Blyth Spartans match-winner Jack Foalle expresses delight at FA Trophy progress

Jack Foalle’s first-half double fired Blyth Spartans past 1874 Northwich and into the next round of the FA Trophy on Saturday afternoon.

After a humbling 6-2 defeat at the hands of Consett in midweek, Marc Nash’s men responded in perfect fashion by easing their way to a comfortable victory against their NPL West visitors at Croft Park.

Foalle opened the scoring inside a quarter of an hour with a deft volley to convert a Rio Joisce cross, before doubling Spartans’ advantage with a sublime curling effort from outside the box in the 25th minute.

And speaking after the final whistle, Blyth’s match-winner expressed his delight at the manner in which his side bounced back from their nightmarish outing against Consett. He said: “We knew after Tuesday we had to come back and show a little bit of something. Tuesday was disappointing and everybody knew, so today had to reflect on what the team's actually about.”

On his first goal, Foalle added: “That's what we've been asking for, a bit of build-up play and then putting the ball into a right area and somebody being in that area. Obviously, on this occasion it was me, and to be honest I think 2-0 at half-time was a bit disappointing - we've put [another] two cracking balls in across the six yard box. I think we need to be ruthless the way Consett were against us.”

Reflecting on his eye-catching second, the Spartans attacker continued: “Don't think about it, just shoot. All instinctive, just get the ball out my feet and thought, ‘Get a shot away as quickly as I can and see what happens’. I think that's the best way. Strikers tend to overthink it, and that's when it doesn't end up coming off, so I'll be doing that from now on!”

Foalle also gave his view on Spartans’ progress in the cup, admitting that he would like to see his side carry their impressive showing over into their league form. He said: “It's an easy distraction away from the league form, but we need to start turning league form into what we're doing in the cups. Obviously, this club's renowned for being a very good cup team... The way we're playing in the cups is brilliant but it's no good, it's only going to get us so far and we need to start turning these performances into league matches and three points.”