Watson frustrated as South Shields FA Cup run ended by Shrewsbury Town

South Shields manager Ian Watson was left frustrated by his side’s FA Cup first round defeat against Shrewsbury Town - but believes the Mariners can take positives from the loss.

With an almost sell-out crowd and the TNT Sports cameras on hand, Watson’s men made a positive start with Cedwyn Scott and Oliver Bainbridge going close to opening the scoring inside the opening ten minutes. However, the League Two strugglers stamped their authority all over the game as a brace from former Portsmouth winger Anthony Scully and a Thomas Sang effort gave the visitors a three-goal lead at the break.

On-loan Middlesbrough midfielder Luke Woolston gave South Shields some hope of mounting a comeback midway through the second-half - but that was as good as it got as the Mariners struggled to find a way beyond a disciplined Salop side.

Watson admitted there were ‘a lot of good moments’ from his side - but believes his players must learn from the strength and organisation showed by their visitors as they secured a hard-earned win and a place in Monday’s second round draw.

He told The Gazette: “We have to learn lessons from today and that’s me more than anyone else. Tactically, we need to set up better so teams can’t hit us on the transition like that and we have been good with that and have nullified teams. We weren’t able to do that today and it’s just frustrating because I felt we showed a lot of good moments and showed what a good side we are. There were moments for them that hurt us and defined the game and that has left us all a bit frustrated.

“None of me is pleased about it but I bang on to the boys about what you need to do to get to that level away from the pitch, in training, how you look after yourself and you have to be so good to get there. It’s good for us to see and feel that and today I think they do feel it.”

Mentality

The Mariners will now return to their efforts to take another step up the non-league pyramid when they visit National League North promotion rivals AFC Fylde in midweek.

Watson has stressed the run to the FA Cup first round should fuel the desire and hunger to continue pushing the club forward in their bid to move just one step away from joining Sunday’s visitors in League Two.

He said: “It gives everyone a taste of where the football club could go and the club should be proud of themselves in terms of how we hosted a big occasion and drew a lot of attention from the community. That shows where we need to get to every week and we have to be consistent if we want to get up the leagues and have these games on a weekly basis. The people that run this football club will have exactly that same mentality too.”

South Shields: Sheik, Tinkler, Bainbridge, Sykes, Morse, Blackett (Carson), Jenkins (Savage), Scott, Kelly, Woolston (Alcock), Dodds (McGurk) Subs: Mann, McGowan

Shrewsbury Town: Brook, Anderson, Boyle, Clucas (Benning), McDermott, Sang (Perry), Scully (Hoole), Kabia, Ruffels (Biggins), Stubbs, Marquis (Lloyd) Subs: Harrison, Aneke, England, Gray

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