South Shields urged to avoid past mistakes against Oxford City

Elliott Dickman insisted South Shields ‘won’t take anything for granted’ when they host Oxford City this weekend.

The Hoops will make the long trip to the 1st Cloud Arena looking to secure a big three points that could take them further clear of the National League North relegation zone and extend what has been an encouraging run of form over the last six weeks. Since claiming a 4-1 home win against Farsley Celtic on the final weekend of November, Ross Jenkins’ side have lost just one of their last seven games in all competitions and will be full of confidence ahead of their meeting with Dickman’s side.

Despite that form, Saturday’s visitors still lie within the division’s bottom seven and the Mariners boss has pointed to a poor performance and result against a struggling side earlier in the season as a reason why his side must be at their best this weekend.

He told The Gazette: “We came unstuck at Needham Market earlier in the season and that was a game where people said we should win the game - but it doesn’t work like that in this division. You look around the league and you see some of the results, they should act as a warning and show us that we can’t afford to take anyone for granted. For us, the challenge is showing we have made good use of the break, show we’ve made good use of that time on the training pitch and show we are raring to go by performing in front of our supporters.”

Just over two weeks have passed since an organised and disciplined performance from Darlington allowed them to keep the Mariners at bay and secure a 1-0 win at the 1st Cloud Arena. That remains the last time Dickman’s side saw any on-field action as the wintery conditions forced the postponement of their last two fixtures against Hereford and Radcliffe.

The frustration over an inability to break down the Quakers still remains with the Mariners boss - but after holding discussions with his squad and enjoying two weeks of hard working on the training pitch, Dickman is hopeful his players can make the most of some ‘attacking tweaks’ they have worked on over the last fortnight.

The former Newcastle United and Sunderland said: “It’s been a challenge from day one at home. Some teams want to come here and spoil, frustrate and make it difficult. That happens at all levels but the key thing for us is to have the quality and patience to break it down. There are occasions we’ve done that at home but then there are games like the Darlington one when we haven’t found a way and that was frustrating. We’ve had discussions about that, we have a style of play we want to continue playing - but there may be tweaks. I learnt a long time if you don’t stick to your principles of the game and the solid foundations we have a solid foundation, from a coaching point of view you lose twice. We have a clear identity and a clear way of doing things and the tweaks will hopefully help us.”

Dickman has several big calls to make ahead of the game after he confirmed he has a fully fit and available squad.