“We missed a boatload of chances in the first half which would have finished off the game,” said Spartans’ manger Tom Wade after his side’s narrow 1-0 win at Bedlington in the Northumberland Senior Cup on Wednesday evening.
“If we had been seven or eight up at the break I don’t think Bedlington could have complained,” he continued. “Despite the pitch being awful we tried to play good football and succeeded in carving them open on numerous occasions. Mind you their goalkeeper made some good saves but at our level of football you need to finish better. It’s a bit of a worry for us and is something we will be working on over the next few weeks.”
Wade replaced midfielder Paul Robinson with fellow midfielder Craig Hubbard at half time.
“The plan before the match was to make the switch,” said Wade.
“Those two are our experienced players in that position and we had one eye Saturday’s game at FC United of Manchester. Craig looked sharp after coming on and made the kind of runs which are hard to pick up, plus he took his goal really well.”
Bedlington staged a spirited finish and came close to equalising but couldn’t beat an agile Conor Grant in the Blyth goal.
“In any game your opponents have a spell when they push on and they did cause us some problems. Conor did well but overall we totally controlled the game,” said Wade.
Looking ahead to the weekend Wade commented: “We will have Sonny Andrews back in the squad but Ash Davis starts a three game ban. A couple of players have one or two niggles but they are all mad keen to start the game. The pitch at Gigg Lane will be better than the other night and if we perform as we can and get stuck in we should do well.”