South Shields keep top spot of Pitching In Northern Premier League with 2-0 win over Lancaster City.
Darius Osei headed home the first goal of the game in the 60th minute, to grab his 10th of the season for the club with Robert Briggs doubling scoring in the 84th minute ensuring the Mariners came away with all three points.
Kevin Phillips’s side looked comfortable throughout both halves, with the majority of the possession and chances, not giving Lancaster City a look in.
The first half started, slow with South Shields being a bit lackadaisical with their passes, but nothing that caused any real issue.
However, the Mariners began to grow in the game throughout the first half with the first real chance coming in the 17th minute as Martin Smith whipped in a perfect ball which found the head of Dylan Mottle-Henry but he couldn’t keep it down.
In the 29th minute Briggs played through Mottley-Henry, who was looking for the pass back, the Shields number 10 chose to go by himself but a poor touch took the ball away from him and Lancaster dealt with it.
Just three minutes later it was the turn of the Dolly Blues who had an opportunity to break the deadlock, Sam Bailey whipped in a free-kick from the right but the Mariners made lightwork of clearing.
Straightaway from the break, Shields raced up the other end of the pitch and Jordy Mongoy drilled a ball into the path of Lewis Alessandra but he dragged the shot wide.
The best chance of the first half came in the 36th minute, Mongoy was a danger once again he got the ball out wide on the right and played it to Gary Liddle, who was up from a corner but was denied by a fantastic stop by Sam Waller in goal for Lancaster.
Kevin Phillip’s side kept piling on the pressure and three minutes later Darius Osei picked the ball up in a wide area and played a ball on the edge to Alessandra who cleverly left it for Robert Briggs to strike and it was well hit but deflected out for a corner.
It was a nervy couple of seconds just before the referee blew for halftime, Lancaster played a searching ball forward, Myles Boney came out to make the interception but played it straight to a Dolly Blues attacker, thankfully Blair Adams was there to see out the danger.
Mackenzie Heaney entered the game ten minutes into the second half and had an instant impact on the game, turning and striking in the 58th minute but the shot was well saved by the Dolly Blues shot-stopper.
It took until the 60th minute for the first goal to come, Smith whipped in a great ball into the back post and Osei was there to head it home, firing the Mariners into the lead at the 1st Cloud Arena.
Heaney played a great ball across the face of the goal in the 67th minute but no one was there to covert and double the lead.
Due to an injury to Bradley Caroll in the 78th minute, having used the other two subs on the bench, Lancaster City were forced to bring on goalkeeper Curtis Anderson up-front for the remaining moments of the match.
It took until the 84th minute for Shields’ second of the game to arrive this time through Briggs, after a great ball out wide to him, the long-serving Mariner curled the ball beautifully into the top corner.
Into stoppage time, Adams had a great curling effort coming in from the right which forced a spectacular save from Waller to keep the score at 2-0.
But that was all that was required on Saturday afternoon as South Shields cruised to victory, attention turns to Liversedge on Tuesday night, where hopefully, it is more of the same.
South Shields: Boney, Hunter, Adams (c), Liddle, Broadbent, Smith, Briggs, Alessandra (Woods 86), Osei, Mottley-Henry (Gomes 86), Mongoy (Heaney 56). Subs not used: Doherty, Shokunbi.
Goals: Osei (60), Briggs (84)
Attendance: 2,237
Image: Kev Wilson.
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