South Shields 'answered questions' during play-off semi-final win against Buxton

Ian Watson felt his South Shields heroes answered some questions as they earned a place in the National League North play-off final with a hard-earned win against Buxton.

A Paul Blackett penalty was the difference between the two sides after a game full of blood and thunder - but the Mariners were forced to dig deep to ensure their dreams of securing promotion into the National League remain alive. After missing out on the title on the final day of the season, Watson praised the strong mentality shown by his players as they moved to within 90 minutes of a potential history-making promotion.

He told The Gazette: “We knew how hard we would have to work, we knew how hard we would have to run. We also knew we had to be clinical in front of goal because we knew we wouldn’t get a lot of chances and that was the only thing where I thought it could bite us a little bit. Days like today, everyone has questioned our mentality, everyone has. Can we bounce back? You see it on social media. People saying about the boys bottling it and stuff like that. When you go one up and you cling on like we did, how much they’ve ran, how much they tried, I’m really proud of them and I think they’ve showed they have got the mentality to be successful.”

After shaking off the effects of what was a nervy start to the contest, the Mariners created the first real chance of the game midway through the first-half as Sonny Finch’s cross was diverted narrowly wide of the far post by Sean McGurk. There was something of a let-off moments later when Buxton keeper Connor Kirby appeared to have punished an error by Jack Roles before sending the ball beyond Tom Watson and into the net - but the effort was ruled out for a foul on the Mariners midfielder.

The first goal of the game finally arrived just five minutes before half-time as a George Ward foul on McGurk allowed Blackett to step up to take the resulting penalty and he made no mistake with a cool effort to the right of visitors keeper Joe Young. Finch could and perhaps should have doubled the lead just two minutes later when he got on the end of a Blackett pass, cut inside a defender before rolling the ball agonisingly wide of the far post. There was a real moment of controversy seconds before the break when Blackett appeared to be clearly upended by Kirby - but the furious appeals on and off the pitch were waved away by the officials.

Heroic moment

The opening stages of the second half offered little in the way of genuine goalscoring opportunities and the game remained that way until the final 20 minutes as the visitors pushed forward in their bid to force the tie into extra-time. Max Bardell went close when his angled drive struck the post before rebounding into Watson’s arms and the nerves were right on edge when a foul on the Mariners stopped saw a last-minute effort ruled out.

The confirmation nine minutes of injury-time were to be played on heightened the anxiety as the Mariners clung on - and there was one last heroic moment as Ollie Bainbridge produced a brave goal-line clearance as Buxton substitute Tai Sodje looked set to send the tie into an additional 30 minutes. The full-time whistle was blow just moments later and that sent a wave of relief and joy around the 1st Cloud Arena as the Mariners now look towards next Saturday’s play-off final with Kidderminster Harriers - and Watson’s thoughts have already turned towards the side that stand in their way of a place in the National League.

“We will watch both games back because they were tough to play against,” explained the Mariners boss. “It’ll be similar to today where they will go man-to-man with us and that’s tough to play against for both teams because if there is a mistake, we can capitalise. We will prepare with everything we have an it’s important we recover properly. It’s also important to enjoy this moment because it’s moments like that why you are in the game. You have to enjoy it but we will be ready to come into training on Monday and give everything we can to get over the line.”

South Shields: Watson, Dodds, Bainbridge, Tinkler, Mann, Alcock, Roles (Scott), Carson, Finch (Kelly), Blackett (Morse), McGurk (Wheeldon) Subs: Sheik, Robson, Sykes

Buxton: Young, Trueman (Mee), Flint, Ward, Burton, Johnston (Francis), Kirby (Robinson), Coleman (Willoughby), Brennan, Bardell, Douglas (Sodje) Subs: Melville, Davidson

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