Blyth Spartans travel to The Racecourse Ground as they face Wrexham in a replay tie in the FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round, with the winner hosting Oldham or Chester in the First Round proper.
The Spartans drew 1-1 at home against Wrexham AFC at Croft Park, thanks to a last-minute equaliser from Michael Richardson, that sent to tie to a replay on Tuesday night.
TICKET INFORMATION
All ticket information for Tuesday’s fixture can be viewed here.
TEAM NEWS
Nathan Buddle, Lewis McNall, Alex Nicholson and Danny Barlow are all missing. There’ll be late calls made on the majority of the squad, with particular concern over Cedric Main who was forced off in Saturday’s match.
OPPOSITION
Wrexham, recently bought by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in November 2020, place second in the National League as they eye promotion to League 2 at the end of the season.
Phil Parkinson saw his side draw 1-1 at Croft Park on Saturday as Tom O’Connor scored a free-kick for Wrexham.
WHAT WE’RE SAYING
After Saturday’s draw against Wrexham, manager Graham Fenton said: “I’m really proud, I just thought they were at it from minute one to minute 94, a really good performance throughout the team, some big performances.
“Obviously, you know what I’m like, I’m never happy if we don’t win a game, so yeah there are things we can work on and get better at. Playing against a good side like them, I think we showed some really good stuff today and I think we can be more clinical at the top end and it will give us a chance to win more games.”
Speaking about travelling to Wrexham for the replay he added: “When you are playing big games like that it’s going to be an even bigger crowd on Tuesday, I’m sure the lads are looking forward to it.
“We know it will be tough going there but we’ve got nothing to lose, we’re going into it with a bit of optimism and we’ll see how it goes.
“The support today was fantastic, we talked about it before the game – us giving them something to feed off. I thought we started well and we fed off each other, but they were magnificent today so we thank everyone for coming.”
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
After Phil Parkinson saw his side concede late on he said: “It was a very scrappy game, and we knew it would be that type of game, but we still expect to show care with the ball and we didn’t,” he admitted. “We didn’t have that quality to get us up and going enough times.
“We got ourselves ahead and to give a cheap free-kick away like we did, in the swirling wind, and to concede a wind-assisted equaliser was disappointing.
“It was always going to be difficult today with the conditions and the tightness of the game but we battled well, we blocked things… we didn’t show enough quality when we had possession, but I think the conditions came into that a little bit and it was always set up to be one of those tough games like we had last year. But we’ve come through it again and we look forward to the replay on Tuesday.”
LAST TIME WE MET
The famous FA Cup run of 1977/78 saw Northern League Blyth Spartans and Third Division Wrexham face off in the Fifth Round in a tie at The Racecourse Ground that finished 1-1, with Spartans falling to a 2-1 defeat in the replay nine days later.
Blyth’s last trip to Wrexham, however, ended in victory as Spartans ran out 2-1 winners in that seasons Debenham’s Cup Final first leg. Blyth then claimed the trophy after a 1-1 draw at Croft Park.
MEDIA COVERAGE
Join Niall Bromley and Phil Castiaux on Blyth Live from 7:30pm.
Alternatively, you can follow the game via our social media platforms.