South Shields face a home game with National League North rivals Buxton on Saturday afternoon.

South Shields manager Ian Watson has praised his players for buying into the methods and standards he has demanded of them during the opening months of his reign with the National League North leaders.

The former Gateshead and MK Dons assistant manager was named as permanent successor to former Mariners boss Elliott Dickman in the final week of May and has wasted little time in setting out the standards he expected of the players he inherited ahead of his first season in charge at the 1st Cloud Arena.

South Shields celebrate after Will Jenkins grabs their second goal in a 2-1 win at Bedford Town (photo Kevin Wilson) | Kevin Wilson

placeholder image — South Shields celebrate after Will Jenkins grabs their second goal in a 2-1 win at Bedford Town (photo Kevin Wilson) | Kevin Wilson

After a challenging pre-season campaign, the Mariners have hit the ground running and head into this weekend’s home game with Buxton on the back of five consecutive wins during the opening weeks of the new National League North season. Watson revealed the messages he gave to his squad ahead of the new campaign and hailed their reaction to his calls for high standards.

He told The Gazette: “We set it out from day one basically and anyone that has worked with Carl or myself in the past knows how high we want to set the standards. We made a decision we were setting those standards from day one and we didn’t really have time to ease anyone into it. They had to be set early and it was a case of you’re with us, you’ll follow us and go with us from the first minute or you will not be on the journey with us.

“The boys have really bought into what we have asked of them, they’ve been amazing to be honest and we can only ask them to do something, they have to do it and so far they have done whatever we have asked really well. The boys have followed us and they have hit the standards we demand.”

Philosophy

South Shields manager Ian Watson (photo Kevin Wilson) | Kevin Wilson

Two intriguing home clashes lie in wait for the Mariners with Saturday’s meeting with Buxton quickly followed by Radcliffe’s visit to the 1st Cloud Arena. With a perfect record of five wins in as many games, some have suggested two consecutive fixtures on their own patch present a perfect opportunity for that run to be extended to a seventh game - but Watson has warned his players they will face two sizeable challenges over the coming games.

“It’s good to be back at home, we are excited to be at home and it’s good after a long journey on Monday,” he explained.

“Every game is an opportunity at the moment and it’s an opportunity to keep pushing our concepts and principles we are trying to get across to the squad. These are two really hard games for us. Buxton are tipped for promotion and you can see why because they’ve got a clear philosophy and that’s going to be really hard for us but I am excited to see how we attack the game.

“Then Tuesday against Radcliffe, a Jonno and Bernard side, we know that will be, it will be high intensity, hard to play against, a really challenge. Both games are good opportunities but they are also about how we mentally prepare for two tough games in three days.”

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