Blyth Spartans? Didn’t they once do something in The FA Cup?
The Northern League outfit reached the Fifth Round Proper – the last 16 – in 1978 and no non-League side has bettered that in the post-war period.
Their wonderful Cup journey finally ended before a 42,000 crowd at Newcastle United’s St James’ Park, the venue for their Fifth Round replay with Third Division Wrexham.
Spartans now play in the Northern Premier League’s Premier Division, two levels higher than the Northern League, and they face a Third Round Qualifying tie at Mickleover Sports in Derbyshire on Saturday.
Mickleover Sports v Blyth Spartans
FA Cup
Third Round Qualifying
3pm, Saturday 11 October
Raygar Stadium
Winners receive £7,500
In the season in which they became the name on everyone’s lips they entered The FA Cup at the First Round Qualifying stage.
Victories over Shildon, Crook Town, Consett and Bishop Auckland took them through to the First Round Proper for the 22nd time in their 78-year history.
They had the luck of the draw in the first three Proper Rounds – knocking out Burscough, Chesterfield and Enfield at Croft Park – and that set up an intriguing Fourth Round tie at Stoke City, then in the Second Division.
There was a crowd of over 18,000 at Stoke’s Victoria Ground to watch this tie turn into a fairy-tale 3-2 win for the non-Leaguers, enabling them to make Cup history by going into Round Five, the third non-League side in more than half a century to advance so far in the competition.
Twelve days later, on Wrexham’s bone-hard Racecourse Ground, Spartans came within two minutes of being the first non-League club post-war to reach the quarter finals.
Jed Dalton celebrates another famous Spartans success. This time a 2008 win over AFC Bournemouth.
They gained a shock lead after eleven minutes. Wrexham full-back Hill’s pass back to his goalkeeper fell short and Terry Johnson nipped in to round him and score. As the end of the game approached the 4,000 Spartans supporters in the ground began to sense victory.
But their luck ultimately ran out.
Spartans keeper Dave Clarke caught Cartwright’s corner comfortably but the referee noticed that the corner flag had fallen down in the wind and ordered a retake. This time ‘Dixie’ McNeil rushed in to score with a header, maintaining his record of a goal in every round.
They lost the replay 2-1 and missed out on a home tie with Arsenal.
In 2008-09 they again hit the headlines as they reached the Third Round Proper after a Second Round victory against Bournemouth.
Alas, there would be no fairytale this time round. They lost the tie by a single, own-goal to Sam Allardyce's Premier League outfit.
And as they prepare for Mickleover Sports, they know 'just' four more wins will take Blyth Spartans into this season’s Third Round again.
And who would bet against it?
