Marske vs Newcastle Blue Star (24/02/2026)

Newcastle Blue Star once again with a Saturday off – their recent pause due to scheduling elsewhere rather than the weather but that does not seem to matter all that much, Tuesday seems to be the night where business is conducted in recent weeks.

A Tuesday win in the league over Penrith a fortnight ago, followed by a League Cup win over Tow Law last Tuesday. The Division Two outfit making the trip to Scotswood and certainly giving a good account of themselves across all of the 90 minutes.

However, it was Jakub Zych who added to his account for the season. His low strike may have taken a touch off an opposition defender before crossing the line. He and his Blue Star teammates not worried about the finer details of who is one the scoresheet.

Paul Brayson’s men into the hat for the next round of the competition, the opportunity to win silverware increasing with cup victory and although a trophy would certainly be a neat signpost for the direction of this club, league matters now come back into focus.

Focus on looking up the table and although Blue Star go into the trip to Marske sitting 12th in the table, they have four games in hand over Boro Rangers in fifth. Boro losing at the weekend to fellow promotion hopefuls North Shields by a goal to nil.

Games in hand for Blue Star but that is the more difficult part of the equation, now they have to be won. Due to the stop start nature of league football in 2026, 10 games now have to be played in the next five weeks – weather permitting of course.

Which means the sprint to the final lap of the campaign begins. Probably still too early to talk about late charges but as long as the opportunity is there to do so, Blue Star will certainly be keen to make best use of it.

Tonight’s opponents Marske have also played the same amount of games this season (25), they too have to cram in the final third of the season in less than two months. Their challenge is to avoid the drop as they sit third bottom; this means they will be fighting for all three points in a few hours.

Something which sets up tonight’s clash rather nicely indeed. A big thanks to Marske United for their upcoming hospitality and for those attending from an away perspective, safe travels both there and back.