Solid South Shields FC have 'further steel' in promotion bid
South Shields host National League North rivals Merthyr Town on Saturday afternoon.
Cedwyn Scott believes South Shields FC have ‘ironed out any fragilities’ within their setup after making a strong start to the new National League North season.
After falling to a play-off final defeat against Kidderminster Harriers last season, Mike Williamson’s side knew they were facing a tough opening to the new campaign as they face up to three challenging fixtures in the opening fortnight. However, after taking maximum points from away days at Scarborough Athletic and Morecambe and a home game with Chorley, the Mariners are on a high ahead of Saturday’s Mariners Park meeting with Merthyr Town.
Scott believes there has been ‘further steel’ introduced into the South Shields side and believes that could be where they fell short in their promotion bid last season.
“You can ask for much of a better start and all three games have looked very different,” he told The Gazette. “We started well at Scarborough on a 3G pitch on a hot day and we had to battle for our lives playing with ten men for the last half an hour. Maybe last season we would have drawn or even lost that game. Then we had a terrible start conceding an early penalty against Chorley and we knew they’d sit in but we got back. At Morecambe, we played probably one of the favourites to win the league and we were really disciplined and defended well. It has been the perfect start really.
“The gaffer isn’t naive, he knows the qualities we have on the ball so it hasn’t taken a back seat. He knows that is there so he’s taken time to iron out any fragilities to the team to add some further steel into the team and maybe that’s where we fell short last season.”
Focus
The Mariners and Chester are the only two teams that will head into Saturday’s fixture looking to ended unblemished records for the season after the latter claimed wins against Chorley, King’s Lynn Town and Darlington over the last fortnight.
For South Shields, a home clash with a Merthyr side that have secured four points from their first three games of the season will offer an opportunity to impress once again. However, the Welsh outfit have already shown they can trouble one of the much-fancied sides this season after earning an impressive 2-0 home win against Hednesford Town on the opening day of the campaign.
Scott has warned his Mariners team-mates they must focus on themselves as they look to go a step further this season and believes they must ‘react positively’ to any disappointments that come their way.
“There are a lot of strong teams in the division so I’m not sure the points totals will be as high as last season. You just have to focus on yourself because the league is strong. If you do lose a game or drop points, it’ll be about reacting positively because some teams suffered three or four games without win and you can’t win a league doing that."