Dickman make 'better' South Shields claim ahead of Scunthorpe United test

South Shields manager Elliott Dickman was ‘delighted’ with Saturday’s impressive win at Oxford City - but stressed there is still more to come from his side.

The Mariners made the long trip down south looking to make it consecutive wins after earning their first maximum of the season in Tuesday’s 2-1 home victory against Warrington Town.  Sunderland loanee Ben Middlemas marked his debut by opening the scoring with just two minutes on the clock but his effort was cancelled out by an equaliser from home forward Corie Andrews within 60 seconds.Parity remained in place until half-time but a dominant second-half display was rewarded with two goals from Paul Blackett and Aidan Rutledge’s first Mariners goal as Dickman’s side eased to a hard-earned three points that ensured their manager was satisfied as he made the long journey back to the North East.

“I was delighted with the performance, particularly in the second-half,” Dickman told The Gazette.  “In the second-half, we weren’t at our best, especially in the first half-hour.  But we changed our shape and it was the right thing to do with the way we had played up to that point.  It helped us get our game going and do what we want to do.  I think we’ve had moments in all of the games but we seemed to find a good consistency in terms of with and without the ball.  We are getting there and we can still get better.”

After going close to opening his account on a number of occasions over the last two weeks, Mariners striker Blackett finally got off the mark for the season with an impressive brace on Saturday afternoon.  Dickman admitted he was never really concerned about the former Gateshead and Spennymoor Town striker’s early season form and praised Blackett for his work-rate and ability to create chances for both himself and his team.

He said: “We have been saying we are pleased he’s been creating chances because we’d been worried if Paul was not in and around the goal, working hard and making things happen for us and form himself.  That would be an issue for us because we knew it would come for him and his goals were fantastic.  The first one, it’s a typical Blackett goal and his second is an outstanding finish right into the top corner.  We are delighted he is off the mark.”

All eyes are now focused on Monday’s home game with league leaders Scunthorpe United, who will arrive at the 1st Cloud Arena looking to preserve an unbeaten record after winning three and drawing one of their first four games of the league season.  Dickman is under no illusions of the challenge that lies in wait for his players but stressed they will be fully prepared to take on the Iron.

He said: “We’ve had some difficult games so far this season to be honest and we have to be relatively satisfied with where we are at.  The main thing is to dust ourselves down from a long journey, have a light session on Sunday and we will make sure the lads are fully ready for a difficult game on Monday.”