Tom talks - after the Barwell game

Blyth manager Tom Wade was 'ecstatic' after seeing his side beat Barwell 1-0 in Leicestershire on Saturday.

"I was especially pleased with the way we played in the first 20 minutes," he said. "We could have been three up in that period. But we knocked the ball around well and we will take our chances better in games to come. Barwell got into the game as the first half concluded and started turning us round a bit. They went 'route one' but that's the League and we will have to cope with it.

"Every team is rusty at the beginning of the season but we showed we could battle and keeping a clean sheet was a bonus."

Wade praised his centre forward Aaron Wearmouth who started up front with Daniel Maguire on the bench.

Wade commented: "I thought Aaron was absolutely superb. It would have been easy to bring Nipa [Maguire] straight in to the team on his return from Halifax but Aaron did enough to justify his place in the side. He's a handful and, as his confidence grows, he will become a top player for us."

Midfielder Paul Robinson was withdrawn early in the second half.

"Robbo got a clip on his toe and couldn't continue," explained Wade. "It was a shame because he was doing really well and we'll have to wait and see if he'll be fit enough to play against Whitby on Tuesday night but we will have Neal Hooks and Sean Reid returning to the squad."