Farsley Celtic suffered a 4-0 defeat to Blyth Spartans at Croft Park in midweek thanks to a brace from Will McGowan as well as goals from Cedric Main and Michael Liddle

The Celts went into the match off the back of an encouraging performance against King’s Lynn Town where Farsley earned a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw.

However, it wouldn’t take long for the hosts to rule out any chance of a debut clean sheet for Michael Acquah at Croft Park when Cedric Main fired Blyth in front on the ten-minute mark with a powerful low shot from inside the box.

Farsley responded well to the opener and began to enjoy longer spells of possession, with Ben Atkinson and Joao Silva going close for the Celts, with the latter seeing his first time effort trickle narrowly wide of the far-post.

Clayton Donaldson also became more involved and could have grabbed an equaliser after 30 minutes when he rounded Blyth stopper Alex Mitchell, before hitting the side netting from an extremely acute angle.

The sucker punch then came in the 39th minute when Will McGowan found space on the right side of the box before curling past Acquah into the far corner to double the Blyth advantage.

Proceedings didn’t improve for Farsley in the second half when after just two minutes after the restart, McGowan claimed his brace and Blyth’s third to give Donaldson’s side a massive mountain to climb.

Then just eight minutes later, the result was put beyond all doubt when Michael Liddle rose up at the back-post to score Blyth’s fourth, and confirm the night as one to forget for the away side.

That’s not to say however that Farsley were complete passengers in the match, as the Celts managed to create the odd chance in between minutes, with Donaldson going especially close in the final five minutes after being played through down the right before firing over the crossbar.

Acquah also managed to produce some strong saves in his first Farsley appearance despite the heavy score-line, especially when being called into the action in the dying embers of the game with a stretching, fingertip save to deny Liddle a brace from range.

The final whistle then came to end a difficult night for Farsley with Donaldson and his side looking to put this one behind them quickly.

The Celts are next in action on Saturday 9 September where it’s yet another long away day for Farsley as we make the trip down to the Tiger Turf Stadium to face Gloucester City with a 3pm kick-off where Donaldson and his coaching team will be looking for a response.

Blyth Spartans: Mitchell, Evans (Oliver 69), Liddle, Clark, Cousin-Dawson, Bodenham, Hickey, O’Donnell (Arnison 63), Forbes, Main (Aitken 74). McGowan. Subs not used: Round, Shaw.

Farsley Celtic: Acquah, Carroll (Leverett 60), Leckie, Misambo, Allan, Smith, C Atkinson, B Atkinson, Silva (Robinson 51), Donaldson, Stephenson (Forshaw 56). Subs not used: Watson, Sheridan.