Tom talks - after the Belper game

Spartans recovered from an early blow to secure three important league points at Belper on Saturday.

Manager Tom Wade said: "We started indifferently and conceding an early penalty was certainly a blow. I've no doubt that the referee was correct in awarding it. Hutchy [Ryan Hutchinson] left his leg in. After going one down we dominated the first half and should have been five or six goals up by the interval."

Wade's side did in fact score three times to go in 3-1 up.

"Our equaliser came from a really good move which saw Wadey [Matty Wade] find Robbie Dale who produced some magic to cross to Dan Maguire who tapped it in at the far post," said the Blyth boss. "Robbie then scored after a scramble in the Belper penalty box and then scored again from a clear penalty.

"We were a bit slow out of the blocks following the restart but after ten minutes or so we started to dominate again. It was great to see Robbie getting his first hat trick in six years to put us further ahead. I think we switched off a bit, lost our shape, after that and Belper got more in to the game.

"With them pulling it back to 3-4 the final few minutes were pretty nerve racking but we certainly deserved the three points which was obviously the primary aim."