Having reached his 40th birthday earlier in the week Blyth Spartans’ central defender Chris Swailes had further cause to celebrate on Saturday – scoring with a stunning header and coming close with another two.
Swailes was named as the Man of the Match but according to Blyth boss Mick Tait there were six or so other valid candidates in a game which saw the Spartans beat Hyde 3-0 at Croft Park and move into the top half of the Blue Square North Bet League.
Tait was pleased with the way his team approached the game, “We played at a good tempo and hurt Hyde by getting at them very quickly. I was happy all round with how we performed and we were much more solid than recently.”
Tait gave a starting place to the inscrutable Robbie Dale after leaving him on the bench in the last two games. With Dale on the right and the inform Stephen Turnbull on the left Blyth caused the visitors problems from the start in a first period constantly littered by fouls, one of which particularly incensed the Blyth manager when, in the 15th minute, Blyth goalkeeper Mark Gillespie was adjudged to have brought down Shaun Whalley in the penalty box.
“The game was full of fouls,” said Tait. “Hyde obviously came to put us off our game plus the penalty decision was a poor one. Mark got a clean hand to the ball and their lad went over rather easily! It was only right that Mark saved the kick. Although we missed chances in the first half and went in even I told my players that we needed to keep the speed of our play high, although that would be difficult, and that the only things which we were missing were goals.”
The deadlock was broken within minutes of the restart when a Michael Tait cross was spectacularly volleyed high into his own net by Hyde’s Whalley. A moment of mirth for the home supporters but one of misery for the Mancunians.
Tait thought the fault lay with the strong wind which was in danger of dominating the game, “A lot of times the ball just stopped on a player and it made it difficult to strike properly. Even Brassie [Paul Brayson] missed a couple of chances he would normally have put away because of the wind.”
Blyth’s second goal, which came from the towering Chris Swailes, actually used the wind to good effect.
Tait commented, “Stephen Turnbull hit the cross over with pace and that was the only way to deliver effectively on Saturday. Anything less and the wind took over. Chris met it perfectly and gave their keeper no chance.”
Having had a header tipped over early in the first half this was retribution and Swailes headed over just after having scored as Blyth put Hyde under the cosh in play characterised by Turnbull’s perpetual threat down the left.
Brayson did eventually find the back of the net with a trademark curling free kick from 20 yards out. Executed with no particular pace or height it was good enough to bamboozle Saunders in the Hyde goal.
Tait thought all of his team did well, “The defence were strong, the midfield superb and up front Brassie was alert and John Alexander worked his socks off alongside him. John needs a goal but the rest of the lads are behind him and his confidence is improving. In fact overall our confidence has picked up in the last couple of weeks. It had been fragile, especially if we went a goal down but we’re more resolute now.”
Blyth didn’t use any substitutes in the game, Tait believing that he needed to keep things the same at 2-0 and when Brayson scored the third on 82 minutes that it would have been unfair to bring on any subs as they wouldn’t have been able to do themselves justice in less than ten minutes.
Spartans’ midfielder Nicky Deverdics has returned from week’s trial at Barnet as the League Two club currently prefer to seek the services of a striker instead.
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