How It Stands So Far

Here we are two thirds through the season and where are we?

Well one final, a semi final in the league cup and currently sitting 3rd in the UniBond, not bad for Ian Bogies first full season in charge with the Tynesiders.

The Championship and automatic promotion does seem out of reach for GFC, With Witton Albion being 16 points clear at the top of the league. The Heed still have to play Witton at home this season and could claw back 3 points, but it would take a collapse in Witton fortunes for the Tynesiders to over take them at the summit of the league.

A Durham Cup Final place is already in the bag versus Sunderland AFC Reserves, with the venue for the Final being at Sunderland AFC’s Stadium Of Light. The Final will be Proud moment for every Gateshead fan to see our boy’s run out on a pitch where the cream of Carling Premiership play every other week.
Some GFC fans felt uneasy about the final being at Sunderland, with Sunderland Reserves making the final also. Fears of home advantage for SAFC Reserves was soon put to rest as the reserves do not play or train at the SOL.

Chairman Graham Woods efforts to make the Durham Cup final a show peace has to be commend, as hopefully the Durham Cup Final can be held annually at the SOL.
A second final could be in the offering, if The Heed can get passed Skelmersdale Utd away on the 8th march. Skelmersdale are currently riding high in the UniBond Div 1 North, they will no doubt be a hard team to play away and will be very much up for making a cup final themselves.

Ian Bogie (pictured)has settled his team down after a mid season blip, which seen GFC slip just out of reach of the automatic promotion spot.
The addition of former Newcastle, Reading and Cardiff City striker Paul Brayson has added much need depth in the Heeds front line. His experience and all round play has already seen him score a fantastic free kick on his debut away to Witton in the League Cup.

Gateshead take on UniBond Prem new boys Eastwood Town for the second time this season, It was a 3-1 opening day of the season win for Gateshead the last time these teams played. Eastwood have settled well into UniBond Prem life and have hovered around the Play-Offs for much of the season.

Gateshead 2 Fleetwood 0

A dominant Gateshead swept aside second place Fleetwood to pick up all 3 points on Saturday afternoon.

Goals from Captain Steve Bowey and left back Phil Cave (pictured) were enough to give the Heed Army victory over the fellow promotion chasers.

A crowd of 365 witnessed the Heed Army continue there good form, hopefully they will come back for next weeks Home game against Eastwood Town. The Tynesiders will be looking for a similar result to the opening day of the season, when the heed won 3-1 at Eastwood.

Get Well Soon GAZZA!!!!!!

The Heed Army Blog on behalf of the Gateshead fans would like to say GET WELL SOON to Gateshead boy Paul “GAZZA” Gascoigne.

Sadly Paul is having a bad time at the moment as well documented in the nation wide press.

Paul memorably helped save Gateshead FC, when club sponsors pulled the plug on sponsorship in December 2001.

It was reported GAZZA gave £10,000 of his own money to help save the Tynesiders in that troubled time, a fantastic piece of generosity you have to a agree.

The Heed Army owes Paul Gascoigne a big thank you for his support, Now we can give Paul our support by saying get well soon Paul!!!!!!!!!

Please sign a get well message in the comments at the bottom of this post, Hopefully when Paul is better he will be able to see to the Heed Army are still very thankful for his generosity.

GET WELL SOON GAZZA!!!!!!!!!!!

From the Commentary Box

You have have heard a familier voice on NPLTV of late, this has been none other than the Heed Army's very own Alan Percival.

Alan has written about his first commentating experiences since joining Unibond coverage on NPLTV, hope you enjoy reading.

Alan's words:

Those who frequent the forum will know by now that I’m commentating on NPLTV (if you don’t you must be wise and ignore most of my postings). I’ve been lucky enough so far that I have covered three Gateshead matches in four months.

It is quite a privilege to watch the team you support and talk about them (without being bias) for others. Although it means I sometimes have to miss matches I would normally attend just as a supporter (which hasn’t been too bad either, just the away trips to Ilkeston and Guiseley as, being in South Yorkshire, I miss most home matches anyway) I do get to see our rivals in action and see how they are progressing on the field of play.

