Rivers flows into action to earn Spartans late victory

FORMER Blackpool winger Jarrett Rivers struck seven minutes from time to give Blyth Spartans a 2-1 win over Altrincham.

And for once the Spartans, who had lost their last three games, had luck on their side.

How Tom Peers didn’t equalise for the Robins at the death only he will know, the striker somehow firing over from five-yards with the goal at his mercy.

It was a miss of the season contender, Blyth’s lead in the first half through Sean Reid’s volleyed lob cancelled out a minute later by Josh Hancock.

But when Dan Maguire’s 83rd minute cross eventually fell for Rivers, quick feet saw the ball scooped into the far top corner.

It was enough to inflict a first away defeat on newly-promoted Altrincham and to give Blyth only their second win, both at home.

Rivers, now in his second spell at Croft Park, praised his side’s spirit.

Rivers said: “Altrincham are a good footballing side. They played us off the park in the first half, but sometimes you just need to grind out a result.

“That’s what we did today. When we went 2-1 up the togtherness really shone through and you could see the work-rate we had to see it through.

“It paid off, but obviously we did get a bit of luck at the end. Sometimes you need that to get three points and we haven’t had much recently.

“We didn’t play at our best but you could see from the lads’ reaction at the end how much it meant.”

Blyth now have a free week to prepare for a trip to unbeaten Kidderminster Harriers.