Fell feeling proud as Blyth Town secure historic promotion and set up Spartans derby

An emotional Gavin Fell set his sights on ‘massive’ derby clashes with Blyth Spartans after he guided Blyth Town into the Northern Premier League East Division for the first time in their history.

After securing a Northern League Division One play-off spot, Fell’s men came through a semi-final tie with a 2-1 win at Shildon and that set up Friday night’s final meeting with a Newcastle Blue Star side that had seen off Boro Rangers in their own last-four game.

In front of a bumper crowd of over 2,100 it was the hosts that appeared to be on their way to promotion into step four of the non-league pyramid as a neat finish from former Newcastle United striker Michael Ndiweni gave them a lead that lasted until the final five minutes.

However, a late penalty gave Town a chance to force the game into a shoot-out and Dan Wilson kept his nerve to beat Blue Star keeper Dan Lister from 12 yards. The lottery of penalties offer Town stopper Neil De Jesus a chance to shine and his rose to the occasion with two saves in the shoot-out and that allowed Wilson to step up and strike the winning spot-kick to claim a historic promotion for his side.

Speaking in the aftermath of the win with the celebrations ongoing behind him, Fell reflected on the achievement of securing Northern Premier League status for the first time in the club’s history and believes facing Spartans in a local derby in a league fixture shows just how the hard work behind the scenes has paid off.

He told The Gazette: “It’s emotional, very emotional. It was always going to be a tight game and it was always going to come down to moments in the game. When we went to penalties, although I don’t like watching them, I was pretty confident because Neil has faced four penalties this season and he’s saved all of them so we knew we had a chance because he’s agile and can do what he’s done.

“This club, five or six years ago was in the first division of the Northern Alliance and now we are in the same league as Blyth Spartans, that’s huge for us and that would never have crossed anyone’s lips in the whole of Blyth because Spartans have always been the bigger team. But we will go against them next season, it’s massive for us and from that perspective, I couldn’t be happier for everyone at the club.”

“He needs to take credit”

The historic win marks a glorious end to a season of change at Town after the mid-season departure of former manager Michael Connor to Spartans. That move saw Fell step into the lead role in the dugout and he will now go down in the history books as the man that has led the club to their highest placing in the non-league pyramid. However, the Town boss took a moment to acknowledge his predecessor and the hard work he put in to lead the club back to the Northern League.

“Michael needs to take a hell of a lot of credit because he took the club through the leagues,” explained Fell.

“He went to Spartans and nobody can give him a hard time for that, I know he had a hard time when he was in the job but everyone at Blyth Town wished him the best. That win was for him as well and I would have loved him to be here tonight because he needs to take credit for building this club and helping us get to where we are now heading.”

“They’re a fantastic club”

Fell also reserved praise for Blue Star as Marc Nash’s men now look to use the disappointment of their play-off final defeat as fuel for another promotion bid next season. The Town boss praised the ‘fantastic’ work Friday’s hosts put in on and off the field over the last week and backed Nash to lead his side into contention once again when the new campaign gets underway in August.

He said: “It’s a shame Blue Star were beaten because they are a fantastic club. I want to give a big shout out to them because what they’ve done to get this game to where it was, to get the crowds through the door, it’s fantastic. Besty (Steve Best, Blue Star chairman) has been superb and I have the upmost respect for Nashy (Marc Nash) and Woody (Anthony Woodhouse, Blue Star assistant manager) and I’ve no doubt they’ll be right up there again next season.”

Newcastle Blue Star: Lister, Barclay, MacLeod (Reid), Oliver (Emmerson), Walker, Daley, Joisce (Kidd), Dudgeon (Heppell), Lanning (Mitchell), Van Zandvliet, Ndiweni Subs: All used

Blyth Town: De Jesus, Forster, Fogarty (Richardson), Gibson, Fell, Fil, Slater (Sayer), Gascoigne, Wilson, Franklin (Cooper), Johnson Subs: McCarthy, Walker

Attendance: 2,151