Blyth Town (H) – Match Preview

The finish line is in sight as we prepare to play our final league match this season at the Hollou

There is a slim possibility that we could relegate the side we got promoted with, with Blyth Town sitting a point behind Bishop Auckland, meaning if we beat them and Bishop (and Silsden for good measure) win, then it will confirm the drop for our opponents.

Newton Aycliffe and Ossett United are also in a precarious spot, with a loss for both sides practically condemning them both to relegation.

Newton Aycliffe not only need a win, but also needs the three sides above them to lose, whereas Ossett, for now, just needs to beat Consett in their next match to have a chance at survival.

For Blyth Town, the past few weeks have been varied, picking up vital points as they beat Blyth Spartans 2-0. Heaton Stannington 1-0 and Grimsby Borough 2-0. However, they have also suffered frustrating defeats, either due to league positions, as is their 1-0 loss to Bishop Auckland, or due to the scoreline itself, with the most prominent loss being the 7-0 thrashing to Bridlington Town on the 4th of April

From the 14th to the 28th of March, they did look to be fixing their problems, picking up 4 wins in a row, along with a 2-2 draw to Ashington the following Tuesday.

Of their two remaining games, one does look to have more promise than the other, with their away trip to us preceding a home fixture against a Garforth Town side who have only won twice since the 28th of February.

Mathematically, the drop is still a risk for 7 sides, with Grimsby Borough, Ashington, Blyth Spartans, Silsden and Bishop Auckland all sat outside it by, at most, the 6 points left up for grabs.

If you want to feel bad for any side in the relegation fight, though, then it has to be Newton Aycliffe.

Their two remaining fixtures have them hosting Matlock Town before travelling to Emley to wrap the season up.

With relegation already looking likely, there could not have been a trickier set of fixtures to be given.

Well… actually they could have been given an away trip to the Hollou.

There’s still another one of these match previews to come next week, so I’m not going to get all sentimental yet.

But we are about to end our Hollou-based 25/26 campaign in roughly 24 hours.

What a campaign it has been too, picking up 17 wins, 2 draws and just one defeat in the league (Cheers, Emley)

77 goals scored, 22 conceded and some brilliant results too

Whether your highlight was a high-scoring one, such as the 10-1 battering of Silsden, the 7-0 thrashing of Brighouse Town, or the 6-2 thumping of Newton Aycliffe

Or a late winner, such as the 1-0 win versus Ashington that saw Oscar Fletcher net late, the 4-3 win against Garforth Town that saw Brad Fewster get the win in the dying seconds, or the clutch 3-2 against Ossett United that saw Sparky strike when the game had looked done, there is no denying that it has been an action-packed few months

Of our home goals, 25 were scored by Bosh, with Louis Johnson grabbing 14, and Brad Fewster and Oscar Fletcher both bagging 10 as well

Owen Buns got 6, Curtis Round got 4, and Danny Rowe and Mark Anderson both bagged a pair, too

John Howard, Rio May, Dane Burlace and Kev Burgess all scored just once at the Hollou too, rounding out the list of league home turf goalscorers

If we can score 13 goals in our last two matches, then we will hit the 150 goals scored mark, which would be neat…but also somewhat difficult, even for us

Bosh is 9 goals off the 50 league strikes milestone, Louis has passed Brad, hit the 25 scored milestone with his hat trick against Pontefract, and become our 2nd highest scorer this season, and Brad himself is just one goal off of hitting that 25 tally too

Anyway, there isn’t much else to say that hasn’t already been discussed. We surpassed 100 points, our name is now golden on every graphic of the league table, and we keep our attention on these final two matches before we close this chapter

See you tomorrow, and, as always, up the Steelmen!