Blyth’s high five to sign off in style
BLYTH Spartans were presented with the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League trophy after they signed off with a 5-1 thumping of Grantham Town.
Leading scorer Dan Maguire helped himself to a hat-trick to reach 30 goals for the season, with talisman Robbie Dale also on target.
A Stefan Galenski own goal contributed to Blyth going nap in each of their last two games, both on home soil.
Spartans finished 14 points clear at the top having scored 114 goals and conceded just 44, offensively and defensively the best records in the division.
Manager Alun Armstrong said: “To put five goals past both Whitby and Grantham in our final two games was a great way to finish.
“Until the final week, both had a chance of making the play-offs, so to beat both sides by a large margin shows what a good side we are.
“Saturday wasn’t a 5-1 game as Grantham are a good side that caused us problems throughout, but they couldn’t handle our front four.
“I wanted us to break the 100-point barrier. We’ve become history-makers by doing that and we won the league by some distance.
“The players deserve a lot of credit. The squad is strong and we’ve been able to bring in quality when we have made changes.”
A crowd of just over 1,000 joined in with the post-match celebrations, the attendance at Croft Park the only frustration for Armstrong.
“Given what we’ve achieved, I’m disappointed we didn’t get 1,500 in for the final league game to see us presented with the trophy,” he said.
Super Spartans have one more hurdle to clear – the final of the Northumberland Senior Cup against North Shields at St James’ Park on Wednesday.