Second red card ‘killed’ off the Mariners’ hopes
South Shields interim manager Elliott Dickman was left ‘really disappointed’ by his side’s secondhalf performance in their 4-0 home defeat against Darlington.
The Mariners’ captain Robert Briggs was shown a red card with ten minutes on the clock. He brought down former team-mate Cedric Main as he made his way in on goal.
Dickman’s side remained organised and disciplined and were not broken down until Quakers midfielder Will Hatfield opened the scoring with 20 minutes remaining.
Hatfield turned from goalscorer to goal creator soon after as he allowed Main to net against his old club as Steve Watson’s men moved closer to claiming an invaluable three points in their bid to avoid relegation.
The Mariners were reduced to nine men in the closing stages when Will Jenkins controversially saw red for a strong challenge on Matty Cornish. Kallum Griffiths and ex Sunderland forward Mitch Curry took Darlington out of sight with two late goals.
With promotion contenders Scunthorpe United set to the visit the 1st Cloud Arena tomorrow night, Dickman urged South Shields to move on from their defeat.
He said: “It’s never easy with 11 men in any game so to be down to ten so early in the game meant it was always going to be a tricky test for us. That discipline, concentration and focus to maintain those levels have let us down a little bit in the second-half I think and the second red card has killed us a bit before we conceded two very preventable late goals.”
Spennymoor Town took the North East bragging rights in their home clash with Blyth Spartans. Both sides created opportunities during a hard-fought opening 40 minutes but it was the Moors that struck first as a familiar face came back to haunt Spartans.
Corey McKeown showed his determination to win possession before producing a sumptuous finish to put his current club ahead against his former employers.
Graeme Lee’s side secured a win that takes them seven points clear of the relegation zone when Rob Ramshaw rounded off some fine approach play from John Lufudu and Danny Greenfield with an hour on the clock.