This weekend, we begin our Buildbase FA Trophy campaign, as Blyth Spartans travel down to Edgeley Park for what promises to be an exciting cup tie!
Our opponents:
Blyth were the only team to do the double over County in the title-winning season last year, but a hectic summer for the Spartans has seen a lot of chopping and changing.
Most notably, manager and County legend Alun Armstrong left Croft Park for Darlington 1883, where he took six players with him in the summer, including Michael Liddle, Louis Laing and David Atkinson.
Lee Clark took over in the summer, as they didn’t pick up a single National League North win in their first 11 games.
Currently, they sit second bottom on 13 points from 19 games, but progressed through the Third Qualifying Round by overcoming Alfreton Town.
After a 1-1 draw in Blyth, a rescheduled replay in Alfreton saw the Spartans 3-0 up after half an hour. They won the match 3-1 with top goalscorer Callum Roberts opening the scoring.
Former Newcastle United forward Callum Roberts has eight league goals already this season, half of the team’s total this campaign, which included a hat-trick away at Kettering Town.
Their most recent game was a 3-0 loss at National League North leaders King’s Lynn Town, meaning Clark’s men have only one win in their last six matches.
Match stats:
- Blyth have only lost at Edgeley Park twice, both in the FA Cup (1934 and 1995)
- In 1997, County drew 1-1 at home to Sunderland, with the goalscorers being Jim Gannon for the Hatters and Lee Clark for the Mackem
- Should County win, it will be our fourth consecutive run to the FA Trophy Second Round Proper.
