Newcastle Blue Star vs Thornaby (09/08/2025)

Saturday would have generated a feeling of déjà vu within the Newcastle Blue Star camp. This time 12 months ago, they were making the short trip to North Shields in the FA Cup’s Extra Preliminary Round, this time last week they were doing exactly the same.

Same location as 2024, same outcome as before. Who knows how long Blue Star’s road to Wembley will be in the greatest knockout tournament in club football. One thing for certain is that they have completed their first step.

A first step ticked off in terms of reaching the home of English football, now a first step in the form of league victory needs to be accomplished. Not only because of the desire to build on last weekend’s platform but also the need to fire themselves up the league table.

Admittedly, the ranking on the league ladder should not matter after just a handful of fixtures but at the same time, manager Marc Nash and his players will be mindful that they do not want the gap between the other promotion hopefuls and themselves to get any bigger than it already is.

Gaps may be appearing after collecting just one point from the last six on offer but that single reward is not a reflection of the team’s overall performance in the early rounds of the Northern League Division One – especially as they have missed key players in the opening weeks.

The first couple of months at this level always throw up erratic results and indifferent runs of form. Players squeezing in summer holidays, squeezing out the last of their summer ring rust and even arriving in new surroundings has a habit of stalling any team’s early rhythm.

Therefore, Blue Star will not be throwing around cliches such as “the season starts this weekend” but they will certainly be keen to serve up the same level of performance as their impressive FA Cup win over North Shields seven days ago.

A level that will have to be good enough to get the better of Thornaby and after earning promotion from the Northern League Division Two, their transition to the top tier has been rather seamless. Four points from their first two matches, keen to add even more to the board on Saturday.

Something which sets up this upcoming clash rather nicely. A warm welcome goes out to the visiting Thornaby team and support and for those who lend their voice to the home team, make sure to bring the noise throughout.