Match Report: South Shields 3-0 Billingham Synthonia

A young Mariners team progressed to the first round of the ‘Frank Pattison’ Challenge Cup on Tuesday night with a 3-0 win over Billingham Synthonia at 1st Cloud Arena.

Lewis Henry, Jonah Flewers and Frazer Barker all got on the scoresheet, in a performance they can rightly be proud of, up against Northern League opposition.

It was a heavily rotated team, which featured the likes of Kyle Seymour in net and familiar first-team names such as Martin Smith and Ewan McGowan too. 

But this gave the youngsters a fantastic chance to try and prove themselves in a historic cup competition against competitive opposition, and that chance certainly paid off. 

Shields’ first event of note came just a handful of minutes after kick-off, when Sam Watts played Flewers through, but his cross was too heavy and the chance broke down.

Khaya Dlamini tried an audacious attempt from long-range in the fifth minute, but there was little risk to his shot becoming a threat to Sam Taylor, in goal for the visitors.

The Mariners took the lead in the 22nd minute and from that moment on, they never looked back.

A cross was put in which evaded McGowan, who looked as if he wanted to launch a shot if he had a little more time.

Worry not, however, as it fell to Henry who had all the space and time in the world to connect cleanly with it, which sent that rocket of a shot flying into the corner. 

Shields doubled their advantage in the 30th minute when Watts carried the ball up the field, before he timed a wonderful cushioned path to Flewers who weaved in and out of a few Billingham Synthonia players en route to slotting home his one-on-one. 

McGowan later drove a nice attempt on target in the box a few minutes later, although his effort was stopped and it went out for a corner.

Seymour stood out in goal as he made a handful of impressive, acrobatic saves in the second-half, to help keep a clean sheet on the night. 

Barker rounded up affairs a few minutes before the final whistle, when he capitalised on a rebound after Watts initially had his effort blocked by Taylor. 

The first team have the FA Cup in their sights this weekend when they travel to Macclesfield FC, and Tuesday’s game could well be the blueprint for them to follow.

South Shields: Seymour, Storey, Sloan, J. Smith, B. Taylor, M. Smith, Watts, Henry. McGowan, Dlamini, Flewers. 

Substitutes: Burns, Thomson, K. Taylor, Barker, Evitt. 

Goals: Henry (‘22), Flewers (‘30), Barker (‘87)

Billingham Synthonia: Taylor, Winstanley, Hogan, Davis, Marshall, Scaife-Wheatley, Porritt, Chapman, Appleby, Peacock, Stott. 

Substitutes: McLeod, Blythe, Hutchinson, Smithyman, Johnson. 

Attendance: 401

Image credit: Kev Wilson (@KevWilson19)