Match Preview: King’s Lynn Town v South Shields

The Mariners are back on the road again as they travel to Kings Lynn Town in the Vanarama National League North.

Shields come off of a 10-day break after the Banbury United match was postponed to face Kings Lynn Town.

This makes the Mariners win against Scunthorpe United their last league outing. In that fixture, it was Dylan Stephenson who shined the most with a brace on the day and a place in the team of the week.

Saturday’s opposition find themselves in 20th place just one position above Banbury United whom Shields were supposed to face last week. They find themselves on 37 points after 35 league fixtures. This puts Shields a whole 16 points above them.

The hosts haven’t been in a bad run of form recently as in their last five they have gone undefeated.

This isn’t as impressive as it sounds on paper, however, as only 2 of those last 5 have been wins.

Their last 2 league fixtures have also been draws with the first coming at home to Farsley Celtic in a match that ended 0-0. The second and last fixture was a 1-1 draw away at Alfreton Town with Cameron Hargreaves scoring for the visitors.

The danger man for Saturday’s hosts is arguably Bartosz Cybulski who has 7 goals this season. He is a former Derby County youth prospect and was signed by the Linnets upon his release in 2023. Prior to his release, he made 4 appearances in the 21-22 Championship season.

In the previous fixture between these two sides, it was Julio Arca’s Shields side that came out 2-0 winners at the First Cloud Arena back in October. Paul Blackett and James Mongoy both scored in that fixture.

Elliott's Thoughts

Dickman was full of praise for Newcastle United loanee Dylan Stephenson after his 2 goals secured victory against Scunthorpe over a week ago.

Going on to say, “He’s a very important player and it’s great that his form has been recognized, he will be crucial in the next 11 games”.

After 2 straight league defeats prior to the win in the last fixture, Elliott Dickman has come out and said, “I don’t think we played bad in those games and the Darlington fixture was a strange one as we had 2 red cards so I won’t think into it too much.”.

Throughout his run as Shields manager, Elliott Dickman has said multiple times that “no game is an easy game” and this will no doubt be his mindset going in against Kings Lynn.

Team News

Will Jenkins and Robert Briggs miss out through suspension.

Captain Blair Adams is still out with injury, as well as Gary Liddle and Luke James.

Information for supporters

The match will be played on the 2nd of March 2024 at 3pm. The Walks Stadium,

Tennyson rd, Kings Lynn (PE30 5PB)

Tickets for Saturdays away fixture can be bought here : https://kingslynntownfc.ktckts.com/event/klt2324h19/kings-lynn-fc-v-south-shields-