Mike Williamson apologises as South Shields FC crash to big defeat at Hereford

Mike Williamson apologised to South Shields FC supporters after they suffered what he described as a ‘humiliating’ defeat at National League North rivals Hereford.

The Mariners boss handed an immediate debut to Sheffield Wednesday defender Joe Emery after he joined the club on a short-term loan on Friday - but recent signings Rio Clegg and Jordan Jones had to make do with a place on the bench after they made their bows as substitutes in the midweek win against Marine.

Williamson’s men could not have made a worse start to the contest as they fell behind to a Billy Phillips goal inside the opening two minutes before the Bulls doubled their lead midway through the half with a neat finish from Preston Bitemo. Phillips added a third goal just before half-time before Harrison Iwunze got in on the act with a header just after the hour-mark. Phillips completed an impressive hat-trick with 20 minutes remaining before Aaron Skinner completed a miserable day for Williamson and his players when he netted a sixth goal late on. The same player could have made things even worse for the Mariners had he not missed a late penalty - but even that felt like a small mercy on a day that Williamson’s side will want to forget.

Speaking to the club website after the defeat, the Mariners boss said: “It’s painful at the minute, it’s raw. I can only apologise to the fans, first and foremost. That wasn’t us, we’ve all got to take responsibility, I’ve got to take responsibility. We didn’t get off to the best of starts, we know what they’re about and they’re effective at it but we can’t accept that on every level so it’s a tough one. It’s humiliating and it’s one that we have to make sure we take from because we looked lost out there. It was difficult. I take responsibility, it’s on me and we will work this week to rectify it.”

Although their hosts were sitting at the top of the National League North table, Williamson’s men were still hopeful they could claim some reward from their trip to Edgar Street - but they were absolutely blown apart by the rampant Bulls.

The Mariners boss admitted his side struggled to cope with the ‘front foot’ approach of their hosts as they fell to their first defeat on their head coach’s reign.

When asked what went wrong, Williamson said: “Everything. They’re aggressive, they are on the front foot. They live and die by the sword and I think we didn’t secure the ball enough. I’m not going to talk about the ref but it’s difficult when you’ve got an aggressive team that’s on the front foot and at certain times you need protecting but it’s on us. I’m not speaking about anyone. Everything went wrong, we weren’t clean, we didn’t win any duels, we knew they’d go man-for-man so we had to have that real pride but I didn’t see anything like the team we are.”

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