The Spartans boss and his players are still fuming after three key decisions cost them at least two Blue Square North points at title-chasing Southport on Saturday.

Channelling that sense of injustice into positive action against Harrogate - second-bottom of the table - should earn Blyth a third straight home victory.

On the day the Six Nations kicked off, Blyth Spartans might as well have been playing rugby as well. Apoplectic at Southport's 'handling' of the game, Mick Tait was also agitated by officialdom.

The Croft Park side succumbed to the second-placed Merseysiders having bettered their lofty Blue Square North opponents.

They led through Ian Graham then, after falling 2-1 behind, equalised thanks to Paul Brayson's eighth goal in six games.

Last summer the Northumberland Knightflyers coaches, Alan Hoyle and Isobelle Gibson, travelled to London on a very special journey, to not only watch the Chicago Bulls take on the Utah Jazz, but to actually learn first hand how the Chicago Bulls train, by the Chicago Bulls coaching staff. Alan and Isobelle were two of only fifty coaches from around the world to attend a special NBA coaches clinic with the Six Time World Champion Chicago Bulls.

The Northumberland Knightflyers Basketball Club is open to people of all ages and abilities, our junior team has an age range of 5 - 15 years old, while our senior team has no upper age limit. We also welcome casual players who just wish to improve their game.

Currently both the senior and junior clubs train each Friday, 7pm till 9pm at Coquet High School in Amble (Acklington Road, Amble, NE65 0NG), each session costs £5.

Starting Saturday 6th March, the Northumberland Knightflyers will be starting basketball sessions at Blyth Sportscentre (Bolam Park, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 5BT) at 11am till 12pm, each session will cost £3.

Teams from Berwick, Allendale, Alnwick and Prudhoe took part in the Key Stage Three and Four Northumberland Schools Badminton County Final organised by Badminton England and the School Sports Partnership..

Northumberland Schools Badminton County Final Key Stage Four winners (back) and the stage three victors (front) receive their trophies at Ashington Leisure Centre

For the first time, all six School Sports Partnerships in Northumberland - Ashington, Blyth and Bedlington, Cramlington and Seaton Valley, Morpeth and Ponteland, North Northumberland and Tynedale - were involved in the competition.

Blyth Spartans won their first midweek away game in two years when they held on to Paul Brayson's early second-half goal against Stalybridge Celtic in Blue Square North.

Manager Mick Tait handed a debut to Guy Bates, signed from Dublin side Drogheda. At one time he was with Newcastle United.

Bates was immediately in action and in the first minute a superb crossfield pass was brilliantly controlled by Brayson who appeared to be pushed but Blyth's penalty appeal was rejected by referee Anthony Scregg.

The in-form Spartans head for Cheshire on the back of six points and eight goals in their last two Blue Square North outings, and pondering whether to recruit former Newcastle striker Guy Bates.

But with one of those recent victories having come against Stalybridge, Tait knows it will take more than the feelgood factor for Blyth to make it three in a row at Bower Fold.

In the Kicks Leisure League Cup, the scheduled tie at Chopwell was switched to Blyth's ground at South Newsham - and Blyth secured a 3-1 win.

Craig Hopwood gave the Town an interval lead which was later increased by Chris Lisle and then Neil Blades before Dave Fitzpatrick grabbed a late reply.

You sense they will resume now, having belatedly emerged, and how, from winter hibernation with a thrilling victory over seventh-placed Stalybridge, the best away side in Blue Square North.

Yet with only a single game in over a month and former manager Steve Burr departed to Kidderminster, if Celtic were undercooked or under-coached, it did not show from the off.

The certain belief that Blyth deserved more from Saturday's trip to Blue Square North table-toppers Fleetwood Town will motivate Tait's men tonight.

Stalybridge? Having played one league game in a month, and just lost their manager, it's anyone's guess how they will perform at Croft Park.

Dominant, encouraging and full of confidence. Not the words you might expect to hear from a manager who had just presided over a 4-2 defeat, only days after a 5-1 reverse.

But this latest loss was at Fleetwood Town, flying high at the top of Blue Square North, for Blyth Spartans, so abject at Northwich Victoria on Tuesday.

Despite trailing by a goal at the interval, Mick Tait's side looked capable of taking something from the game, but they were outplayed in the second period and Northwich's victory could have been by a bigger margin, such was their superiority.

Blyth made a disastrous start conceding a goal after just two minutes. Ian Herring found space 18 yards out and rifled the ball past goalkeeper Jack Norton.

Spartans boss Tait takes his men to Northwich Victoria tonight not expecting a war of attrition against a side committed to playing progressive football under
much-respected manager Andy Preece.

However, the roughing up his team have received on a regular basis this season is a puzzling concern to Tait, who fears being denied the services of newly-returned defender Richard Pell tonight by an injury inflicted by a nasty challenge in Saturday's 3-2 home win over Vauxhall Motors.

When Mick Tait describes a tackle as "naughty", you know it must have been bad.

When a game ends with two goals in three minutes of added time, just four minutes after another, it had to have been a barnstormer.

So it was at Croft Park, as Blyth Spartans resumed their Blue Square North campaign with victory over Vauxhall Motors.

Two clubs, Blyth Spartans and Jarrow Roofing, managed to make their grounds playable - but in both cases, their efforts went unrewarded.

Croft Park was the venue for the delayed FA Carlsberg Trophy Second Round tie between Blyth Spartans and Guiseley and it was the visitors who progressed with a narrow 2-1 victory last night.

Tait is hopeful that Blyth will play their first game in exactly a month tonight, with the rearranged FA Trophy tie against Guiseley dependent on a pitch inspection at Croft Park today.

But despite his side's unwanted hiatus, Tait is still confident they can make waves in both league and cup over the coming weeks, with a full-scale training session on Tynemouth beach having blown away more than a few cobwebs.