Cassidy demands Cup therapy

Witton Albion FC were founded two years before Blyth but on the basis of their FA Trophy win on Saturday Spartans manager Tommy Cassidy will wonder whether the Cheshire side are light years ahead as he prepare his team for an even bigger cup test, writes Philip Castiaux.

The Blyth manager revealed that his pride was dented by the 4-1 defeat at the Help For Heroes Stadium on Saturday as his side prepare for Monday night’s FA Cup Second Qualifying Round Replay at Workington.

And the Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division manager’s demeanour also showed more than the odd dent as he admitted: "I just hope the players are feeling as bad as I am. On the touchline watching the goals go in during that performance made me feel really down. We are better than that but we didn’t show it at all.

"I can’t wait for tomorrow night when we play at Workington in our FA Cup replay. I’ll have picked up by then and I need the players to have done so too. I am not shirking my responsibility for the Witton match. The buck stops with me. But the players need to look to themselves as well."

Cassidy was quick to apologise to Spartans supporters for the result and added: "We let them down, especially when they’ve travelled four hours and paid good money to back us. In fact we let everyone down but we need to press on starting at Workington on Monday."