Gateshead lost their first league game since last March when they went down 2-1 to lowly placed Ilkeston Town at the International Stadium on Saturday.
To say Gateshead should have wrapped this one up is an understatement, but they missed too many of their chances.
Gateshead have now scored just 4 goals in their last 4 games, as goals seemed to have dried up, after scoring 30 goals in their first 7 games.
But manager Ian Bogie is being realistic when he said after the game:
“We didn’t deserve to lose against Ilkeston.†“Seven wins and a draw from the first nine league games is hardly a disaster.â€
“We’ll play worse and sneak games, but we gave away a needless penalty and then missed one at the other end which gave Ilkeston a lift.â€
“We dominated possession, particularly in the second half, but didn’t test their keeper enough. We lacked thrust in the final third and strength and power in midfield.â€
“But one defeat doesn’t change anything. We’ve been built up to be knocked down but we’re still handily placed and will go top if we win our game in hand.”
Good down to earth thinking from the boss.
After 16 minutes goalkeeper Peter Keen threw himself at Ilkeston striker Adam Muller’s feet and Muller went flying and got the penalty that was duly dispatched by Muller. Then Gateshead contrived to miss a penalty when Harwood’s spot-kick was saved by Paul Pettinger. Ilkeston got the win when Neil Ross headed home on 74 minutes.
Here’s the current Unibond Premier League with Gateshead currently in 3rd place, just 2 points behind leaders Guiseley with 2 games in hand.
Next week’s game is at mid-table Lincoln United, and hopefully Gateshead will be able to get back on track. The goal of Gateshead Football Club is to get back into the Football League within 5 years – and we’ll be following them every week on their journey.
You can follow Gateshead on two important web-sites – The Heed Army site is a fans’ web-site run by David Gaddess, and of course there is also Gateshead’s Official Site.
Comments always welcome on Gateshead’s fortunes.
3 comments so far
George
Oct 9, 2007 at 1:15 PM
Comment #1Very good start by Gateshead, unfortunately i had no idea of the start to their season. While i am black and white all the way through, i do look for all northeastern teams results, however i must admit i have not looked that hard in the Chronicle to see how they have done. Nevertheless well done and hopefully results will turn around for them.
Bill F
Oct 9, 2007 at 1:49 PM
Comment #2Great to see Gateshead mentioned, I used to alternate between them and the Toon as a kid. It was a real kick in the bo**cks when they were voted out of the league first time of asking. They are not the same team now though are they? Didn’t South Shields reform as Gateshead in the present stadium. Newcastle were always number one though.
evil dick
Oct 10, 2007 at 3:07 AM
Comment #3love the the updates on Gateshead Ed, keep ’em coming!