South Shields FC players must take responsibility for improvement - insists top scorer Blackett

Paul Blackett has called on every member of the South Shields squad to take responsibility for improving in one key aspect of their game as they prepare to face Chester this weekend.

The Mariners will be looking to bounce back from their FA Cup fourth qualifying round exit at the hands of National League club FC Halifax Town when they return to their bid to join the Shaymen in non-league’s top tier with a home game against Chester on Saturday.

It has been a period of ups and downs for Mike Williamson’s side with the highs of an FA Cup hammering of Witton Albion and a cup and league double over Buxton tempered by negative results against Hereford, Brackley Town, Macclesfield and last weekend’s defeat against Halifax.

One disappointing aspect of that quartet of defeats is the fact the Mariners have conceded 16 goals across all four games and a major improvement is required if they are to continue pushing for a historic promotion. Although his personal focus is on events at the other end of the pitch, Blackett has stressed every Mariners players must play their part in ensuring their side becomes more solid over a key part of the season.

He told The Gazette: “We were really disappointed with the result on Saturday because the FA Cup is an important competition for us as players and important for everyone connected with the club. We’re out of it now and I think we are just struggling to find clean sheets as a team and that is killing us at the moment.

“Everything you do as a team, as a squad, it’s all about the group, it’s not just the defence, it’s about everyone playing their part and every player taking responsibility. We’ve had meetings on it as a full group to see where we can get better and hopefully that bring an improvement from us all.”

Initiative

After a run of four consecutive away games, South Shields will finally return to their home patch on Saturday almost a month to their day since their last fixture at Mariners Park. As it stands, the Mariners are unbeaten in six home games and they will hope to extend that record against a Chester side that are also in the promotion mix.

Blackett is relishing the opportunity to be back at home after spending the last four weeks on the road - and he wants his side to take the initiative against their fellow promotion contenders.

He said: “I think having a game like Chester helps because it’s a really good game if we can win it. We are all calm, we know what is going wrong, we just need to rectify and what better place to do it than at home. We’ve had one game at home this month and we’ve been away a lot but hopefully we can make the most of being back at our place. You want to impose yourself when you’re at home and it’s always where you pick up the majority of your points. We love playing at home, we enjoy the challenge of taking the initiative and we can’t wait to get back there this weekend.”

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