The first game I covered at North Ferriby against Fleetwood was fairly nerve wracking. For a start I didn’t know if it was for real after having spoken to one person, my main travelling partner and excellent cameraman Michael, on the phone.

Luckily the day went well, apart from commentating in the disabled area on my knees, and I received some pretty good feedback from each set of supporters who watched the highlights.

I have tried to improve on each game and watching the Frickley Thriller (well the second half at least when we scored four to win the game) and then some of the Witton game from last Saturday it was quite obvious where the improvements were.

Commentating on the first Gateshead match (the ULCC 4th round game against Sheffield) was scary stuff, until the game started. Going up to the Int. and sitting by your own fans was fairly daunting, but as soon as it started it was just like normal, except I had to stay neutral and say how good the Sheffield goals were without being disappointed.

This game was nothing compared to that Frickley game though. It was the second time I had been to do commentary on a Frickley match and the first one had seen drama with the home sides keeper sent off and punch-ups galore (a warm-up if you like for our match).

Staying neutral for that match was almost impossible saying things like: “Frickley are winning 3-0 and have all but won this match” and “what an incredible turn around by Ian Bogie’s side. They now lead 4-3” whilst slumped in my seat and then trying not to jump all around the main stand in joy.

The game caused controversy as we all know and after the game I was in the board room with the video watching the sending off for the elbow on Thommo with the Frickley chairman and the player himself saying it was his arm (they didn’t appeal surprisingly). Not a situation I wanted to be in because I knew and we all know it was a blatant foul.

Speaking of Thommo he has caused me no end of trouble because I have to remind myself not say the nickname and stick to Thompson. Most of the time I get it right but you just know the name on the highlights will be the one time I say Thommo is the mad rush to get brain messages to mouth. Still he only had five minutes at Witton so hardly had to say his name.

The next game will be just as hard to stay neutral as I have put my name down to commentate on the Skelmersdale Semi-Final match. I have seen Skelmersdale this season in the Quarter-Final win over Marine. Both sides were either not bothered or performed badly. If it is the latter we have nothing to fear.

A big thank you to Alan for sharing that with the Heed Army Blog.

Witton 2 Gateshead 2

The Tynesiders twice took the lead at Witton Albion, but were unable to the grab the win.
Graeme Armstrong put Gateshead 1-0 after 10 minutes with a cool looping finish over former heed keeper Jon Kennedy in the Witton net.

Witton showed they are no push over’s and levelled soon after, but the Heed was not to be denied the lead again. Davie Southern headed home a perfect ball to retake the lead on 21 minutes.

After half time Witton Albion pushed and got level again, to show why they are top on the UniBond. It finished 2-2.

A great result, as Witton have not dropped a point at home this season, but does this leave the Heed army’s Dreams of the title in shreds??? Time will tell as Witton have to visit the International Stadium still this season and Gateshead have three games in hand. Is Witton Albion’s 16 point lead to much to real in though.

Witton Preview

Gateshead take on UniBond League leaders Witton looking to peg them back in the championship race.

The Tynesiders will be looking to follow up their 1-0 win over Witton Albion last week in the League Cup Quarter Final.

Armstrong and Brayson look to set to start up front again, with last weeks omission from the squad Davie Southern looks set to return to the travelling team.

Loan signing Phil Turnbull looks set to replace Kris Gate, after signing from York City.

Gate (pictured) who is reported to be on trial with a professional club in Sweden.

Witton 0 Gateshead 1 (League Cup)

The Tynesiders took on UniBond League leaders Witton Albion in the quarter final of the League Cup on Saturday, and progressed to the semi’s.

Debutant Striker Paul Brayson (pictured Down on the right) opened his account in style, with a 20 yard free kick that curled into the back of the net on the 70th minute.

Gateshead were without David Southern in there team, he did not even feature on the bench, Sparking talk of being rested or even on his way out of the club.

Monday nights Heed Army Blog man of the match Paul Talbot made his also the starting line up for the second match running, a much deserved run out for the loyal and talented left wing back.

Although this was a great result, the real test will come next Saturday when the Tynesiders are back at Witton for the crunch League tie.

