Hubbard proud in defeat

After his side's exit from the FA Cup at the hands of AFC Fylde, Spartans midfielder Craig Hubbard revealed not only his pride at the performance but also the determination in the dressing room to do well for the club. Manager Tom Wade has put together a strong side on a lesser budget than in previous years and Hubbard feels that far from being detrimental to their chances, Spartans are benefitting from a better team spirit as a result.

"As an onlooker you can't see that the budget here is less than last season, if anything it is probably that lesser budget that had made us the team we are. It's brought us together and it's meant that we have players who want to play for the club and want to play for our supporters. We can be proud of what we have achieved today despite the result and so far this season and we all want to do well for Blyth Spartans"

Spartans had more than enough chances to take something from the game and many will believe they probably deserved a replay against the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League title favourites. That is a view shared by the former West Auckland and Bedlington Terriers man and he felt that his side could and probably should have gone into the interval a goal to the good.

"It's disappointing, in the first half we were the better side. You could see they came here expecting to win and to turn us over in the way they did last season but we deserved something from today. We put in a good fight and that was exactly what Tom and Colin asked of us and I really believe that if the first half was five minutes longer we would have went into the half time in the lead."

As a senior player at the club Hubbard has taken on extra responsibility this season helping the younger players settle into life at Croft Park. One of the those players is Hubbard's fellow midfielder Matthew Wade who scored his first goal in the green and white and Hubbard feels the youngster can only improve with every passing game for the club.

"He took it really didn't he, I think I would have missed that. To be fair he has done well since he come in and his confidence will only grow and grow playing in games like that"