Rutledge eyeing more goals after condemning South Shields to home defeat

Aidan Rutledge has set his sights on scoring more goals after his second-half penalty helped Spennymoor Town to a 2-0 win against his former club South Shields on Monday.

The former Birtley Town striker spent the early months of the season on loan with the Mariners - but made a similar move to Spenny in November after finding game-time hard to come by at the 1st Cloud Arena. Although providing support and competition to Moors legend Glen Taylor for the majority of his time at Brewery Field, Rutledge has produced some eye-catching moments and wrote his name into club folklore with a last-gasp equaliser in the FA Trophy semi-final tie with Rochdale.

Rutledge came off the bench to replace Taylor in his side’s Bank Holiday Monday clash with the Mariners and was straight into the heart of the action as he won a penalty after being brought down by hosts keeper Kyle Seymour before expertly dispatching the spot-kick with ease. Speaking after the win, the striker admitted there were frustrations with his loan spell with South Shields but is now fully focused on continuing to impress with Spennymoor.

He told The Gazette: “I started the season here and it was frustrating. They play very good football, they get into good positions and you look at Brad James’ save from Blacky (Paul Blackett), that sums up their season really and it was the same when I was here. I was frustrated because I wasn’t getting the minutes I needed to progress and as a loan player I had to look elsewhere. I’ve come into Spenny, and people have said with someone like Glen (Taylor) in the squad I wouldn’t get minutes. He’s played more than me but I’m doing my thing when I get a chance, I’m scoring goals because that’s my job here and that’s what I’ve done today.”

“I think we all did our jobs”

The win at the 1st Cloud Arena means Spennymoor will head into Saturday’s final game of the season still with a chance of gatecrashing the National League North play-off places. The Moors must beat Oxford City at the Brewery Field and hope the results in games involving Chorley, Hereford, Curzon Ashton and Buxton fall in their favour. Understandably, Rutledge described Monday’s win as ‘massive’ and hailed his side for their hard work and togetherness they showed to claim all three points against his old club.

He said: “It’s a massive win for us and we knew we came into today needing a win and needing two wins from our final two games to get into the play-offs. We’ve still got a chance but when you come somewhere like Shields, where they like to get the ball down and play, it’s never going to be easy and everyone has grafted for it today. We stuck together, we did our jobs and I think we all did our jobs.”

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