Blyth Spartans 2

Birmingham City 3

Blyth Spartans almost wrote another glorious chapter in their FA Cup history before they were beaten by a second half fightback by Birmingham City at Croft Park.

The Evo-Stik League side, the lowest ranked remaining in the Cup, stunned their Championship visitors by scoring twice in the first half to put their supporters into raptures and dreaming of another famous FA Cup scalp.

But the half time break gave Birmingham manager Gary Rowett, who had gambled by making ten changes, some breathing space to re-organise his players for the fightback in the second half.

At half time, it looked as if Blyth striker Robbie Dale was going to grab all the third round headlines with two superb goals, but the 15 minute breather made a big difference.

Blyth manager Tom Wade said: “I thought we did exceptionally well to be 2-0 up at half time, and if we’d scored a third before half time then it might have been game over. The half time interval gave them time to regroup and they started the second half better,

“Birmingham showed how good they are in the second half by scoring three goals so quickly, and that killed us off. Birmingham’s pace and strength told in the end.

“But the result is still a huge compliment to us, we’ve given a Championship side a real scare.

“The whole run has been an unforgettable experience. I’m so proud of the lads, and yet in a way I’m disappointed that we’ve gone out of the Cup.”

Birmingham had the ball in the net early on through Nikola Zigic but the goal was ruled out for a foul on Blyth keeper Peter Jeffries, then the Serbian striker carelessly put an easy chance laid on by Lee Novak over the bar.

Blyth made the most of the let off, and went on all out attack, with the Croft Park fans loudly behind them, and Birmingham struggling to cope on a bumpy pitch, which they clearly didn’t fancy before the game.

They forced a couple of corners which came to nothing, but on 35 minutes took the lead, when Jarrett Rivers beat a couple of static defenders on his way to the bye line, and pulled the ball perfectly for Robbie Dale to sidefoot past stranded keeper Colin Doyle.

Dale’s second goal five minutes later was greeted with a huge roar, and had Blyth dreaming of a giantkilling. He picked the ball up from a short free kick, beat one defender and as Birmingham dallied, rode a couple of half hearted challenges before tucking the ball into the bottom corner for his 17th goal of the season. He has scored in every round of the cup this season bar one.

Birmingham were reeling, and they were nearly knocked out just on half time when Dan Maguire broke into the box on the left, and his effort was tipped over the bar by Doyle at his near post. How Blyth must have wished that was the last kick of ninety minutes and not forty five.

Rowett’s half time motivation talk clearly worked, and Birmingham looked much better in the second half. Blyth could only hold on to their two goal lead for seven minutes. A Birmingham attack down the left saw them outnumber the Blyth defence, allowing former Gateshead striker Lee Novak to get into the box and beat Jeffries with a right foot shot.

The scores were level on 54 minutes when Wes Thomas held off Blyth defender Ryan Hutchinson and beat Jeffries with a left foot shot, and Blyth were still recovering when Thomas headed the third from a David Duffy cross from the left.

Blyth didn’t give up. Dale hit a swerving left foot shot wide just after the hour, and in the last minute he had another blocked at the near post. Sub Danny Parker headed the ensuing corner wide, and in stoppage time Maguire got away but couldn’t get his shot on target.

Birmingham manager Rowett said; “The pitch was certainly a leveller in the first half. From our point of view, they were two bad goals to concede, but before that I thought we had a good goal chalked off for some reason.

“At half time, we spoke about what we were doing wrong. Instead of putting the ball behind their defence, we were making it easy for Blyth and playing in front of them.

“In the second half, we put more balls behind their back four and used our pace and strength. We showed a lot of commitment and quality to get through.

“I thought Blyth were brilliant. They closed us down and made us extremely nervous.”

Blyth: Jeffries; Dixon (Nicholson 90), Hutchinson (Parker 85), Buddle, Watson; Turnbull, Hawkins, Mullen (Richardson 65), Dale; Maguire, Rivers. Subs (not used): Wearmouth, Hooks, Wade, Nicholson, Harrison

Birmingham: Doyle, Eardley, Edgar, Morrison, Hancox; Duffy (Arthur 81), Reilly, Moussi; Zigic, Novak, Thomas. Subs (not used): Randolph, Grounds, Caddis, Cotterill, Shinnie, Gray