Blyth Spartans defender demands a 'little reaction' in visit to Hereford

Blyth Spartans defender Jack Bodenham wants a ‘little reaction’ from his side as they look to bounce back from two home defeats at Hereford this weekend.

Jon Shaw’s side slipped to a narrow 1-0 loss against Scarborough Athletic last Tuesday night before Warrington Town also collected three points from a visit to Croft Park on Saturday afternoon. The Yellows grabbed an early lead when the ever dangerous Bohan Dixon scored inside the opening three minutes before Nicky Deverdics got Spartans back on level-terms from the penalty spot midway through the second-half.

However, it was the visitors that took the points with a Matthew McDonald goal 13 minutes from time and that left Bodenham to signal his determination to get back to winning ways when Spartans make the long trip to Edgar Street

He told BSAFCTV: “Every week is an opportunity to bounce back or keep the momentum going. We said in the dressing room after Tuesday we didn’t really need a reaction because we thought it was a good performance - but I thought we dropped off our levels a little bit. We are looking for a little reaction. It's another opportunity to get to where we want to be.”

Spartans are expected to be without Michael Liddle after he suffered an injury in the defeat against Warrington.

The experienced left-back has been a consistent figure throughout his side’s recent upturn in form and his departure from the game forced Bodenham into action in a slightly unfamiliar role. The former South Shields defender admitted losing Liddle was a blow but pointed to one deficiency that Spartans must resolve if they are to continue pushing into the top half of the National League North table.

“Obviously it didn’t help with Lids injury and I’m not making excuses but I thought there were a couple of things that didn’t go our way. Lids going off meant I had to shift to left back and there were a few square pegs in round holds but I still thought we had more than enough on the pitch to get something from the game, if not win it. We reacted well to going down and we have done in the last few weeks but if we can stop conceding early goals we will make it easier for ourselves.”