Blyth Spartans boss Tom Wade spoke to the Matchday Magazine as usual before Saturday’s fixture with Rushall Olympic, however the match was postponed.
Here were his thoughts prior to the cancelled contest:
Welcome back to Croft Park for today’s match against a good Rushall Olympic side.
First things first, I’ll be back on the touchline this afternoon. I think it was the first game I’ve missed as a manager or coach of anyone in football last weekend so it was disappointing to miss but I’ve been feeling a little better this week and I was at training on Tuesday and will be here this afternoon.
I was listening to last week’s game on the Black Country Radio which was broadcasting it and all I could hear was Blyth Spartans supporters signing all game long which is very humbling when you’re sick in bed. I had supporters ringing me, wishing me all the best and asking about my health so I would like to thank all of you massively for your concerns. I had one or two videos sent to me of the goal and the chants and it was nice to see when you’re not very well.
It was a good way to bounce back to the defeat against Darlington. That game was a strange one for me. As a manager, I took the result as sort of a positive for us – I know some supporters weren’t happy but for me, we’ve got to understand where we’ve come from.
I’ve been here three and a bit seasons and we’ve come such a long way in a short period of time. To have the squad competing against people like Salford and Darlo, who have enormous finances, with such a young side is incredible. We didn’t play that well on the day but we competed and could have come away with a point despite the fact we played badly.
As a club, we’ve made massive strides and I think people have got to step back a bit and understand where we are. We shouldn’t really be anywhere near where we are as a club because when I took over we were a club going backwards. These lads have brought us forward very quickly.
I knew the team would bounce back against Halesowen and we’ve come away from a battle with three points and apparently the lads did exceptionally well.
Nipa [Dan Maguire] is now a week further ahead with his recovery from injury and Sean Reid’s knock – which he picked up against Halesowen – is not as bad as we first thought. We also have Ash Davis in the squad. That said, we’ve been talking to strikers this week and hopefully we have got someone over the line ready for today’s game. Nathan Buddle coming in is a great asset to us, but for the forward, it needs to be someone of his kind of quality. That’s what we’re looking for.
Today’s opponents Rushall are a good side, there’s no doubt about that. Anyone who can keep a clean sheet against Nantwich as they did last weekend have to be decent defensively. They’re well managed – the bosses are two very good people – and it could be one of those games where you have to battle hard.
The good thing about our lads is that we can outplay people and out-battle people. When you put the two together it creates a great force and it is what we’re trying to achieve here at Blyth.
Finally, I’d like to welcome everyone from Rushall to today’s match. Enjoy the football, everyone.