play poor in one [game].”
LAST TIME WE MET
The two sides met on the final day of last season as Blyth needed a win to ensure survival. The Spartans put up a fight to secure a 5-0 victory when they needed it most. Michael Spellman, Cedric Main, Nicky Deverdics, JJ O’Donnell and Jaden Ferguson all got one goal each as Blyth recorded their biggest win of the 2022/23 season on the final day.
However, earlier in the season at Edgar Street Stadium, Jack Holmes opened the scoring for The Bulls and second half goals from Ryan McLean and James Caton secured a 3-0 win for Hereford.
MATCHDAY PROGRAMME PREVIEW
Be sure to pick up the third issue of a Spartans programme at Croft Park!
- A look back at ‘The Great Escape’
- A double-page spread of Curtis Round’s best Triple H entrance impression
- Junior Spartans quiz pages
MEDIA COVERAGE
You can follow all of the action on Saturday afternoon via our social media platforms and BlythLive on Mixlr too.