Kevin Phillips praises ‘battling’ South Shields for finding a new way to win against Warrington Rylands

South Shields manager Kevin Phillips praised his side for finding ‘another way to win’ as they battled to all three points against Warrington Rylands.

The Mariners found themselves second best for spells of a hard-fought contest at the 1st Cloud Arena and could have found themselves on the wrong end of a first home defeat of the season if their usually prolific visitors had brought their shooting boots.

The impressive Callum Dolan was the tormentor-in-chief as the lively winger was on the end of several opportunities but was left frustrated by two fine saves from Myles Boney.  That is not to say the Mariners did not create some promising moments during the first-half - but their performance lacked cohesion and fluidity throughout a disjointed first 45 minutes.

Philips introduced long-serving midfielder Robert Briggs at half-time and was rewarded by an improved display during the second-half.  It was the Mariners stalwart that eventually decided the contest when he broke the deadlock with just six minutes remaining on the clock.

Briggs made it a double celebration after he became a Dad for the first time in midweek as he produced an expert finish after getting on the end of some determined approach play from Dylan Mottley-Henry.

That gave Phillips’ men a third consecutive one-goal win inside a week and left the former Sunderland striker to reflect on a performance that has shown his side are developing a new side to their game to allow their promotion bid continue gathering pace.

He told The Gazette: “Our supporters have been so used to seeing up pop teams off the park here and I’ve said all along we have to find other ways to win.

“We know we can play better, we know we can win better, but we are showing a different side to our game this season.  Last year we would have caved in during that game.  The 1-0 wins are not really good for my heart but I said to the lads this is why I love football.  It’s days like this that make it what it is.  We haven’t played well but we ground out the win and there are times when we’ve battered teams and lost.

“I said they’ve shown battling qualities, we’ve got experience, we’ve got desire and fitness and they are the qualities we need to get to where we want to be.  When we recruited in the summer I wanted a side that keeps going and going and I was determined to get those sort of players into the squad.  We have that, we have won all different ways and you can’t just win a league at this level by playing pretty football every week.  You have to do it the hard way sometimes.”

The result leaves South Shields two points adrift of Premier Division leaders FC United of Manchester - although they do also have the benefit of holding four games in hand on Neil Reynolds’ side. Phillips admitted the Mariners ‘aren’t in a bad position’ at the moment but revealed he was forced to tell some home truths in the dressing room at half-time as he looked to provoke a reaction from his side.

“We tweaked our shape a little but I haven’t said it so far this season but I was disappointed with our performance in the first-half and I told them that.  We weren’t giving enough options, we made poor decisions, we didn’t run hard enough and I don’t rant and rave very much but you can probably tell by my voice I had to get into them at half-time.

“It was better, it wasn’t fantastic, but it was better and it was a win.  People look at the scoreline and that’s all that matters.  We are two points off the top, with four games in hand, so I’d say we aren’t in a bad position.”

The Mariners are back in action next Saturday when they face an away day at Warrington Town in the first round of the FA Trophy.