Date: Tuesday 15th December 2020
Venue: Croft Park, Plessey Road, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 3JE
Kick Off: 7.45pm
Competition: Buildbase FA Trophy
Highlights: Highwaymen TV
Morpeth are on the road on Tuesday evening as they make the short trip to face local rivals Blyth Spartans.
History
Founded in September 1899 by Fred Stoker, who was the club’s first secretary before forming a practice as a distinguished physician in London’s Harley Street. He thought it appropriate to name the team after the Greek Spartan army in the hope that the players would give their all as they went into “battle” on the field of play.
In the beginning, the club played only friendly matches before joining the East Northumberland League in 1901. The first recorded honour was a league success in 1901 followed by further victories in 1905–06 and 1906–07. The club then joined the Northern Alliance, remaining there for six seasons winning the league in 1908–09 and 1912–13.
In 1913 the club moved upward joining the ranks of the semi professionals in the North Eastern League and remained there until this league folded in 1958. The fierce competition meant that honours were few and far between. However, we won the league in the 1936–37 season and the league cup in 1950 and again in 1955.
During the First World War women working in factories and on the docks played football, including a team in the Spartans’ colours and using their ground, variously known as the Blyth Spartan Ladies F.C. and the Blyth Spartans Munitionettes, with Bella Raey as the star player. The team was never beaten, playing 30 matches, winning 26 and drawing 4. They continued until 1921 when women’s football was banned from its grounds by the F.A.
After the demise of the North Eastern League, the club tried their luck in the Midland League and Northern Counties League, both ending when the leagues folded. The early 1960’s saw the revival of the North Eastern League with the club doing quite well. However, the league suffered many problems and eventually folded for good.
The club was now at a loss for a suitable semi-professional league and in 1964 decided to turn amateur and join the ranks of the Northern League.
During the 29 years the club were members their record was second to none, winning the Championship on 10 occasions and being runners up 5 times. However, a new regime at the club were keen to progress up the league pyramid and a successful push ended with promotion to the Northern Premier League in the 1993–94 season.
Blyth reached the fifth round of the FA Cup in 1977–78. Having beaten Chesterfield and Stoke City (who had recently been relegated from the top flight) in the second and fourth rounds respectively, they managed to beat Enfield, another non-league club, in the 3rd round. The club were then drawn to play away at Wrexham (whose victory over Newcastle United denied Spartans a tie against their North East neighbours) where they drew 1–1. The replay took place at Newcastle United’s St James’ Park where, watched by a crowd of 42,167, Blyth eventually went out, losing 2–1, meaning they missed out on a home tie with Arsenal.
The club’s first season in the Northern Premier League was memorable, winning the First Division Championship and the Unifilla First Division League Cup. After gaining promotion, the club held its own in the Premier Division, finishing 6th and 7th in its first two seasons as well as lifting the President’s Cup defeating former Conference side Runcorn in the final.
Following this success the executive looked firstly to John Charlton (son of Jack Charlton)[1] followed by Paul Baker as team managers but they were unable to continue this success, disappointing fans.
Harry Dunn was appointed as manager for the second time in October 2004. In 2005–06 Dunn and his assistant Graham Fenton led the Spartans to win the Northern Premier League Premier Division as well as the Northern Premier League Chairman’s Cup and the Peter Swailes Memorial Shield, and with it promotion to the Conference North.
In their first season in the Conference North, Blyth cemented themselves in the top half of the table whilst even enjoying a brief stint in 1st place. The season ended with Blyth narrowly missing out on a playoff position on the final day finishing 7th.
However, the next season, Blyth found themselves at the opposite end of the table although some wins towards the end of the season (including a 2–0 win against future Champions, Kettering Town) saw Blyth preserve their Conference North status. The third season was a similar story with Blyth struggling for much of the season but wins towards the end of the season again avoided relegation. A relatively comfortable 15th-place finish did not reflect the battle against relegation which had preceded it.
In 2008–09 Blyth hit the cup trail again. Qualifying round wins against Whitby Town, Buxton and Sheffield FC saw Blyth reach the first round for the first time since 1997. A home tie against League Two promotion chasers Shrewsbury Town saw Croft Park host league opposition for the first time since 1981. The result matched the occasion as Blyth ran out comfortable 3–1 winners.
The second round saw Blyth travel to League Two strugglers AFC Bournemouth, who included Darren Anderton amongst their players. A hard fought 0–0 draw on the South Coast saw Blyth take Bournemouth back to Croft Park, where Ged Dalton put Blyth through to the third round with a last minute winner. Both games were shown live on Setanta Sports.
In the third round, Blyth played Premier League opposition competitively for the first time in their history when they welcomed Blackburn Rovers to Croft Park. In a game again covered live by Setanta Sports, Blyth fell to a 1–0 defeat with the only goal coming via a direct free kick from Chilean player of the year Carlos Villanueva in the 59th minute. A win would have ensured a tie with North East neighbours Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
After two successful campaigns to preserve Conference North status, the 2008–09 season saw the end of Harry Dunn’s second spell at Croft Park. No time was wasted in appointing his successor and on the 9th May former Hartlepool United, Darlington & Sheffield United Reserves Manager Mick Tait took up the post for his second spell in charge at Croft Park.
