Avenue return to Northern Premier League action this weekend, hosting Workington this Saturday 23rd September, at the Horsfall Community Stadium, Kick Off 3pm, and gates open at 1:30pm!

Adults will pay just £13 entry, Concessions are in at £10, Students with a valid ID pay just £5, Youth (12-17) is just £3, and u12s go completely free!

Card and Cash are taken at the Cemetery Road end, and the Park Road end is cash only.

Workington come into the game following a 3-1 defeat to National League North side Darlington last Friday in the 2RQ of the FA Cup.

The Reds have been a high-scoring team so far this season, their biggest League win so far was a 5-0 thrashing of Ashton United on the opening day of the NPL. Their biggest defeat came the following week, with Ilkeston Town netting 6 goals to Workington’s 1.

Avenue come into the game after FA Cup action, visiting Blyth Spartans on Saturday 16th and taking a 1-1 draw to force a replay at the Horsfall. 

The replay ended 1-1 at Full Time, but Avenue couldn’t hold out through Extra Time, and two quick goals from Jonathan Hooper (110’) and Cedric Main (118’) saw the Spartans progress in the FA Cup. 

Injury plagued the Avenue squad on that Saturday though, with Bower losing Jak Whiting in the 14th minute, and later Jamie Spencer in the 60th minute. 

Speaking to the Telegraph & Argus, Mark Bower said;

“Jamie looks like he’s going to be out for a few months having damaged his knee.

“We’re waiting on his results to work out a plan of action but he’s probably going to need surgery, so I don’t expect to see him back this side of Christmas.

“We’ll be looking to strengthen in midfield because of that, as Spenner was our most experienced player in there, and it looks very young without him.

“Harry, Harrison Hopper and Will Lancaster have done a good job in there, but we need someone now with a bit of knowhow and that streetwise edge.

“That’s especially important with us getting into autumn and the weather turning, so hopefully we can bring someone in this week.”

Bower is hopeful of welcoming back the likes of Mason O’Malley, Myles La Bastide and Jak Whiting from injury tomorrow too, as well as Hopper from suspension.

And he said: “After our first two games of the season, we’ve only lost one of our last eight games inside 90 minutes.

“We’ve been away a lot so it’s nice to be at home on Saturday.

“We can try and continue the good form we’ve had at Horsfall and start building some momentum in the league, as we’ve only had one game in the division in the last three weeks.

“We’ve got a little run of Saturday and Tuesday league games coming up, so there are plenty of opportunities to pick up the points on offer, getting the points we should have had in previous games.”

Before that trip to Ashton United next Tuesday comes the home clash with Workington, the cornerstone of Avenue’s annual beer festival at Horsfall, which also sees the teens in FA Youth Cup action tonight, and an Avenue XI take on a Bantams XI on Sunday, with free admission for the latter.

Bower said: “I hope the weather holds for it, and it’ll make the event and the Sunday even better if the academy and seniors both win.

“It’s good to have the facility at Horsfall now that allows us to do that, as a few years ago, with the weather we’ve had over the last few days, it’d have probably been called off.”

The clash with Workington is Bower’s main focus at the weekend, and he said: “They’re a good team who are confident in possession.

“They play in good areas where others wouldn’t take those risks and like to build from the back like us.

“They’ve conceded a lot this season but scored plenty too.

“We’re good at home though, and it could be a high-scoring game, even though I’d take a scrappy 1-0 win to get us going.”

Confidence should come from the FA Cup game with Blyth and the subsequent replay defeat in extra-time though, and Bower said:

“The lads will be gutted and disappointed, and we did feel a bit hard done by with some of the decisions against us.

“But we’ll take the positives, as it helped players get stronger and fitter, and really looking like assets to us.

The Green Army are back in the North East again this week, after drawing Blyth Spartans in the Emirates FA Cup 2QR.

TICKETS

The match will kick off at 3pm at Croft Park, and you can click here to purchase tickets now!

Tickets can also be purchased on the turnstiles at Croft Park.

TRAVEL INFORMATION (From Football Ground Guide)

From the North
From the A189 (Spine Road) take the A193 (Cowpen Road) exit and follow this into Blyth, continue on the A193 as it becomes The Broadway. Continue on the A193 at The Broadway Circle roundabout and take the next left on to Plessey Road. The ground will be on your left.

From the South
Exit the A19 onto the A189 (Spine Road) at the Annitsford Roundabout. After two miles exit onto the A1061 (signed A192 Seaton Delaval, Cramlington and Blyth Beach. Follow the A1061 for approximately three miles and exit left onto the A193. Turn right at the second roundabout onto Plessey Road as above.

Parking is freely available on the surrounding streets but please park sensibly and respect the local residents.

Postcode for SatNav: NE24 3JE

HOW ARE WE?

Mark Bower’s Squad have had a decent start to the Northern Premier League season, pulling off wins against Morpeth Town and Ilkeston Town at home, and sharing points with Guiseley and Bamber Bridge to gain 8 points from 7 games, and up until last Saturday (9th Sept) the team were on a 5 match unbeaten run after also beating Consett in the 1RQ of the FA Cup. As of 12/09, Avenue sit 16th in the League.

It was FC United of Manchester who broke the run, beating Avenue 2-0 at Broadhurst Park. We spoke to First Team Manager Mark Bower after the match

He reflected on the match, saying;

“We weren’t quite at it, we were loose in possession and gave the ball away while under no pressure. We were just that half-a-yard off it today.”

Talking on the FA Cup draw, Mark said;

“Well, they’re the the highest position team we could have possibly drawn at this stage, but we’ve been up there and had some good results over the last couple of years. We will have to have to be better than today (FC United (A), certainly when in possession, as Blyth play some good stuff and will pull us apart if we are wasteful.”

Click here for Mark’s Full interview following Avenue’s 2-0 loss to FCUM on Saturday 9th September

HOW ARE THEY?

Graham Fenton’s Blyth Spartans have had an excellent start to their National League North season, gaining 15 points from their opening 9 games, winning 5 and losing 4. The Spartans currently sit inside the playoffs at 6th.

Just last Tuesday, The Spartans recorded their biggest win of the season against our neighbours Farsley Celtic, playing out a 4-0 thrashing of the Celts at Croft Park.

Blyth come into the game following a 2-1 defeat away at Chester. Following the defeat, Graham Fenton spoke on the FA Cup Draw, saying

“We have to get ourselves where we’re 10-15% better than we were today. We know what Bradford are like, they always pose questions and make it difficult, but we’re looking forward to being back and at home.”

You can watch Graham’s full interview following Blyth’s 2-1 defeat to Chester here.

FROM THE ARCHIVES – TIM CLAPHAM

Avenue and Blyth Spartans have previously met on 20 occasions.

Seventeen of these have been in league football and three in cup competitions. The odd number of league meetings was caused when the 2019-20 season was curtailed because of the Covid epidemic and the return fixture at Blyth was not played.

Avenue’s record against the Spartans is quite good with nine wins, five draws and six defeats. The three previous cup meetings were in the Northern Premier League Cup between 1998 and 2002, with Spartans winning both ties played at Croft Park by 3-1 and 4-0, however in Jan 2002 Avenue gained some revenge when Andy Hayward scored four times in a 7-1 victory at Horsfall Stadium in the quarter-finals.

Avenue have won on four occasions in the league at Croft Park. In fact Mark Bower’s men have won the last three meetings in the north-east by 2-1, 3-1 and 1-0, all matches being played on a Tuesday evening.

When the teams meet in the FA Cup it will not be under the Croft Park floodlights. Hopefully this will not have an undue effect on the Avenue team!