Wade warns of 'long process' as Spartans fall to heavy defeat at Macclesfield

Assistant manager Tom Wade wants Blyth Spartans to find their resilience after they fell to a heavy defeat at Northern Premier League Premier Division leaders Macclesfield.

Michael Connor’s men were always going to face a tough test as they looked to upset the odds against the Silkmen - but they made life difficult for themselves when they fell behind to a John Rooney goal inside the opening minute. Silkmen strikers D’Mani Mellor and Danny Elliott both found the net by the quarter-hour mark as Robbie Savage’s side threatened to run riot in front of a crowd over over 3,000 at the Leasing.com Stadium.

Spartans, who had debutants Dan Myers, Cyril Giraud and Shay Richardson in their starting eleven, held their hosts at bay until the final quarter of an hour when Elliott went on to double his tally for the day and Mellor completed a hat-trick to round off a difficult day for Connor and his players. Wade admitted Spartans ‘weren’t at the races’ and warned they must make themselves hard to beat if they are to begin hauling themselves towards safety in non-league’s third tier.

He told The Gazette: “You’re always going to be up against it when you concede after 40 seconds. We just weren’t at the races, we were up against it from that point onwards and we started playing when we were three down. It’s going to be a long process and we have brought in new players this week but we haven’t even had a chance to work with them on the training pitch. We have to be hard to beat, not to concede goals - but Macclesfield are a National League side, they will walk the league, and they are probably the best side I’ve seen at this level. We just have to move on and look to improve - and that can be a long process."

Spartans are back in action on Tuesday night when Bamber Bridge are the visitors to Croft Park in the first of three consecutive home games.