Interview | Jay Errington | 'Great feeling' to get first Spartans goal

Thursday, 2 March 2023

By Dan Rolls

Young Spartans forward Jay Errington described scoring in front of the Spartans faithful as a 'great feeling' as he netted the winner in his first start for the club.

The striker who has so far bagged 14 goals for the under 19's in the National Alliance League this season and eight goals for Percy Main in the Northern Alliance Premier, made his first start for Blyth in last night's Northumberland Senior Cup game.

He would go on to cause the North Shields defence trouble on a few occasions, before netting what would be the winner in the 76th minute when he slotted the ball past Finlay Hodgson to make it 2-1 and send Spartans into the semi-finals, setting up an away trip against Heaton Stannington.

Discussing the goal, he said "It was such a great feeling scoring for a well-supported club in my first start. I'd like to thank the manager for giving me the opportunity".

Errington was included in the squad along with fellow under 19's Callum Elliot and Alfie Livermore and he was surprised to be included in the starting XI. He said "Before the warmup, the manager told me that I'd be starting which took me by surprise but it was a fantastic feeling and I was determined to impress".

He added "Due to the conditions we couldn't really play how we would normally, so I knew it was going to be hard on the legs. It was great to play a full 90 minutes though and I was happy with the way I played".

Jay has been one of the mainstays and of Marc Nash and Liviu Cristea's academy team that currently sits atop the National League U19 Alliance North Division, and he's been thrilled with his and the teams progress this season saying "Obviously we are top of the league and currently doing very well. I think I've developed a lot as a player both technically and tactically, and I'm starting to understand the game more as a whole, but I know I've got to keep pushing".