By Mark Carruthers
JJ O’Donnell boosted Blyth Spartans survival hopes with a late winner in Friday’s home game with Farsley Celtic – but he insisted their bid to maintain their National League North status is “nowhere near done”.
Both sides went into a key meeting looking nervously over their shoulders following basement club Guiseley‘s impressive 2-0 win at Kettering Town in midweek.
But it was Spartans that went some way to easing their relegation concerns as they came out on top in a tight and nervy affair in South East Northumberland.
Spartans were sat second from bottom in Non-League‘s second tier ahead of their Croft Park clash with fellow strugglers Farsley.
Connor Thomson fired Terry Mitchell’s men in front on the quarter-hour mark but they were pegged back when Jimmy Spencer grabbed an equaliser just before half-time.
Neither side were able to build momentum for the majority of the second-half but Spartans looked to be getting on top as the final five minutes approached.
And they secured a vital win in the last minute of the game when O’Donnell headed home from a Nicky Deverdics corner to send a wave of relief around three quarters of Croft Park.
Their elation was only enhanced by the news fellow strugglers Guiseley, AFC Telford United and Gloucester City were all left empty-handed from their own Good Friday fixtures.
After the game, Spartans top scorer O’Donnell told The NLP: “The job is nowhere near done for us yet.
“We have got ourselves into the situation we are in right now.
“You look at the start of the season, people will say we should be nowhere near the bottom of the league but the table never lies.
“We are still there, we have a big month ahead of us – but Friday has given us a nice confidence booster and it’s a boost for the whole place.
“We messed it up against Boston and Telford but we have gone some way to making amends with that win agains Farsley.
“Now we have to carry it on into the rest of the season.”
Next up for Spartans is a short trip to North East rivals Spennymoor Town on Monday afternoon.
