Boro Rangers vs Newcastle Blue Star (25/04/2025)

42 league games contested this season, Newcastle Blue Star having won 23, drawn 10 and lost 9 and although that record is nothing short of an impressive for an outfit that earned promotion to the Northern League Division One less than a year ago, that record counts for nothing on Friday.

Not because the endeavours of Marc Nash’s and his players over the past nine months are simply forgotten but because there is more to come. More to come means the tallies of the regular season are reset and the playoffs have arrived.

They have arrived thanks to a top-five finish in the final league table and although that was confirmed nearly a fortnight ago, there was still the small issue of confirming Blue Star’s final standing once all 42 league games had been played out.

An issue that was confirmed at fellow playoff contenders Blyth Town on Saturday and after going behind to the hosts early in the first half, Blyth’s superiority on the scoreboard was at the cost of giving away numerical supremacy on the field of play.

Blyth down to 10 men, Blue Star with the impetus to find at least a goal and thanks to Jack Daley’s scissor kick volley after the interval, at that stage and for nearly 30 minutes that followed a home playoff semi-final at the KD Stadium was set to be scheduled.

However, there is always going to be last day drama and this time it was acted out between West Allotment and Boro Rangers. The visitors scoring a 91st minute winner to leapfrog Blue Star and in doing so, securing a home semi-final for themselves.

Then again, that result may only be the prelude to even more drama and because of the combination of results that took place on Saturday, it is Boro Rangers who have the task of hosting Blue Star on Friday night.

The last time Boro Rangers had that task; the two sides shared the points in a six-goal thriller and things were just as entertaining in the recent reverse when Blue Star ran out 2-1 winners just over a month ago.

Two entertaining clashes that have produced plenty of goals but both sets of players will be more than happy to sacrifice entertainment if it means making further progress. At the same time, those players will be in no mood to sacrifice desire and determination in such a high stakes affair.

Something which sets up this clash rather nicely indeed. A big thanks to Boro Rangers for the upcoming hospitality and for those attending from an away perspective, safe travels both there and back.