South Shields boss 'delighted' with impressive win at Scarborough Athletic

Elliott Dickman hailed a ‘big win’ for South Shields after they held off a late comeback from long-term foes Scarborough Athletic to claim all three points from their National League North rivals.

The Mariners went into the game looking to bounce back from their Bank Holiday Monday home defeat against league leaders Scunthorpe United and seemed in determined mood as they aimed to claim their third win of the season. After a goalless first-half, Dickman’s side finally found a breakthrough on the hour-mark when Paul Blackett was upended in the area and the former Spennymoor Town and Gateshead man made no mistake from the resulting penalty.

One of Dickman’s summer signings doubled the lead with quarter of an hour remaining as former Newcastle United youngster Kyle Crossley grabbed his first goal for the club with a neat finish after he was released down the left-hand side by Aidan Rutledge. The hosts got back into the game with a free-kick from Lewis Maloney - but that was a good as it got for the Seadogs as South Shields saw out seven minutes of injury-time to leave their manager impressed with his side’s performance.

He told The Gazette: “We are delighted with the win and performance and that goes for all of the staff here. We worked hard in preparation for the players and the players did exactly the same ahead of the game. We spoke about the defensive side and the character side of our game, dealing with the way they play, and I have to say we were excellent.

“At 2-0, it was comfortable but the momentum did swing a little bit. They threw everything at us but we saw it through and we killed the game with good bits of possession and really intelligent play. We had to dig in at times but we are pleased with the way we got the points because it’s a big win for us.”

The Mariners return to action on Tuesday night when they welcome former Northern Premier League rivals Buxton to the 1st Cloud Arena.