Familiar foes North Shields and Newcastle Blue Star set for League Cup final showdown

North Shields manager Brian Smith knows what to expect when the Robins face Newcastle Blue Star in the Brooks Mileson Northern League Cup on Thursday night – because the two sides have already become familiar with each other during the season.

It was Blue Star that gained the upper hand in league fixtures between the two sides by collected four points and they ended the Robins’ FA Cup run before it had even begun with a 2-0 win in an extra preliminary round tie in August.

However, Smith’s side did claim a measure of revenge when they knocked Blue Star out of the Northumberland Senior Cup with a 2-0 win at the KD Stadium just over two months later.

Unsurprisingly, there was little to choose between the two sides in the Division One table when the season came to a close earlier this month with Blue Star’s sixth place finish seeing them end the campaign just two places and three points above their cup final opponents.

Close game

Robins manager Smith, who was part of the club’s coaching staff when they lifted the FA Vase in 2015, is anticipating a close affair between his current and former employers as they prepare for a final that will be held at Whitley Bay’s Hillheads home.

He told The NLP: “The club haven’t won the cup for something like 60 years so it’s a big target. The season has been good, it hasn’t been great, but it’s been good since a sloppy start.  It would be great to finish it off with a cup win with everybody but it won’t be an easy game for us.

“This is the fifth time we’ve had them this season.  We had them in the FA Cup, they beat us, we had them twice in the league and they beat us once and we drew the other.  Then we beat them in the Senior Cup and this is the fifth. It seems to happen every year.  There isn’t much difference in the league position, they’ve had ups and downs as we have so I think everything suggests it will be a close game.”

Chaos

For Blue Star, Thursday night’s final offers an opportunity to round off another season of change by landing silverware.

After inheriting a squad that had been decimated by departures in the aftermath of former manager Marc Nash exiting the club, current boss Paul Brayson has gradually coaxed an improvement out of his new-look side throughout the second half of the season.

There was some disappointment in missing out on a play-off spot on the final weekend of the campaign – but Brayson’s men shrugged off any sorrow by seeing off Newcastle University and Birtley Town to set up their final date with the Robins.

The Blue Star boss reflected on the ‘chaos’ that provided a difficult introduction to life with the club – but urged his squad to make the most of ‘a big moment’ that lies ahead of them as they prepare to face an all too familiar foe.

“It was chaos when we came in with players leaving and trying to get players in.  Then we were playing a game every three or four weeks because of the weather and we couldn’t get that run of games. Since making a few signings and getting games, we have done well and we’ve got ourselves in the final, which is a big moment for us.

“Obviously we beat them in the league recently but it doesn’t mean a thing.  What that game did show was we like to attack, North Shields like to attack so it’s going to be about which defence copes better on the night. That game could have gone either way and I think Thursday will be exactly the same.”