South Shields told to seize opportunity as Scarborough Athletic clash kicks off trio of home games

South Shields have been challenged to ‘put themselves in a strong position’ by making the most of a trio of home fixtures over the next week.

Following last weekend’s narrow defeat at title-chasing Scunthorpe United, the Mariners lie nine points adrift of the National League North play-off places and need to kickstart their top seven push over the coming weeks to keep their promotion hopes alive. A first return to the 1st Cloud Arena since a narrow loss against Darlington on New Years Day comes on Saturday when old foes Scarborough Athletic are the visitors and that is quickly followed by two further home clashes.

Hereford will make the long trip to South Tyneside on Tuesday night before Chester round off a potentially pivotal week when they come calling on Saturday week. Intriguingly, all three opposing sides have play-off ambitions of their own as an increasingly competitive division continues to take shape - and Mariners boss Elliott Dickman is fully aware of just how decisive the outcome of his side’s next three games could be in their push for another promotion.

The former Newcastle United and Sunderland academy coach told The Gazette: “It’s a really important week for us now because we were so disappointed with the result at Scunthorpe - even though there were some good aspects to the game from our point of view. We are focused on making the most on the three home games and we have to make sure we come out of all three with positive performances and positive results.

“Our home form is strong, we know our fans are excellent no matter where we are and they will get fully behind us. They have done that all season, they have continued to support us no matter where we play and we are alway grateful for that so we hope to reward them with some positive results over the next three games. We have to make sure we don’t let ourselves down and put ourselves in a strong position to kick on once this next week is over.”

Dickman will assess the fitness of David Carson and Dan Ward before finalising his plans for the game.