Cedwyn Scott and Paul Blackett have impressed for South Shields with goals in wins against Leamington and Alfreton Town.

Ian Watson believes a healthy rivalry is growing between South Shields attacking duo Paul Blackett and Cedwyn Scott after they enjoyed a productive week that has taken the Mariners to the top of the National League North.

After earning an opening day win against Marine thanks to a Dan Ward goal, former Gateshead duo Blackett and Scott have monopolised the goals for their side as they both grabbed a goal apiece in a pair of 2-0 away wins at Leamington and Alfreton Town over the last week.

South Shields forwards Paul Blackett and Cedwyn Scott (photo Kevin Wilson) | Kevin Wilson

placeholder image — South Shields forwards Paul Blackett and Cedwyn Scott (photo Kevin Wilson) | Kevin Wilson

Watson is only too aware of the threat his attacking partnership can offer after they played key roles in Gateshead’s National League North title win in 2022. The Mariners boss is now hopeful the growing rivalry between Blackett and Scott can produce further positive moments as he assessed the impact they made during their time together at the International Stadium.

He told The Gazette: “I think Paul’s role during that season sometimes gets underplayed because you think of some of the goals that he scored and some of the games he played in, he was a massive part of that season and was just as important as anyone else in the squad. His goal-to-game ratio was incredible and I remember games like Kidderminster away where he scored individual goals to get us a win. Blackie and Cewdyn will enjoy playing together once again, they will create chance for each other and I am sure there will be a healthy rivalry between them to see who will score the most goals during the season.”

Benchmark

South Shields goalkeeper Jasper Sheik (photo Kevin Wilson) | Kevin Wilson

Although much of the emphasis has been on Watson’s attack-focused style of play, the Mariners have shown an improved defensive solidity during the early weeks of their first season under their new manager. As it stands ahead of Saturday’s home clash, Watson’s men are yet to concede a competitive goal after keeping hard-earned cleaned in their first three games of the campaign.

With a tough test lying in wait on Saturday, the Mariners boss has stressed his players have already set a benchmark for themselves when it comes to the defensive side of their game.

“We’ve shown we can show another side to us when teams put the ball into the box a lot,” he explained. “It’s important to have that side or you’ll struggle. We’ve defended well, lads have been asked to defend set-pieces, to defend crosses, to block shots and they carried out those roles in a strong way. To see we can do that so early on in the season, we have set a benchmark for the rest of the season and that means we have to carry that on into the winter months, when the pitches get heavy and it means we can refer back to how robust we have been so far.”

On-loan Sunderland youngster Rhys Walsh could make his home debut for the Mariners after being handed a start in last Saturday’s win at Leamington before making an appearance as a substitute in the midweek win at Alfreton.

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