South Shields challenged to find consistency after dominant Farsley Celtic win
South Shields were in prolific mood as they romped to a 5-1 win against National League North rivals Farsley Celtic.
Elliott Dickman challenged South Shields to avoid of their mistakes of the past and build on their impressive home win against Farsley Celtic.
The Mariners were in fine form from the first minute in one of the few North East non-league fixtures to avoid falling victim of the inclement weather on Saturday afternoon. Former Newcastle United academy forward Kyle Crossley opened the scoring with a well-taken header on 12 minutes just seconds after he had struck the crossbar with a deflected effort. Crossley then doubled his tally and the lead on 19 minutes with a neat finish after good work from Paul Blackett before the Mariners top scorer got in on the act with a stunning long-range effort. The duo combined once again before half-time as Crossley opted against trying to complete a hat-trick and set up Blackett to net from close range to round off a dominant first-half display.
Despite offering little in the way of attacking threat, Farsley reduced the arrears when Aaron Pickles scored from close range after Darren Stephenson had been denied - but the Mariners restored their four-goal lead 60 seconds later with a composed finish from midfielder Martin Smith. That rounded off a confident display from Dickman’s side and one that the Mariners manager wants to see replicated over the coming weeks.
He told The Gazette: “It was a nice afternoon for us and we are really pleased with the performance. The only disappointment was conceding but I am juts pleased we performed at a good level and we took our chances. We could have had more but it’s one win and we have to back it up on Tuesday. We talk a lot about being inconsistent and we have let ourselves down at times but today we took care of what we can take care of. The message for a number of weeks is that we can’t let ourselves down, this game is done and it’s all about preparing for a tough test on Tuesday.”
The Mariners are back in action on Tuesday night when they visit Alfreton Town.
South Shields: Boney, Richards, Morse (Bramwell), Briggs (Sloan), Taylor, Mee, Smith, Heaney, De Bolle, Blackett (Dudik), Crossley (Shepherd) Subs: Seymour
Farsley Celtic: Flavell, Misambi (Silva), Abankwah, Turner, Hyde (Pickard), Bronson, Pickles, Fielding (Watson), Atkinson, Sturridge, Stephenson (Fox) Subs: Sloane