South Shields won't get carried away in promotion push - Ward

Dan Ward is hoping South Shields can celebrate Christmas in style by claiming a win at Chester - but insisted the Mariners won’t get carried away no matter what happens this weekend.

Ian Watson’s side will kickstart their hectic festive schedule with a tough looking visit to the Deva Stadium and they could secure their place as the National League North’s Christmas number one if their points return than leaders AFC Fylde claim in their visit to fourth placed Kidderminster Harriers.

That is all a far cry from the closing weeks of last season when the Mariners struggled to find consistency and ended the campaign in the bottom half of the table. Despite the turnaround in fortunes, former Newcastle United academy winger Ward has stressed the Mariners squad will continue to show focus throughout a potentially crucial part of the season.

He told The Gazette: “You look at the changes on and off the pitch and there have been a lot. We talk about last year and there was only Blacky (Paul Blackett), Jenks (Will Jenkins), Dillon Morse and myself really. But it’s night and day in terms of the progress we have made from where we were last year to where we are now. We don’t get too carried away by the highs or the lows, that’s our mindset - but if anything, Busted (Watson) has told us maybe we should celebrate winning more because winning games of football isn’t easy. Our mindset isn’t really that way at the moment, we just focus on the next game as soon as one is done and that’s the way we will be going forwards.”

Detail

Ward has been one of the main beneficiaries of the summer arrival of Watson and assistant manager Carl Magnay as he reunited with two of his former coaches from his time at Gateshead. The winger praised the impact they have made and admitted even he has been surprised by their positive methods despite his previous experience working under the duo.

He said: “I’m not getting carried away with myself. I have to stay fit and try and impact games as much as I can. It’s been good working under Busted and Mags (Carl Magnay, assistant manager) again and they are trying to improve everyone in the squad. Obviously I’ve worked with them before their time here but even I’ve been surprised at the level of detail because sometimes you don’t find that at this level. All of that comes from a good place, we all want to get better and it’s paying dividends.”

Focused

That approach will face a significant test at Chester on Saturday as South Shields face a home side currently sitting just two points outside of the play-off places. With the impact of a sickness bug now finally easing, Ward believes the Mariners squad are ready to ‘push on’ by enjoying a positive festive period.

“Chester are a good club with very good players,” he explained. “They are always there or thereabouts, they are always a threat and this will be a good test for us. We had a good win on Tuesday, we had lads struggling and we’ve had five or six struggling with a sickness bug so we did well to come through that to be fair. Now we are just focused on continuing to push on and improve.”

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