Wade issues relegation warning as Blyth Spartans fall to another defeat

Assistant manager Tom Wade has warned the Blyth Spartans players they are ‘staring relegation in the face’ unless they improve over the coming weeks.

Michael Connor’s men were backed by over 150 supporters as they made the relatively short trip to Hebburn Town on Saturday - but that support was not rewarded with a positive result as the Hornets completed a league double over Spartans on a blustery day on South Tyneside. Former Spartans Joao Gomes and Matty Elsdon put the hosts in control at half-time and top goalscorer Amar Purewal added to their lead in the early stages of the second-half.

With the wind at their backs and their opposition looking to see out the game with minimal fuss, Spartans pulled a goal back when Connor Pani scored his second goal of the season with just under 20 minutes left on the clock. However, that was as good as it got for the visitors as they fell to a thirteenth league defeat of the season and one that leaves them 11 points adrift of safety in non-league’s third tier.

Speaking after the game, Wade praised Hebburn as a ‘strong, experienced side’ and admitted the loss had moved Spartans a step closer to relegation unless they are able to find an improvement from somewhere over the coming weeks.

He told The Gazette: “It’s easy to play when you’re beaten. It’s the easiest thing in football to play when you’re three goals down and the opposition are just playing the game out like they were. It wasn’t really down to us, I would say it was down to Hebburn easing off a little bit. We haven’t done enough and it’s a shame because we haven’t been that bad over the last couple of games. We’ve come up against a strong, experienced side, who did a job on us and we just weren’t good enough to get anything from the game. Relegation is staring us in the face and we’ve said to the lads they are only ones that can keep us up - and they’ve got it in them, that’s the annoying thing, they are good enough to beat sides but they have to show the right attitude to get their talent out.”

Spartans are back in action on Boxing Day when Whitby Town are the visitors to Croft Park.