NPL Match Preview: South Shields vs Lancaster City

Lancaster City are the visitors to 1st Cloud Arena on Saturday as South Shields face the second of three consecutive home matches (3pm kick-off).

The Mariners climbed to the top of the Pitching In Northern Premier League standings on Tuesday with a 4-2 victory over Marske United.

They will follow up the meeting with Lancaster by hosting Liversedge on Tuesday as the promotion race begins to hot up.

Shields will be up against a Dolly Blues side which sits 15th in the table, having drawn 11 of their 25 matches so far. They have lost just three times on the road.

The teams met in the reverse fixture in September, when the Mariners earned a 2-0 victory at Giant Axe.

Lancaster are unbeaten in their last five games and were victorious in their last outing as they defeated Matlock Town 2-1 last Saturday.

Manager's views

South Shields manager Kevin Phillips has fond memories of his team's win at Lancaster earlier this season, and is looking for similar standards on Saturday.

He said: “I recently watched our victory at their place back and we were excellent on a tricky pitch, especially in the first half.

“If we can produce similar levels to that, as well as our performance on Tuesday, we will be in good shape on Saturday.

“We know we can still do better, though. If we had shown more composure in the final third against Marske – which I’ve said a lot of times this season – the scoreline would have been a lot more comfortable.

“We had 24 shots and got 15 of them on target, which shows that we kept going and creating plenty of chances, but we were not quite clinical enough and that is something we are always looking to address.”

Team news

Shields defender Dillon Morse is a doubt for Saturday’s game as he continues his recovery from a back injury.

Phillips is hoping to have an otherwise full-strength squad to choose from.

Information for supporters

Kick-off at 1st Cloud Arena is at 3pm and the turnstiles open at 12.30pm.

Admission prices are £12 for adults, £9 for students and over-65s, £5 for children aged 13 to 16, and £3 for those aged 12 and under. There is an additional £2 charge to sit and tickets are available to purchase until 12pm on Saturday by clicking here.

Supporters can also pay at the turnstiles. Turnstile 2 will accept cash, with all other turnstiles to accept card only. There is no segregation in place at this fixture and if any supporter would like to upgrade to a seat on matchday, they can do so for a £2 charge at the hut next to turnstile 1 and 2.

A new set of Saturday standardised opening times will be in operation. The opening times are:

New stand bar: 12.30pm-close

New stand kiosk: 12.30-5pm

Shipley Heating Lounge: 12.30-6.15pm

Barbour Lounge: 12.30-6pm

Alum Ale House downstairs bar: 12.30-8.30pm

Synergi marquee: 2-5pm

Burger van: 12.30-5pm

Black tin: 12.30-5pm

Club shop: 12.30-5pm

Corporate hospitality boxes: 12.30-6pm

A match programme, packed with content, is available to purchase for £3 and also acts as a raffle ticket, with one lucky programme holder to win four tickets for our game against Liversedge on February 7th. Check the back of your programme for your lucky number, with the winner to be drawn at half-time.