South Shields mentality can produce 'special moments' as AFC Fylde showdown lies in wait

Ian Watson has stressed the importance of the culture he has instilled amongst his South Shields players as they prepare for Tuesday night’s showdown with National League North title rivals AFC Fylde.

Not matter what happens at the 1st Cloud Arena during a crucial clash in the battle for promotion, the Mariners will remain top of the table as they currently hold a six-point advantage on their nearest rivals. That came after the Coasters fell to a defeat at Oxford City on Saturday as Watson’s men snatched a dramatic draw at Marine thanks to a 97th minute overhead kick from on-loan Sunderland wing-back Oli Bainbridge.

Watson believes the events of the closing stages at the Marine Travel Arena showcase everything that is positive about his side’s attitude and insisted further ‘special moments’ can arrive if they continue to show the will-to-win that has served them so well this season.

“Our culture is our most important thing,” he explained in the aftermath of Saturday’s last gasp draw against Marine.

“It’s who we are as people, who we are as characters, how we arrive in training every single day, how we arrive in games. We have got an unbelievable group of boys and that’s what comes with that culture is last-minute equalisers and last-minute winners because lads are just desperate not to lose games and to not give up on anything. Not give up on any loose balls, not give up on any headers or anything like that. We just keep going and going and we get special moments like that.”

Perfect fit

Watson was able to hand a debut to his latest signing during Saturday’s draw as on-loan Carlisle United midfielder Ethan Robson came off the bench just after the hour-mark to play a part in a dramatic end to the contest. The Mariners boss has worked with the former Sunderland man during his time at Carlisle and MK Dons and he explained just why Robson is a ‘perfect fit’ for what he is striving to achieve during the final months of the season.

He said: “Ethan is an incredible football player. I worked with him at MK Dons and then again at Carlisle. He’s had moments with injuries that have probably halted his career but as a player, he’s exactly what we like. He loves getting on the ball, he’s got a lovely left foot, he understands how we play because he’s played for us twice before so he understands what we need and what we want.

“I think he’s going to help us a lot. He’s a great person as well so he’ll help us off the pitch as well and I just felt it was an era we needed a little bit of help in with Davey (Carson) and Luke Woolston suffering injuries. In the moments where we needed to change in games or we needed to rest one of those two, we haven’t been able to. So it was definitely an area we needed to strengthen and I feel we’ve got the perfect fit for that.”

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