A look into Gateshead football club.
September 2012
So the 2012/2013 season has started for Gateshead and it’s been a mix of a good and a poor start of the season, from pre season’s worries to leading Luton two nil at half time in the first game of the season then a heavy defeat by Grimsby with key players injured, But it is Gateshead and like many older Gateshead fans say “ this is Gateshead football club we love to do things the a hard way!
Like I saying going into the first game of the season against the bookmakers favourites Luton town in front of over six thousand home fans no body would of fancied us, But we played football the right way and created chances for Liam Hatch and Yemi Odubade to score two goals before half time, The seventy plus Gateshead fans who made the journey were in shock and joy, all you could hear was the chants of the Gateshead fans and not any from the thousands of Luton fans! Ex Gateshead man and top scorer season Jon Shaw came on for Luton in the second and he created space for Luton to get into the game, Jon got on the score sheet but refused to celebrate, He and also helped Luton score a second goal, The game ended 2-2 with the question being asked, are we so good we nearly bear Luton? And why do we always let leads slip?
So the first home game of the season started with another hard game against big spenders Mansfield town, before the game you could hear the heed youth making noise, Ross black and co trying to build the Gateshead’s players morale before the game, The confidence in the terraces was excellent until the news came in, Jamie chandler and Yemi Odubade aren’t in the team as both have picked us injuries. The fans were of course feeling that without star players we will struggle today, but this is Gateshead and the club is full of surprises. The game started brightly for Gateshead, Josh Gillies running at Mansfield defence and Turnbull creating space in the midfield, you could sense this team believed there could get something out of the game. Then it happened a corner from Gilles then hatch scored, then from then Gateshead cruised to a great 4.1 victory with the heed army fans going home very happy but with no voices left…
Three games after that excellent week of football we picked up another seven points and all you could see on social media sites was “ Heed for play offs” “Ian bogie is king” the players confidence was high, the fans expectations were very high, then after a hard away victory over Nuneaton the confidence carried on. Some excellent comments where said about the travelling Gateshead fans from the directors of Nuneaton, I’m sure he won’t be the first to comment on our great support, yes Gateshead don’t have the biggest fan base but the Heed army try to give the team as much support as possible. A night in Southport was to not go as planned for the travelling heed army sadly, the first defeat of the season in the hands of a Southport team who found Gateshead’s weaknesses and beat them 2.1, the players and fans were obviously disappointed but not downhearted not after a great start of the season.
Days later Gateshead cruised to a victory over the new boys in this league Dartford, yes it was a great victory but lack of fitness and injuries hit the team, with Ben Clark, Carl Magnay, Liam hatch and chandler all struggling. The following three games for Gateshead it was very poor to say the least three defeats, the attendance went town from 800 to 600, a lot of fans are very worried, with the club reducing the squad size Gateshead could not cope with many injuries and are obviously missing Liam hatch upfront.
Last game in September was against Telford, with Chris bush back from suspension and Summer star signing James brown making the bench was it time for Gateshead to cruise to a home win and gain some confidence back? Sadly not it was a 1.1 draw with a crowd of 524 the lowest of the season. Gateshead even missed a penalty in the last three minutes to win the game. After the game calls for Ian bogies to leave his job. It seems from bright start of the season to the end of the season a terrible start of the season has given the management team a huge headache especially with the pressure and expectation to do well at the club.
Anthony Scurfield
@anthscurfield
