Brid Town slump to 4-1 home loss against struggling Spartans

This defeat means the Seasiders have now conceded 18 goals in their last five outings, conceding nine goals in two games under Scott Kerr.

Town now sit in a precarious position in the table sitting 13th but could easily be dragged into relegation battle if fortunes don’t improve soon.

Just 10 seconds into the match Reece Kendall received the first caution of the game, the following free-kick was whipped in and Jack Foalle’s looping header was easily collected easily Jonathan Dash.

The visitors started on the front foot and almost broke the deadlock, Kyle Downey lobbed a great pass over the back line, Dash came rushing out, but Foalle’s first-time volley went over the bar.

With so much pressure from the visitors it wasn’t long until they broke the deadlock, Downey collected a through ball from Jack Vaulks, his run led to a squared pass to Foalle, and his shot went into the roof of the net.

The Seasiders were soon back on level terms, Ahmed Salam cut back to Michael Coulson he worked his way round his man, and his low driven shot settled nicely in the bottom corner.

Spartans though restored their lead, a cross came in from Charlie Wood a header from Michael Fowler rebounded off the back post and Foalle tapped the ball into the net.

For the next 10 minutes of the first half, Blyth controlled the core of the game troubling the hosts, Foalle almost earned his hat-trick, he ran into clear space, but agonisingly his shot was saved by Dash.

As stoppage-time came for the first period Austin Wiles almost levelled the game, Salam played in a corner, but Wiles’ first time shot went just wide of the left post.

The first chance of the second half came on 49 minutes, with a scramble on the edge of the box, the ball fell to Olly Green, however his shot went wide.

Town made a double substitution and were looking to get back into the game, Alex Markham coming off for Brodie Sedman and Hamza Hamdosh was replaced by Jake Day.

The Seasiders’ story of the night came again a cross fell to Day from a corner and there was a scramble in the goalmouth, but the following scramble went out for another corner.

Spartans then came close to adding a third goal, Rio Joisce ran forward on the right flank before playing a cross into Noah Millington, but his sliding effort went wide.

Soon later they did add a third, Millington played a cross into Joisce and his close-range shot was placed beyond Dash into an open net as Dash was left stranded.

The Seasiders almost did cut the deficit, Green played a through ball to Casey Stewart, he skipped past Wood, and his shot was saved at the near post by Callam Dobson.

As stoppage-time approached Spartans were awarded a penalty, Stewart pulled down Fowler, in the area and the resulting penalty was slotted away calmly, making it 4-1.

Scott Kerr said: “I’m gutted, we spoke to the team beforehand and we felt we strengthened a little bit.

"Obviously it’s been a tough week bringing players in the squad today from the Redcar game.

"We came in and fully expected to win the game, and we never looked like it, I’m disappointed to say the least. We got outworked and didn’t do the basics right, it was the same again with individual mistakes, switching off.

"We had Austen (Wiles) coming in from the Reserves, I thought he was our best player today, we put him in centre-half because we were short of midfielders.”