'Play your natural game' - Ian Watson delivers strong message to South Shields' title hopefuls

South Shields manager Ian Watson wants his players to focus on securing maximum points from their final two games of the season as the Mariners look to secure a historic promotion into the National League.

Watson’s men moved back to the top of the National League table on Tuesday night as two goals from Sean McGurk and one apiece from top goalscorer Paul Blackett and Sonny Finch gave their side a highly impressive 4-1 home win against play-off contenders Macclesfield on Tuesday night. However, only a superior goal difference lifted the Mariners above title contenders AFC Fylde ahead of a nerve-shredding final week of the campaign.

South Shields will round off their home fixtures for a season of continuous improvement when Bedford Town visit the 1st Cloud Arena on Saturday afternoon and they could have one eye on events at Mill Farm and Fylde entertain Southport in their penultimate game of the campaign. However, Watson has demanded his players focus solely on securing a win and don’t get distracted by the need to improve their goal difference or events elsewhere.

He told The Gazette: “We just have to play out natural game. We can’t for one second think about ‘we need this’ or ‘we need that’. We have got to stick to the game-plan and to be honest, the goal difference, if the league comes down to goal difference, it is what it is. All we can do is try our best to win every game, to go about it in the way we have done all season and completely focus each and every bit of our attention on getting the maximum we can. As soon as you start thinking about anything else, you can come unstuck very, very quickly. We haven’t even mentioned it, all we are thinking about is the next game and focusing on the next action - and that’s tomorrow in training and then we will focus on Saturday.”

Delivered

One of the biggest positives of Tuesday’s win against Macclesfield was the performance of midfielder Jack Roles. The former Crawley Town and Cambridge United man has not yet hit the heights many expected after the Mariners saw off competition from elsewhere to secure his signature in February - but he did catch the eye with the best performance of his short time with the club with a composed and hardworking display against the Silkmen. Watson praised the midfielder for his performance and believes there is still more to come from Roles during the final week of the season and beyond.

He said: “Jack brought a lot of quality on a really difficult surface because you don’t know tricky it is until you’re actually on there. He manipulated the ball really well in the right moments and that side is never really in question with Jack. It’s just the other side of the game we have to get out of him and he delivered with that. That’s a little unfair of me to say we have to get the other side because he always tries to bring the other side - it’s just keeping him switched on to that side. He’s a really talented player, he’s a lovely lad and he’s taken to the group since he’s come in. There is definitely more to come from Jack.”

Noise, support and passion

Watson’s side will be backed by another sizeable crowd at the 1st Cloud Arena on Saturday after over 2,200 were on hand to witness their midweek win. That has become a regular feature of home games throughout Watson’s first season in charge as South Shields have moved on from what was an underwhelming campaign last time out to give themselves a golden opportunity to join the likes of Gateshead and Hartlepool United in non-league football’s top flight.

With the finishing line now in sight and little to choose between the Mariners and title rivals Fylde, Watson has called on supporters to show the ‘noise, support and passion’ once again to push his side closer to a memorable end to the season.

“You could hear them throughout, the atmosphere was brilliant and we all really felt it,” he explained. “I must say since I’ve come to the football club, the fans have been outstanding. We spoke about it before we came here, me and Carl (Magnay, assistant manager), we were looking forward to the atmosphere because we had heard about it. Behind the goal, they are really loud, they’re vocal, they’re young, they have energy and you can hear it all around the place as well. It really does help the players, the supporters have to know that. The players can feed off the energy they bring and the love they get from the fans throughout the game and it really does make a difference to them. I feel like they’ve bought into how we want the boys to play now, they know the style we have, they know what to expect and there aren’t as many shouts of get rid of it when we are trying to play the game we want to play and that’s really pleasing to hear. We want all of that noise, support and passion once again on Saturday.”

Watson has a number of big decisions to make ahead of Saturday’s game with his squad now approaching full fitness and availability - although he could retain faith with the side that claimed an impressive home win against Macclesfield in midweek.

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