Bitter blow but positives for Blyth in Boston draw

Blyth went ahead as McNall pounced on a rebound on five minutes before half-time, before Scott Duxbury headed home to break Spartans’ resistance in the 90th minute.

It was a bitter pill for Blyth to swallow and afterwards manager Terry Mitchell said: “I thought we were outstanding. To concede in the 90th minute, as you can imagine, the lads feel like they’ve lost, but it’s a good point away from home.

"The lads are gutted and I have told them to get their heads up, because away from home, this is a good point for us.

"We have had to defend deep in the second half, as Boston are a good side and pushing for the play-offs.

"But they never really caused us too many problems and yes, toiconcede a 90th minute equaliser, from a set piece, is a kick in the teeth.

"But it’s still a good point. We came for the win, as we do with every game, but this is our first drawn match in 20 games since I took over as manager and we have to look at the positives.

"We still have some big games coming up and if the lads show the same level of commitment there is no reason why we shouldn’t be in an ok position by the end of the season.”

Skipper Nathan Buddle was in a reflective mood when he added: “We did well and we stayed in the game.

"To concede late on is so disappointing, but we’ve got to look forward and take the positives from it.

"We knew this was going to be a tough test. We played well and from one to 11 we gave our all, but it was a sucker punch at the end. Now we have to go to Telford and come away with the three points.”

The draw puts Spartans 20th out of 22 in the National League North table with 31 points from 35 games, four ahead of basement side Guisley.

On Saturday they are away to Telford, a team sitting one place and two points above them in the table, and the incentive for ther Blyth players in this one is that they know a victory could see them leapfrog their hosts.