Story of the night: Blyth Spartans 2-1 Hartlepool United – promotion hangover continues at Croft Park
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Goals in either half from Jordan Hickey and JJ O’Donnell gave the National League North side a 2-0 lead before Nicky Featherstone’s looping header pulled a goal back for Pools, who have now been beaten by all three of their National League North opponents in pre-season.
Next up for Dave Challinor’s side is Northern Premier Division One side Dunston UTS.
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FULL-TIME: Blyth Spartans 2 (Hickey 9’, O’Donnell 75’) Hartlepool United 1 (Featherstone 79’)
Key Events
- Pools XI: Trialist, Sterry, Odusina, Liddle, Trialist, Ferguson, Shelton, Featherstone, Holohan, Molyneux, Trialist
- Pools subs: Killip, Trialist, Smith, Crawford, Olomola, MacDonald, Ogle, Byrne, Francis-Angol, Trialist, Close
- Confirmed Pools trialists: Shaun MacDonald (GK), Jake Lawlor, Adam Smith (GK)
- Blyth XI: Mitchell, Byrne, Lees, Buddle, Watson, Liddle, Deverdics, Hickey, O’Donnell, McNall, Dale
- Blyth subs: Trialist, Evans, Trialist, Painter, McKeown, Gillies, Clark, Reid, Trialist
- Referee: Adam Williamson
- Attendance: 815
GOAL! Featherstone pulls one back with a looping header!
Featherstone heads toward goal and it loops into the top right corner. 2-1
GOAL! Blyth double their lead on the counter
A swift attacking break from Blyth sees JJ O’Donnell finish it off with a fine strike into the bottom left corner of the goal.
60: Quiet start to the second half so far
Pools enjoying decent spells of possession but not creating any real chances to draw themselves level.
40: Luke Molyneux has another effort
More pressure from Pools sees Luke Molyneux’s strike deflect into the hands of Mitchell.
35: Robbie Dale with an ambitious effort
Dale attempts a looping half volley from the corner of the Pools box but it sails narrowly over the crossbar.
32: Pools have the ball in the net but the flag is up
Gavan Holohan clips the ball over to Trialist #9 who finds the net but the flag is up.
17: Great work from Shelton
A fine solo run from Shelton sees him worm his way into the box and get a shot away which is parried out for a corner by Mitchell at his near post.