Blyth book Senior Cup Final spot with win over Bedlington

Blyth beat Bedlington 1-0 to book their place in Senior Cup Final.

It was not Blyth’s most convincing performance of the season, but it was enough to see them through to the final, where they will play Newcastle United U23 at St James’ Park on a date to be confirmed at the end of the season.

The only goal of the game was scored by Sean Reid, who headed in at the back post after only four minutes’ play.

Spartans started strongly and looked as if they might dominate the game, but the Northern League Division 2 side raised their game and for the rest of the tie matched their National League hosts.

After the game Blyth manager Terry Mitchell said: “Naturally I am delighted that we are through to the final. When you reach a semi-final, ultimately you want to go on and reach the final, and that is what we have done.

"The one bit of quality in the game was the goal, with Sean heading in at the back post.

"But after that Bedlington worked their socks off and we have to give them credit for the way they played.

"They are a young team and they tried to stifle us, but this is the first time we have been in the final since 2017 and I am delighted for the fans, because they have been behind us all season.

"We have a big game coming up away to Darlington this weekend and it was important to come though this game, especially with a clean sheet, which will give the lads a bit of confidence.”

Goalscorer Reid added: “It’s good to get to the final and for the lads now to get the experience of playing in the final at St James.’

"As a collective we’re disappointed with the performance but at the end of day we won 1-0 and we’ll take it.

"There ius a sense of frustration because we should be winning games like this by more than 1-0, but Bedlington’s work rate was top notch and by the end of the game we had to dig in for the win.

"Personally, I was just glad to get the full 90 minutes in and it was a bonus to get on the scoresheet with the winner. Hopefully we can take confidence from this going into the game against Darlington this weekend.”