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Blyth benefit from team effort

The aim for Blyth Town at the start of the season was to push for promotion and after covid, they kept the core of their team and added to it, including having five or six Under-18 players playing consistently.

This proved to be fruitful as Blyth Town emerged as winners of the Northern Division in the North East League, getting the better of Chester-le-Street United and Boro Rangers in the title race.

Blyth got off to a really good start, beating Bishop Auckland 5-0 at home before coming back from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 away at title challengers Boro Rangers. They hit a bad run of form around December/January, only picking up two points in three games whilst suffering their only league defeat.

From that point, they went on a ten-game unbeaten run where they picked up 28 points out of a possible 30. The standout performances came in March, fighting back from 2-0 down away at Spennymoor Town to win 3-2 and really stepped it up a gear from that game as they never thought they were beaten. The next week, Blyth went into a huge game against second placed Boro Rangers and comfortably beat them 5-1 in their best footballing performance of the season. Seven days later, they went to third placed Chester-le-Street knowing a loss would put them level on points, with a better goal difference. Blyth were missing their top goalscorer, as well as their captain for most of the game but scored an 85th minute equaliser for a crucial 1-1 draw.

Alex Henry is manager, with Laura Dodds as captain and leading goalscorer is Steph Ord with 31 goals in 15 games (she is also top goalscorer in the division).

Defence was key for the team this season as they finished with the most clean sheets and best goals against record in the division and this really helped in close games. Four players finished with seven or more assists, including Laura Dodds who finished with 18. Steph Ord was critical in scoring important goals but overall, having a small, settled squad with loads of togetherness pulled the team over the line.

Blyth Town squad: Katie Archbold, Emily Ashby, Olivia Bruce, Shannon Carlin, Laura Dodds, Alysia Donnison, Samantha Garcia, Katie Glendening, Emma Haley, Jessica Hennessy, Rebecca Henry, Abigail Herron, Sophie Hollis, Steph Ord, Isabel Richards, Ailsa Swinburne, Amber Witson, Kodie Wren.