Elliott Dickman wants to see 'the real South Shields' in Farsley Celtic test
South Shields return to the 1st Cloud Arena to face National League North rivals Farsley Celtic on Saturday afternoon.
Elliott Dickman wants to see ‘the real South Shields’ when his side entertain National League North rivals Farsley Celtic on Saturday afternoon.
The Mariners have been hampered by their inability to find consistency throughout the opening three months of the season and will head into their weekend clash with Farsley sat five points adrift of the play-off spots and five points clear of the relegation zone. Saturday’s game offers Dickman and his players a first opportunity to bounce back from last weekend’s disappointing FA Trophy exit at the hands of North East rivals Spennymoor Town and go some way to eradicating the inconsistencies that have the former Newcastle United and Sunderland academy coach.
He told The Gazette: “We seem to have a couple of good performances and results and then we let ourselves down by not being the best version of ourselves in important games. It’s important that we have some consistency and with that, there are things we have to do like being assertive and more on the front foot. It has to be natural within our game and that’s something we have spoken about in training this week because we have let ourselves down in certain games. Hopefully we will see the real South Shields on Saturday.”
Dickman admitted his side’s form had led to a lot of soul-searching in recent weeks - but the Mariners boss stressed he had left his players fully aware of where they need to improve during their preparations for Saturday.
He said: “It’s the worst feeling in the world, it’s a head-scratcher and it’s something you hope will be simple and straightforward but it’s not an easy place to be in. You do a lot of soul-searching, I have done a lot of soul-searching myself and you try to make sure you have done enough. There have been moments in games when we’ve been good but we have to do all we can to make sure we take chances when they come along. The players are aware of it, they know what they need to do and we have to make sure we are better.”
Dickman has no new injury concerns but will be without defender Tom Broadbent as he serves a suspension.