Final Teams

We now Know who Gateshead will face in the Durham Cup final.

The Tynesiders will come up against Sunderland Reserves in what will be a tightly contested battle to lift the silverware.
Sunderland over came Hordon Colliery Welfare 6-1 to get there place in the final to face the Heed Army.

Gateshead 0 Spennymoor 0 (1-0 extra time)

On a cold night when the cold could change a man for life, Gateshead battled to the bitter end and got the goal to take Heed Army to the Durham cup final.


The first half was a war of attrition with a Spennymoor leaving six to seven players in there own half. This left the Tynesiders running into brick walls and out of idea's to break down this resolute defence.


the second half also seen Spennymoor players stay in there own half, and trying to catch Gateshead on the break. Paul Musselwhite was called upon to save the day when a spennymoor play was one on one with him. the veteran keeper kept his cool and smothered the ball from his feet.


The game went to extra time, Gateshead came into there own and had chance after chance. At least five clear cut chances feel to Gateshead players in the box, one notable missed effort happened after Graeme Armstrong glanced a header over the bar from 6 yards.


With minutes to go till penalty's, young striker Ben Hutchinson scrambled home a shot from 8 yards to send the home crowd wild, and take the Heed Army to the final of the Durham Cup.



Line up and Ratings:


Musselwhite 8

made the save when it mattered


Baxter 7

ran his heart out, but found little options


Cave 7

Supported Talbot well down the left


Curtis 7

Missed the odd pass, but did the job where it mattered


Salvin 8

Fantastic from start to finish


Harwood 8

Ran the show at times, real handful


Talbot 9

Real performance, up and down the wing, some good tackles to boot.
Heed Army Blog Man of the Match


Bowey 8 (Captain)

Won the midfield battle


Gates 8

First half disappointing, rest of the match outstanding


Southern 7

Had some flat spells in the game


Thompson 7

Never found any space, and heavily marked


Subs:


Armstrong 7

Missed some sitters


Hutchinson 8

A star is born, at least for this match.

Signing Confirmed!!!

After the high’s and low’s and In and outs of last week, Gateshead FC finally got there man, Yes Paul Brayson has put pen to paper and become a Heed player at last.

The news is also confirmed on the BBC’s sport website.

Read th BBC's Article

Sorry For Getting It Wrong

Firstly the Heed Army Blog would like to say sorry for jumping the gun and announcing the signing of Paul Brayson.

The news broke on Thursday afternoon that he had agreed to sign for Gateshead Football Club, but since the news broke Paul has not become a Heed player. It has emerged that a Football league side are interested in signing Brayson and talks have halted.

The Heed Army Blog is sincerely sorry for making this announcement, when in fact nothing had been signed and sealed. The Blog takes all things GFC very serious and feels very guilty for miss leading GFC Supporters and regular readers of the Blog.

Hopefully in the coming week we will find out If Paul is to become part of the Heed Army’s push for promotion from the UniBond Premier.

Buxton Preview

With fresh faces and renewed excitement the Heed travel to Buxton on Saturday looking for 3 points.

New signings Paul Brayson and Carl Jones are both in the squad to travel down for this important match at Play Off chasing Buxton. Both Players having signed on Thursday afternoon from York City.

Buxton are Currently sitting 4th in the UniBond Table one place under the Tynesiders, with Both teams pushing for promotion the match will surely be a test of each teams character to the day.

1	Witton Albion	26	19	5	2	58	17	+41	62
2	Fleetwood Town	23	16	4	3	51	27	+24	52
3	Gateshead	24	15	4	5	55	32	+23	49
4	Buxton	24	14	4	6	39	24	+15	46
5	Marine	27	14	3	10	53	37	+16	45
6	Eastwood Town	27	13	6	8	37	30	+7	45
7	Guiseley	22	11	4	7	38	27	+11	37
8	Matlock Town	24	9	6	9	35	40	-5	33
9	Stamford	26	9	6	11	47	58	-11	33

James Curtis looks to start his second match after coming back from his herinia operatiom and will sit in defence with new signing Carl jones.