Elliott Dickman hails South Shields academy graduates ahead of Sunderland friendly
South Shields will get their pre-season campaign underway with a home game against Sunderland on Saturday.
Elliot Dickman has described South Shields academy graduates Sam Hodgson and Will Jenkins as ‘perfect examples’ for young players with the Mariners setup to follow.
The duo have spent successful loans spell away from the 1st Cloud Arena in recent seasons and both began last season with the Mariners’ former Northern Premier League rivals Morpeth Town. Jenkins was recalled within days of Dickman being named as interim manager midway through the campaign and went on to enjoy a successful second half of the season. Hodgson remained at Craik Park and ended his loan spell with a hat-trick in a 6-0 demolition of Stafford Rangers to take his season tally to 25.
The duo will now hope to impress Dickman ahead of his first season in permanent charge of the Mariners - and the former Newcastle United and Sunderland academy coach believes their influence could well spread far beyond the senior setup at the club.
He told The Gazette: “You can’t get two better examples (of academy graduates) than Will and Sam. The two lads have been terrific. We have been very fortunate that we got to see Will at first-hand when he came back to the club and Sam was excellent at Morpeth. We are a handful of days into pre-season here and they’ve both really impressed so hopefully that will continue. They are two perfect examples for the young lads that are up here (training with the first-team) but also to the new 16 to 19 programme so the lads coming into that as a first-year programme, they are fantastic role models for these to aspire to.”
Mariners supporters will get a first look at their side on Saturday when they host Sunderland at the 1st Cloud Arena in a pre-season fixture that will provide a special moment for their manager. Dickman spent over quarter of a century working in several roles within the Black Cats academy and helped lead the club’s Under-23s to the 2017 Premier League International Cup final and the Premier League 2 Division 2 Play-Off final four years later. However, it is focusing on his own side’s preparations for the new season that will take prominence for Dickman, rather than any personal emotions.
He said: “It will be a great opportunity to see some familiar faces and whatever team Sunderland bring, I know it will be a really difficult game for us. From our point of view, we will have a full house at our ground and for some players that will be their first experience of that. But we want to make sure we do things right from our side in terms of minutes in players’ legs, not doing too much, it will be bedding in process as part of our pre-season plan but it will be a fantastic occasion. We will be expecting a difficult but these are the games you want to be involved in and although it will be nice to see those familiar faces, it’s about the lads and making sure they get the minutes they need to prepare for the season starting in August.”