South Shields urged to bounce back from double defeat as Merthyr Town lie in wait

South Shields assistant manager Carl Magnay has challenged the Mariners to bounce back from a rare setback when they face Merthyr Town at the 1st Cloud Arena this weekend.

Consecutive defeats against Hereford and King’s Lynn Town have left Ian Watson’s side sitting four points adrift of National League North leaders AFC Fylde with eight games remaining in the season. The double defeat has delivered a blow to the Mariners’ hopes of landing the step two title and gaining automatic promotion into non-league’s top tier - but they still remain firmly in the mix and that is why Magnay has expressed his determination to bring about an immediate improvement in fortunes.

He told the club website: “They’re disappointed because they’re not used to losing games. That’s the fifth defeat of the season and we are coming off the back of a 16-game unbeaten run so they are going to feel what they need to feel. They know it’s not good enough, you can see there is disappointment there, there are players that will be disappointed with themselves.

“They have given us everything to this stage so it would be unfair of us to be too critical of them but we need to make sure we identify what the issues are, whether it’s a physical thing or whether it’s tactical and something we can improve on.”

Recover

Despite that bitter disappointment, the Mariners are presented with a golden opportunity to bounce back and all but ensure they will play a home semi-final in the play-offs should their title bid fall short when they host third placed Merthyr on Saturday.

The Mariners currently hold a 15-point advantage on the Welsh outfit ahead of the 1st Cloud Arena clash and they will be confident they can stretch that advantage after claiming points in all but one of their 18 home games so far this season. Much like their hosts, Merthyr will arrive looking to bounce back from suffering consecutive defeats after they emerged empty handed from home games against Chester and Spennymoor Town over the last week.

Ahead of the game, Magnay stressed the need to ‘react and recover’ from the defeats against Hereford and King’s Lynn but described Saturday’s return to their home patch as ‘a great opportunity’ to return to winning ways.

“We are under no illusions that we do need to be better,” he explained. “There is still a lot to play for, I’ve said that to the players, you come off the back of two defeats but there is still a lot of football to be played, regardless of which way this season goes for us. There are some huge games to come and we need to react and recover as soon as possible. Our home record is good so it’s a great opportunity to response, of course it is.”

The Mariners could recall Jack Roles and Sonny Finch into their starting eleven after they were named as substitutes for the midweek defeat - but versatile winger Dan Ward has been ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on a hamstring injury. Dan Savage could come into contention after he was recalled from a loan spell with Northern Premier League neighbours Hebburn Town.

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