It was announced in May 2011 that then Whitley Bay assistant manager Steve Cuggy would take over as manager. He along with his assistant Gavin Fell made a complete overhaul of the squad that summer, letting popular players such as Robbie Dale leave. After initial excitement following a good pre-season, the performances on the pitch were extremely poor. However, Blyth just got into the FA Cup 1st round after beating Droylsden 2–1 at home in the 4th qualifying round replay before losing 2–0 to rivals Gateshead.
Following defeat by Halifax Town Steve Cuggy left the club in December. Later that month, former Newcastle United player Tommy Cassidy took charge but the poor performances continued. Finally, on the 24th March 2012, Blyth Spartans had their first ever relegation confirmed after a 1–0 home defeat to Gloucester City.
The following pre-season saw Blyth lose quality players who were not replaced. The season started with mixed results and after very early exits from the FA Cup & the FA Trophy, Cassidy was sacked. In October under caretaker manager Paddy Atkinson poor performance continued including an 8–1 away defeat to Worksop Town. On the 8th March Paddy Atkinson resigned.
On the 12th March 2013 it was announced that a further caretaker manager, Tom Wade, would be in post until the end of the season. After some improved results in early April, Wade was given a contract extension for the 2013–14 season. That summer Wade brought in promising youngsters including Rob Nolan and Dean Holmes from North Shields. In early August Arran Wearmouth signed from Bishop Auckland for a fee of £1500. In the 2014–15 season the Spartans won the Northumberland Senior Cup.
That season, the Spartans once again went all the way from the first qualifying round into the third round proper. In the first qualifying round, Blyth drew 0–0 at Darlington 1883 and won 3–0 at home with a goal from Robbie Dale and a brace from Dan Maguire. Blyth were then drawn to Skelmersdale United away.
Despite a poor league record, Blyth went on rampage to win 4–1. The Green Army had to once again travel to watch the Spartans as they were drawn away at Mickleover Sports. After 90 minutes of play during which it seemed there was going to be a replay at Croft Park, Jarrett Rivers scored an injury time goal to send the Spartans into the fourth qualifying round. The draw away at Leek Town meant another long trip for the Blyth supporters. Blyth won 4–3 after a cracking game which included an injury time penalty miss by Leek’s Kinsey.
In the first round proper, Blyth were drawn at home to Altrincham. That was their first home draw in the 2014–15 FA Cup. The home crowd of 1,763 saw a performance that at times brought doubts as to which team was two levels above the other. Braces from Dale and Maguire left the fans delighted with a 4–1 win that would take Blyth to the Second Round Proper for the fourteenth time in their history.
In the second round proper, Blyth travelled along the North Coast to Hartlepool United. The League Two side controlled the game in the first half but a magnificent free-kick by Stephen Turnbull and yet another ninetieth-minute goal by Jarrett Rivers turned the game around for Blyth. The memorable upset was shown live on the BBC.
Blyth were drawn at home against Birmingham City, which was controversially described by Stephen Turnbull as “a bit of an anti-climax”, for he and every Spartans supporter hoped for a Premier League club. After two Nikola Žigić chances for the Blues, Blyth took control of the match and Dale scored twice in the first half.
Blyth had a 2–0 lead at the interval and hopes for another Spartans’ FA Cup upset were gigantic. However, Birmingham would go on to score three goals in six minutes to end the North East side’s hopes of reaching the fourth round for the second time.
In the 2015–16 season, despite frustrating displays in almost every cup competition, the Spartans proved to be the dominant side in their league. However, even having reached the impressive 99-point mark, we were beaten to the title by Darlington 1883 and lost the play-off semi-final to Workington A.F.C. which ended 4–3 to the away team. Ten days later, Blyth lost 4–3 again, this time to Northern League side North Shields in the Northumberland Senior Cup Final at St. James’s Park.
Early in the 2016/17 season, Tom Wade resigned with former professional footballer Alun Armstrong took over the managerial position.
The club announced on September 22nd 2016 that former Ipswich Town striker Alun Armstrong was appointed as manager following Wade’s resignation. The club managed two 12-game runs without recording a single defeat. In the first one, which lasted from the beginning of 2017 until the dying days of February, the Spartans won all of their twelve games, scoring 44 goals and conceding a mere 11.
At this point the lead in the table was enormous and we coasted towards the league title which we clinched at home against Halesowen Town with three games to spare. Blyth finished in first place with 101 points, two more than the previous season and 14 ahead of the runners-up.
The Evo Stik Northern Premier League title was Armstrong’s first title was a manager, followed just a few days later by his second, the Northumberland Senior Cup, whose final was a replay of the previous year’s, this time ending in a 3-2 win for the Spartans.
The success achieved by the club in the 2016-17 season meant that the Spartans were once again promoted to the National League North, five years after their relegation in 2012.
Last Match
The Spartans were in National League North action on Saturday and suffered defeat at Brackley Town. Shane Bryne opened the scoring from the penalty spot for the hosts before recent signing JJ O’Donnell levelled for Blyth. However, the winning goal arrived through Lee Ndlovu.
Morpeth progressed to this round of the FA Trophy thanks to the heroics of Dan Lowson in a penalty shootout against Runcorn last week. Ryan Hutchinson and Jack Foalle had Morpeth coasting at the interval but Runcorn forced penalties. Dan Lowson made two saves and converted the winning penalty.
