Skipper happy to keep it clean

Spartans skipper Wayne Buchanan felt that the clean sheet kept in the 1-0 win over Stafford Rangers today was as important as the three points. After conceding eight in midweek at Worksop Town, Spartans newest centurion Buchanan was delighted with his defensive colleagues and thinks lessons have been learnt. The Ulsterman said "I was just speaking to Tom Wade and we know Wednesday wasn't good enough. Simple things for any defence like tackling and marking weren't happening and we were maybe trying to attack too much. Today we were more solid and started a lot of things from the back so all round it was good for us. The clean sheet was a nice bonus and we worked hard as a team for it."

Buchanan was as hurt as anyone by the midweek performance but wants to see everyone connected with the club move on and focus on gaining more positive results in the coming weeks. He said "After midweek everyone is focusing on the 8-1 but at the end of the day you are losing three points and that's it. We knew we were coming back home today where we were three games unbeaten and put another three points on the board to make it four games unbeaten which is a nice little run to be on."

Speaking of Croft Park the Spartans skipper had a message for the Green Army and said "We need the fans and we need them to support us. We know they see things constantly changing at the club and it's hard for them but everyone is in this together at Blyth Spartans. They are the fans, the most important people at the club and they'll be the ones who will be here long after any of the players will be here."

Buchanan was actually awarded the Sponsors Man of the Match award but was quick to focus on other positives rather than taking individual acclaim. He said "It's nice to get it but it's better to get the clean sheet, get the result and get three points to take us forward".