South Shields told to remain focused as sell-out crowd set for National League North play-off final
South Shields will face Kidderminster Harriers in the National League North play-off final on Saturday.
Ian Watson is relishing the prospect of a sold-out 1st Cloud Arena for South Shields’ National League North play-off final with Kidderminster Harriers - but insisted his focus remains fully on claiming a win and promotion into non-league’s top tier.
The Mariners set up their date with destiny with the Harriers with a 1-0 home win against Buxton last weekend as a Paul Blackett penalty was enough to see off the Derbyshire outfit in front of a crowd of over 2,300. However, that figure will be dwarfed this weekend after the South Tyneside faithful snapped up every single ticket on offer in home sections at the Mariners home. With Kidderminster supporters expected to follow suit, Saturday’s game is expected to be a complete sell-out with a capacity crowd of around 4,000 expected to be on hand to witness both sides battling for a place in next National League.
Watson has urged his players to prove another ‘incredible moment’ for the home faithful and round off an impressive season with a historic promotion.
He told The Gazette: “It’s something we are looking forward to. We are looking forward to having all of our supporters here and filling it up. When I came to the club we talked about making special moments for the football club and the supporters and I feel we did that earlier in the season with the FA Cup run, I feel they’ve provided some incredible moments for the supporters all season in terms of how we play.
“But my focus on this Saturday is not that it’s an occasion, it’s not that we have achieved anything yet because this is such an important game and we need to go and win the football match. That’s the mentality I want to get into the boys. It’s going to be nice having everyone’s family and friends there and it’ll be a nice occasion - but it’s only a nice occasion for us if we win the game. It’ll be a nice occasion for the supporters, for Geoff but it’s only a nice occasion for us if we win.”
Underdogs
There is little to choose between the two sides ahead of Saturday’s game with South Shields ended the regular season with an eight-point advantage on their visitors - but Harriers were able to become the only side to complete a league double over the Mariners during the campaign. Watson believes his side have to utilise an underdog mentality after being unable to find a way to beat Adam Murray’s side in their previous two meetings.
“Home advantage, in terms of our changing rooms, our familiarities, not staying over the night before, we definitely felt that knowing we are coming here to play the game,” he explained. “I think the underdog mentality was something I wanted to create because we have been beaten by them twice and we haven’t found a way to beat them so we have to go into the game thinking we are underdogs and we have to find something we haven’t been able to do over the last two games to win the game.”