South Shields stalwart hails stopper Boney after win over King’s Lynn Town

South Shields stalwart Robert Briggs was quick to praise goalkeeper Myles Boney after he played an instrumental role in Saturday’s 2-0 home win against King’s Lynn Town.

Not for the first time in recent weeks, the Mariners made a slow start and would have found themselves a goal down inside the opening 10 minutes had it not been for the heroics of the former Blackpool stopper.

Boney produced a stunning save to keep out a penalty from Josh Barrett before blocking the Linnets forward for a second time after he had pounced on the rebound. The remarkable double stop kicked life into Julio Arca’s men, who made the most of a much-improved second-half performance to finally break through their hardworking visitors with goals from striker Paul Blackett and substitute Jordy Mongoy.

The win moved the Mariners into second place in the National League North table at the end of a week when owner Geoff Thompson revealed the club were up for sale - and influential midfielder Briggs knew exactly where the plaudits should go after his side maintained their push for promotion.

He told The Gazette: “We had to take the focus away from the club and what’s happening and show what we did on the pitch.

“I think we did that today and it could have been a lot better. We didn’t start the game well but we have Mylo in goal and he’s made two great saves, which has set the tempo for everyone else to follow and we have done that in the second-half. We haven’t started very quickly in the last few games so we have to have a look at that and find out why. When you have someone of Mylo’s quality in goal, you always have a chance of keeping a clean sheet.

“When he made those saves, everyone has thought they (King’s Lynn) have got a little bit so we have to raise our levels. That’s what we did.”

The Mariners will now focus on rectifying their troublesome away form over the coming week as Tuesday night’s trip to Chorley is followed by a visit to Brackley Town next weekend.