Preview | Hereford FC (A) | National League North | 2023/24

Blyth Spartans travel to Edgar Street as they face Hereford in the National League North on Saturday afternoon aiming to bounce back to winning ways.

In their last outing, the Spartans were defeated 2-1 by Warrington Town as Nicky Deverdics scored a penalty to make it level, but Matthew McDonald notched the winner for the Town 10 minutes later.

Ticket Information

You can buy tickets online here. All ticket information is as follows:

• Adults - £19
• Concessions - £16.50
• Under-21s - £10
• Under-14s - £4

A responsible adult must accompany under-14s.

Team News

Alex Mitchell, JJ O'Donnell, Joe Oliver, Michael Liddle and JJ Hooper will be unavailable for Saturday's journey to Herefordshire. Liddle unfortunately suffered an injury last Saturday during the first half of the defeat at home to Warrington Town while Hooper has sustained a hamstring injury.

Oli Thompson has joined on loan from Gateshead and will be in contention to make his debut at Edgar Street.

What We're Saying

After a defeat to Warrington Town, Jon Shaw said: "The obvious statement is that we weren't at our best.

"You know I've been a big advocate of the performance is more important, Tuesday I was right to be really positive although we got beat, we completely dominated the game as we had opportunities to score and tested them, we played with pace and real dynamism.

"Today we just seemed slightly slower in our thought process, not quite as sharp, the ball speed wasn't quite there. We had a bit of a disruption to the game with losing Liddle and with the squad it kind of enforced a bit of a shape change, but again a shape change that I believe the squad is really capable of playing."

Jon Shaw's post-match assessment of Saturday's 2-1 defeat against Warrington Town

Opposition

Hereford sit eighth in the National League North having won 14 of their 31 games this season as they have accumulated 47 points. The Bulls have also advanced to the fifth round of the FA Trophy where they will face Gateshead at Edgar Street next Saturday.

In their last match, the Bulls suffered a 3-0 defeat at home to South Shields as Courtney Clarke, Paul Blackett and Jed Abbey all scored for the Mariners.

What They're Saying

Following a 3-0 defeat at home to South Shields, Paul Claddis said: "I thought we were well beaten and I'm taking full responsibility for it.

"I probably got the team wrong, I probably got the shape wrong. So, I'm happy to sit here and take the plaudits from it and I'm happy to take the criticism from it and I can't fault the player's efforts."

Paul Claddis' post-match assessment of Tuesday's 3-0 defeat to South Shields

Last Time We Met

The sides met back in August at Croft Park as the Spartans won 2-1 with the goals coming from Charlie Aitken and Michael Liddle. Jason Cowley socred for Hereford that day.

They also met on the final day of last season as Blyth needed a win to ensure survival as Hereford travelled to Croft Park. The Spartans put up a fight to secure a 5-0 victory when they needed it most. Michael Spellman, Cedric Main, Nicky Deverdics, JJ O'Donnell and Jaden Ferguson all got one goal each as Blyth recorded their biggest win of the 2022/23 season on the final day.

Media Coverage

You can follow all of the action on Saturday afternoon via our social media platforms and BlythLive on Mixlr from 2:45pm.