27/04/2026
Spartans secured the double with a feisty game at Shildon. We knew Middleton would be a different proposition in the final and that’s exactly how the first 20 mins played out, with the Spartans starting cagey. After a harsh Louis O’Neill yellow, we started to pick up and enjoy possession, with Luke Upex and Josh Walshaw constantly getting the better of their full backs. We opened the scoring when Rich Murray played a ball into space for Upex, whose shot found the corner with a small deflection. We doubled our lead when Louis O’Neill found Josh Walshaw with a beautiful through ball which Josh put away with aplomb.
The game turned ugly 50 minutes in, when a frustrated Rangers player tried to hospitalise Luke with a knee high tackle, the referee rightfully sent him off. Rangers were fired up there and we seemed to drop off, and we were punished 10 mins later as they made it 2-1. Tom Foster came on at that point and made a massive difference, breaking play up and getting us on the ball, and it was Tom’s pressing that led to Sam Thompson being put through on goal to make it 3-1. Rangers heads dropped and Josh was once again left one on one to slip it under the keeper for his 10th goal in 10 games. Rangers took advantage of our sloppy defending to pull another goal back, before Jimmy Horton wrapped the game for us after he was expertly slipped in by George Blackburn. A great parting gift from Jimmy before he goes travelling.
The game was won in the midfield, and Rich Murray was at the centre of everything we did defensively and offensively with an incredible MOTM performance.
