South Shields challenged to be brave ahead of Warrington Town clash

South Shields manager Elliott Dickman has challenged his players to bounce back from their late defeat against Curzon Ashton as they prepare to take on old foes Warrington Town.

A contentious injury-time penalty that was converted by Curzon forward Will Hayhurst condemned the Mariners to a second conservative league defeat at the 1st Cloud Arena at the weekend and means they head into Tuesday night’s clash with Warrington Town looking for a first point of the season. Dickman believes the meeting with the Yellows offers an opportunity to ‘put things right’ after his side struggled to find rhythm during an underwhelming display on Sunday afternoon.

The former Newcastle United and Sunderland coach told The Gazette: “We have another game coming and they’re coming thick and fast now. We have a lot of football in the next ten days or so so we have to make sure we are ready for the game on Tuesday. In the past, there’s play-off games etc against them and we are looking forward to it - but more than anything, it’s an opportunity to put things right that didn’t go right today.”

The defeat against Curzon proved to be a frustrating one for Dickman and his squad as the visitors produced a disciplined and organised defensive display that kept the Mariners at bay until a stunning effort from Will Jenkins looked to have secured a point. Dickman conceded visitors will come to the 1st Cloud Arena looking to stifle his side and urged his squad to show more bravery to break them down.

He said: “We’ve got to make sure we move forward and find a way to play our game, play our way and we have to find a way to break teams down when they come here and do that to us. That’s their prerogative, that’s what they want to do and we have to find a way to be creative. Sometimes we have found it difficult, changing the shape maybe helped a little bit and it helped us to a point but we have to braver and trust each other.”

Coleby Shepherd could be handed an opportunity to impress from the start after making a positive impact as a substitute in Saturday’s defeat.