Blue Star shooting for promotion
NORTHERN LEAGUE DIVISION TWO PLAY-OFF FINAL PREVIEW
MARC Nash is determined to enjoy another successful evening as Newcastle Blue Star aim to secure promotion into Northern League Division One tonight.
After securing second place in the Division Two table when the regular season came to a close, Nash’s side took a step closer to elevation into the top tier with a hard-earned 2-1 win in their play-off semi-final meeting with Horden CW on Friday.
An astonishing crowd of 1,061 were on hand to witness that win and yet another sizeable attendance is expected when Easington Colliery come calling tonight.
Former North Shields and Whitley Bay boss Nash admitted this was the sort of occasion that persuaded him to take charge of Blue Star earlier this season as he challenged his squad to secure a ‘massive’ promotion into step five of the non-league system.
He said: “We are 90 minutes away from getting promoted and if we were offered that at the start of the season we would have taken that.
“We know it’s massive for the club, we had over 1,000 for a second division game and that’s massive for us.
“We want another night like Friday, it’s nights like that we wanted when we took over. We came here, we signed players, and we had a taste of what it can be like.
“Hopefully the place is rocking again on Wednesday night and we can produce another performance and result to get us up there.”
Easington can take heart from the fact they have already claimed an away win against Blue Star after a Matty Weirs hat-trick and a Kevin Pearn brace helped them romp to a 5-0 victory at Scotswood in December.
Manager Olly Hotchkiss was on hand to witness Blue Star’s win against Horden on Friday night and he paid tribute to tonight’s opponents ahead of an eagerly anticipated occasion.
“Blue Star are a really good side, they’ve got some tremendous footballers,” said the Colliers boss.
“They’re coached and managed really well, and they’ve got all the foundations to be a top, top team but in finals anything can happen.
“We’re going into the game in fine form, so confidence is really high, and the players are really excited to get up there on Wednesday night and show what we’re about.”