MANAGERLESS Magpies looked sadly in need of inspiration after a lacklustre show against a Spartans side which was always sharper and more inventive.

Even the arrival of new striker Mark Ceraolo from Morecambe failed to pep up the Chorley front line, but he showed enough to suggest that his day will come.

Blyth's pace going forward caused early scares and Simon Marsh reacted very smartly to grab a close range shot from Andrew Rose. At the other end Tony Black raised Chorley's hopes with a fierce 20-yard drive which the keeper did well to turn over. There was a stroke of fortune about Blyth's 26 minute opener, Willie Moat's shot, which Marsh had well covered, taking a big deflection off Paul Jones into the top corner.

Ceraolo showed his goal-poaching instinct when he cleverly chipped the keeper from outside the box only to see his effort just clear the bar. And Ceraolo was in again from an Andy Grimshaw pass but topped his shot.

The game effectively slipped beyond Chorley on 56 minutes when David Hunter produced a strike as dazzling as Blyth's gaudy orange strip, beating Marsh all ends up with a thunderous rising shot from all of 35 yards. That was all Blyth needed to see out the match as the Magpies' confidence visibly drained away.

The nearest Chorley came to a goal was when the hard-working Peter Mellor's shot proved too hot to hold, but substitute Neil Mitchell just failed to squeeze the loose ball past the keeper. Ian Leather again looked a classy performer at the heart of the Chorley defence but there was no real grip in midfield.

It is now three months since the Magpies won at Victory Park and they did not have the craft or the clout to end that dismal sequence in this game.

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