Match Report | Blyth Town 4-0 Blyth Spartans | Pre-Season Friendly | 2023/24

The Spartans suffered a 4-0 defeat at the hands of local rivals Blyth Town on Tuesday evening in front of a crowd of 1492 at Gateway Park.

Alex Mitchell and JJ Hooper were absent following the victory away to North Shields on Saturday afternoon while Rhys Evans returned to the squad and played the full 90 minutes.

The likes of Finn Cousin-Dawson, Michael Liddle, Harrison Clark, Nicky Deverdics, JJ O'Donnell and Rio Joisce all featured from the start within the first half.

A short corner played into the advancing Rio Joisce by Nicky Deverdics inside the opening five minutes was crossed first time which was met by JJ O'Donnell who made a darting run across the face of goal, however, his flicked header was blocked at point blank range by a Town defender.

Graham Fenton's side perused with more attacking intent but there were limitations to the attempts on goal as they came from range; Harrison Clark struck a powerful effort which was met by a brave defensive body before a trialist followed up with a shot of his own but deflected comfortably into the grasp of Lewis Baker in the Town net on 14 minutes.

Two minutes later, Spartans were on the front foot again as O'Donnell controlled a loose ball and fired from 25-yards out; his left-footed effort was met by yet another Town defender which deflected the effort inches over the crossbar.

On 27 minutes, Deverdics created a sighting of his own on goal as he waltzed forward in his stride and unleashed a dipping strike from 30-yards which fell narrowly wide of the right-hand post.

Momentum switched just before the half-hour mark which saw a header at the far post converted by Brandon Slater; neat build-up occurred on the left-flank between Harry Sawyer and Adam Johnson which created the opening for the deadlock to be broken.

In response to falling a goal behind, a Spartans trialist was set in beyond the Town backline on 33 minutes but could not quite adjust his stance to wrap his foot around the ball to direct it on target.

Moments later, O'Donnell worked his way into an identical situation at range, but another left-footed strike from the 31-year-old was not able to force the hosts' goalkeeper into great caution.

Just before half-time, Johnson was teed up inside Spartans' penalty area and presented with an opportunity to add to the scoreline, however, from an acute angle, he flashed an effort just wide of the mark.

Half-time: Blyth Town 1-0 Blyth Spartans 

Jordan Hickey and Curtis Round were introduced into the fixture for the second period but struggled to provide a balance to the team featuring with a number of trialists.

Town began the second half with confidence oozing in their play and forced a string of saves out of Spartans' trialist 'keeper before Sawyer bagged himself a goal directly from a corner on 62 minutes having provided the assist for the opener.

With 20 minutes left on the clock, former Spartan Robbie Dale snuffed out a driving attempt from Round as he featured in the heart of defence for Town and in the proceeding attack, a third would be added to the scoreline by Joseph Gibson from close range.

A fourth was added five minutes later by Dillan Short after a mishap in communication at the back for Spartans seeing the fixture rounded off in an underwhelming fashion.

Full-time: Blyth Town 4-0 Blyth Spartans 

Next up for Spartans is another away friendly on Saturday afternoon against Newton Aycliffe.

Tickets for the fixture are priced at £9 for adults, £5 for over-65s and £3 for under-18s.