Blyth Spartans progress in FA Youth Cup after Doncaster Rovers victory

Blyth Spartans U18s progressed to the Second Round of the FA Youth Cup with a 2-0 victory over Doncaster Rovers at Croft Park on Wednesday evening.

First-half goals from Kuba Zmich and Dan Cole ensured that the Northumberland outfit comfortably saw off their EFL academy visitors, with Tom Wailes also producing a fine save in the 65th minute to deny Rovers from close range and keep Blyth’s advantage intact.

Speaking after the final whistle, Spartans boss Graham Fenton said: “It was a bit mad. I went to watch them a couple of weeks ago and I knew they like to press quite high, so we knew we were going to turn them around for the first 10 to 15 minutes and try and kind of stop their press. We were getting a little bit of success off it.

“It became a very long ball game, which is not really like us. We just got stuck in that kind of mid-ground of, when it was on to play, not really giving ourselves proper angles to play properly.

“But what I will say is, the lads put a proper shift in, showed really good determination, work ethic, resilience when needed - so psychologically, very good today.”

He added: “I just think that tonight was brilliant in terms of that psychology, determination, resilience, and then we've just got to do better on the other stuff - the technical and tactical side of the game.”

Spartans will be rewarded for their win over Doncaster with a trip to Stockport County in the next round, with all ties set to be completed by Saturday, November 21st.