By Andrew McDonnell (@AndrewSJourno)
Pre-Season Friendly
Venue: Off Sandringham Avenue, South Newsham, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 3PS
Date: Thursday, July 20, 2017
Kick-Off: 7:00pm
Updates: @MorpethTownAFC
Morpeth Town travel to South Newsham for the first time on Thursday night as they are set to meet Blyth AFC in a Pre-Season Friendly.
The two sides met in a friendly back in December, which Morpeth won 3-0, but Blyth’s squad has changed a lot since then.
Morpeth edged out National League North side Spennymoor Town on Tuesday night, and have had under 48 hours to recover ahead of the game.
The game offers Nick Gray and Dave Malone’s side the chance to go against top level opposition once again, with the players that didn’t feature much on Tuesday, likely to get minutes against Blyth.
Morpeth are starting to find their stride as the game with the Moors marked the halfway point in pre-season and they’ll be looking to progress further with the JR Cleator Cup game on the horizon.
Team News
Morpeth Town have one player missing from the squad that travels to Blyth AFC, and that is Richard Pell, whose wife has gone into labour.
Mark Davison came on in the second half against Spennymoor, and scored the winner late on and is in the squad for the game.
The Manager’s Views
Co-manager Dave Malone said: “We’ve got two more great games, Blyth AFC on Thursday. They’ve got a good side, Northern League Division Two, and they’ll be pushing to get promoted this year.
“There’ll be a lot of changes on Thursday. A lot of the lads that didn’t get on and didn’t start, will probably be starting.
“With there being no game on Saturday, it gives us a few days to recover for the Blyth Spartans game, which will be another big test for us.
“We’ve picked a tough pre-season to give us these challenges and we’re rising to the challenges at the minute – getting ready for the season.”
The Opposition
Formerly known as Blyth Town, Blyth AFC play in Division Two of the Northern League and in their first season in the league, they finished 8th.
Andy Bowman, who was at North Shields when they won the FA Vase in 2015, joined Mick Connor at South Newsham and they’re putting together quite a formidable side.
There is no hiding the fact that this club had big ambitions, and their recent signing says all that you need to know – forward Andrew Bulford joined from Ashington.
Blyth’s last outing was on Saturday afternoon against Newcastle Benfield, and it was a high-scoring affair – the game ended 4-4.
The Braves might have a new look about them this season, and Connor and Bowman will be gunning for the Division Two championship.
Admission Charges
Entry at South Newsham is £3 for Adults and £1 for Concessions, while programmes are £1.50.
