Match Report: Buxton 1-0 South Shields

South Shields were dealt a late blow by Buxton as they fell to a 1-0 defeat thanks to an Oli Ewing goal in the eighty-seventh minute. After an excellent showing in their 2-0 triumph over league leaders, Chester, on Saturday, there was little time for the Mariners to bask in that victory as they made the considerable trip to Derbyshire to face play-off hunting Buxton who themselves were coming into the clash with four wins in their last five and most recently a 5-1 thrashing over Rushall Olympic.

Iestyn Hughes dropped out for Tom Broadbent after completing a three-match ban in Shields’ only change. Unsurprisingly, the home side fielded the same eleven as the weekend.

After a sluggish start in which Dermi Lusala was getting plenty of joy down the Buxton right along with Josh Popoola, Shields began to take control of the encounter, with Mackenzie Heaney, Martin Smith and Will Jenkins operating efficiently in a midfield trio.

Paul Blackett came within inches of opening the scoring after just over fifteen minutes when, after some neat work down the right by David Carson and Jenkins, the latter showed excellent composure to pick out the league’s top scorer, however his strike from inside the penalty area tricked agonisingly wide of the right post.

In a first half of lots of approach play in the defensive and middle thirds of the pitch, Myles Boney was called into action rarely but did well to deny Johnny Johnston from a tight angle after twenty minutes, however, the turning point in the match came midway through the first half when Paul Blackett appeared to have strained a muscle in his quad off the ball and was forced to leave the action, heading despondently down the tunnel and replaced by Ashton Mee, with Heaney moving to the right and Dylan Stephenson as the lone striker.

It was Stephenson who came closest for Shields towards the end of the first half when Broadbent confidently stepped out of the back four and across the halfway line to slip the striker through on goal. He showed great pace to get beyond Kieran Burton in the Buxton defence and he struck the ball fiercely on his left foot towards the top corner. True Grant in the Buxton goal was equal to it, though, with an excellent one-handed save, clawing the ball behind for a corner just minutes before half-time.

Both sides entered the break knowing this closely fought affair could go either way with neither team dominating proceedings. In a second half that started with a sharp increase in intensity for both sides, there were little chances of note but Luke Brennan, the danger-man of the Buxton side on the wide left, was beginning to dictate the tempo of the game with Tommy Elliot in midfield. A swift and neat interchange between the pair saw the ball break for Lusala from right-back, whose run was untracked, however his goal-bound strike from the edge of the area was eventually blocked by the retreating Kyle Crossley.

With fifteen minutes, to play, a stalemate was looking increasingly likely after Brennan was next to try his luck, shooting wide from some inviting angles before his free kick from twenty yards was smartly held by Boney. After Crossley forced some important blocks and Shields began to earn regular set-pieces as the clock ticked beyond eighty minutes, it began to feel the away side may just come out of this closely fought and scrappy affair with all three points.

They could not make their brief dominance last, though, and after Broadbent and Mee were both caught in possession inside their own half with three minutes of normal time remaining, Johnston had the presence of mind to tee the ball back to Ewing, where the Leicester City loanee crowned his first home appearance at the Silverlands Tarmac Stadium with a finish of real quality, rifling the ball first time into the top left corner from eighteen yards, leaving Boney helpless in the Shields goal and the team reeling after it looked certain they would leave Derbyshire with a point.

As the final whistle sounded, Shields were forced to settle with another missed opportunity, leaving with nothing after an overall display that deserved a result of sorts against a side higher in the table.

The tests keep coming, though, as they make the trip to fourth place Chorley, who will come into Saturday’s clash off the back of a convincing 4-1 victory over fellow promotion hopefuls, Brackley Town tonight. The Mariners remain fourteenth after thirty matches now and sit eleven points adrift of seventh place.

Buxton: Grant, Lusala, Williams, Faulker, Elliot, Brennan (Coleman, 90), Trueman, Popoola (Fitzhugh, 59), Johnston (Sault, 88), Burton, Ewing

Unused Substitutes: Ravenhill, Kirby

Goals: Ewing (87’)

South Shields: Boney, Shepherd, Smith (Hughes, 90), Heaney, Briggs, Blackett (Mee, 22), Jenkins (Ward, 90), Crossley, Carson, Broadbent, Stephenson

Unused Substitutes: Seymour, Myers-Smith

Attendance: 420

Image Credit: Kev Wilson

(@KevWilson19)