Chris Wise King's Lynn and Blyth Spartans will both have a big point to prove this afternoon when the clubs meet at Croft Park for the very first time. Both sides were hammered 4-0 in their previous Blue Square North matches a fortnight ago, with the Linnets being beaten in the league for the first this season at Harrogate and Spartans crashing to their first home defeat of the campaign at the hands of Tamworth.

Chris Wise

King's Lynn and Blyth Spartans will both have a big point to prove this afternoon when the clubs meet at Croft Park for the very first time.

Both sides were hammered 4-0 in their previous Blue Square North matches a fortnight ago, with the Linnets being beaten in the league for the first this season at Harrogate and Spartans crashing to their first home defeat of the campaign at the hands of Tamworth.

Since then the pair have hit back by making progress in the FA Cup and now they will be aiming to get their league campaigns up and running again, with both still handily placed in mid-table after nearly two months of action.

"If someone had told me at the start of the season that I could have 13 points from our opening 10 games I would have gladly settled for that," said Webb, whose side travelled up to the North East yesterday afternoon for the long haul fixture.

"The players know they fell short of what was required at Harrogate and got exactly what they deserved, but that's behind us now. I got the reaction I was looking for in the cup against Worksop and now we've got to keep it going and remember what were doing before we got beaten for the first time. Blyth won't be easy, we know that. They have struggled in away games this season but at home they had won them all before losing to Tamworth. There's no way we will be judging them on that one result, it is going to be tough, but if we play as well as we can there's no reason why we can't go there and get a result."

Blyth is one of a number of long trips north that the Linnets will have to make this season. But Webb won't be using the travelling as an excuse if his side fail to maintain the encouraging start to the season that has seen them win two, draw seven and lose just one of their league encounters so far to stand 10th in the table.

"It's a long way to go for a game of football but it's not really that much different to playing in the Southern League, when we had to go to places like Tiverton in the west country," he said.

"It's a fact of life of football at this level and the lads will have a night in a hotel before this one, so they will be ready when the game comes around.

"Everyone has been talking about the Wroxham game in the FA Cup since the draw was made but that isn't until next week. All we are concentrating on at the moment is Blyth Spartans. They are a big name in non league football, who have recorded plenty of cup shocks in their time, and we are really looking forward to taking them on."

With no fresh injuries picked up in the 2-1 victory over Worksop last weekend, Webb has to decide whether to stick with the starting line-up he employed at The Walks. The likes of Danny Bloomfield, Michael Frew and Ben Sedgemore are among those hoping for a full run-out, after being on the bench in the cup tie.

The Spartans' danger man is likely to be Rob Dale, who scored a hat-trick in midweek as they beat Whitby Town 5-2 in an FA Cup third qualifying round replay. Harry Dunn's side had scored three times in each of their opening four home fixtures before being humbled by Tamworth so, as Webb commented, they will be hard nuts to crack on home soil.