Tom talks - after the Darlington 1883 game

Spartans' manager Tom Wade described last night's performance at Darlington 1883 as "the lowest point of the season."

"We were terrible," he said. "I feel for the travelling support who made the journey. We gave a lot of our youngsters a breather but brought in five quality players and, on paper, it looked like a strong side. However it backfired. Sometimes you don't realise what you have till it's not there.

"The difference between our showing at Grantham last weekend and Wednesday's was like chalk and cheese. There was a massive difference.

"To be fair it was a hard game to come in to if you hadn't played for a while but I think we have found a few gems this season and we missed them."

Former Darlington midfielder Paul Robinson made his debut for Blyth. Wade commented: "Robbo needs to get time in his legs after not getting much playing time with the Quakers. He did some nice little things but we won't see the best of him until after two or three more games."

Blyth travel to Buxton this weekend and Wade hinted at changes in his potential starting line up.

"We will have Damen Mullen, Ian Watson, Matthew Wade, Dan Maguire, Lewis Horner, Ash Davis and Michal Misiewicz all hoping for a place in the side. It will give us a huge boost. I'm looking forward to the game and am confident we can get something from it."