Elliott Dickman left 'feeling perplexed' as South Shields fall to home defeat against Radcliffe

Elliott Dickman admitted he was left ‘feeling perplexed’ by a number of decisions that went against South Shields in their home defeat against National League North rivals Radcliffe on Tuesday night.

The game appeared to be meandering towards a goalless draw when the visitors, who produced a very solid defensive display to frustrated Dickman’s men, were handed a double boost with quarter of an hour remaining as Mariners wing-back Mackenzie Heaney was judged to have blocked a goalbound shot with his arm. The former Newcastle United academy star was shown a straight red card by referee Lee Hible and the resulting penalty was comfortably dispatched by Radcliffe midfielder Josh Hancock. There was further controversy in added-on time when Mariners midfielder Martin Smith was shown a straight red card for a coming together with Callum Rowe, leaving his side to see out time with nine men.

Dickman admitted the decisions had left him frustrated and stressed his players felt ‘massively disappointed’ after enduring a ‘very strange night’ at the 1st Cloud Arena.

He told The Gazette: “We are really frustrated. I didn’t think there was a great deal in the game but I think their league position is a false one because they’ve got some really good players and a good way of playing. I thought it was a decent game but we are going to talk about some things that are out of our control and I was a bit perplexed with some of the decisions made today, perplexed with the decisions on the penalty, the two red cards and the things he has told our players over why he sent Mackenzie Heaney off. I just feel hard done by massively and feel for the lads. It’s a very strange feeling and a very strange night so we are massively disappointed with it. We did play some good football at times but it just wasn’t meant to be our night.”

South Shields had already suffered a major blow during the first-half when key defender Tom Broadbent hobbled out of the action with what Dickman later confirmed was a thigh injury. The Mariners boss believes the former Swindon Town cente-back made the right call in coming off early and is hopeful that decision could lead to him being available for Saturday’s trip to Brackley Town.

The former Newcastle United and Sunderland academy coach said: “He just felt his thigh and Tom is one of those players that doesn’t like coming off, he wants to try and run things off and he did that a few months back with a calf issue and it probably set him back a little bit. He made the right decision tonight, he came off and we need to try and patch him up and hope that he is fine for Saturday. We have negated some risk bringing him off the pitch early and hopefully he will be fine for Saturday.”