Elliott Dickman left angered as South Shields suffer late defeat against Curzon Ashton
There was late heartache for South Shields as they fell to defeat in their first home game of the National League North season.
South Shields manager Elliott Dickman admitted his ‘emotions are all over the place’ after the Mariners fell to an agonising late defeat against Curzon Ashton.
Dickman’s side went into their first home game of the National League North season looking to bounce back from last weekend’s opening day loss at Hereford - but made a surprisingly slow start to the contest and fell behind on just after the quarter-hour mark to a goal from Luke Griffiths. The Mariners improved after half-time and enjoyed large swathes of possession but were met by a dogged and determined defence from their visitors.
However, that all changed in the second minute of injury-time when Mariners midfielder Will Jenkins took advantage of the time and space he was afforded on the edge of the area before crashing a stunning long-range effort beyond Curzon goalkeeper Bobby Jones. There would be a sting in the tail for South Shields as a contentious penalty award in the last minute of injury-time allowed Will Hayhurst to snatch all three points for his side and leave Dickman lost for words.
The former Newcastle United and Sunderland academy coach told The Gazette: “The emotions are all over the place at the moment. There is anger, frustration, disappointment. We weren’t great in the first-half, we were ponderous, not our usual selves - but in the second-half we had a lot of the ball, applied a lot of pressure and equalised through a tremendous goal. But then we shoot ourselves in the foot again with a goal against, it’s a penalty, but I don’t want to say too much than that really. It’s frustrating because we spoke to a few of the players and what we have seen in the two games we’ve played is not a surprise because of what we’ve done and what the players have done last season. We can’t live on that now, we have to move forward and make sure we find a way to play our game and play our way.”
Dickman was more positive on the impact of substitute Coleby Shepherd, who was introduced into the action with just over 20 minutes remaining and played a part in helping his side apply late pressure to their visitors as they went in search of an equaliser. Dickman admitted the former Whitby Town wing-back was unfortunate not to have been handed a start in the game but believes his positive reaction to the decision is ‘what every manager wants’ from their players.
He said: “Coleby was probably unlucky he hasn’t started today. He’s been terrific in pre-season, in all of the games he played in, and I know he made a mistake last week but he’s been fantastic for us so far. He trains like a warrior and he’s a very good team player with an unbelievable work ethic. He’s probably hard done by but his positive reaction says everything. It’s what every manager wants because he came off the bench to make a positive impact.”
The Mariners are back in action on Tuesday night when old foes Warrington Town are the visitors to the 1st Cloud Arena.