League honours sporting Spartans

Named as one of October’s trio of winning clubs alongside Bamber Bridge in First Division North and Shaw Lane Aquaforce in First Division South, the Premier Division club was honoured at Croft Park on Saturday before knocking Whitby Town out of the FA Trophy.

Spartans manager Tom Wade is pictured collecting the top flight's fair play award from EVO-STIK NPL representative Mark Ogley before guiding his side to a 1-0 win over the Seasiders in the competition’s second qualifying round.

Like all winners, Wade was presented with an inscribed certificate recording the club’s achievement and a bottle of Pol Roger champagne to toast their success in supporting the FA's Respect campaign and the EVO-STIK NPL’s own efforts to promote sportsmanship and fair play.

The awards are handed out every month after a totting up of red and yellow cards divided by the number of fixtures played. Wade’s side have been winning the right way all season and posted the division’s lowest disciplinary average of 0.57 points for their four yellow cards in seven outings.

After collecting their honour a proud Wade said: "The award shows what a great set of lads we have at Blyth who play the game the right way. They play with fantastic discipline.

"The players have been under intense pressure last season in the FA Cup run and this has continued this season with being top of the league. It's a fantastic achievement for them and they should be very proud!"

To view the latest Fair Play Tables click on the 'League Info' button on the home page and then 'Press Releases' under the downloads tab.

* 2015 was another award winning year for the EVO-STIK Northern Premier League after it was named as the best behaved competition in the top levels of Non-League football for the fifth time in six years.

Premier Division play-off winners Curzon Ashton also completed a ‘Respect double’ at the Football Association’s 2015 Fair Play and Respect Awards when they were named as Non-League’s best behaved club to continue the league's monopoly of the individual club accolade.

The Nash's triumph saw an EVO-STIK NPL League club win the FA’s National League System Step 1-4 Respect and Fair Play Club Award for the sixth year in a row since the accolades were launched, John Flanagan's men following in the footsteps of inaugural winners Garforth Town in 2010, Lancaster City in 2011, AFC Fylde in 2012, Nantwich Town in 2013 and Skelmersdale United in 2014.

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