Heed

He's been excellent, we'll be very sad to lose him next month when his loan's up. He caused Darlington so many problems last week, they detailed their striker Liam Hatch to man mark him as soon as they lost possession today. He's a modern fullback who's great going forward, and is strong defensively. Occasionally overdoes it and gives the ball away, but he's young and that should come with time and experience.

Absolutely gutted, a massive opportunity missed. Darlington were never gonna let us play football, and just came to spoil and attempt to hit on the break. Fair play to them, but we lost it in that crazy last half hour down their place last week. Still, little old Gateshead have come a long way in the last 3 years and have a bright future ahead.

After a poor second half down there, Gateshead go into tomorrow's FA Trophy semi-final 2nd Leg a goal behind. If you're not heading down to Stoke tomorrow, please consider coming across to the International Stadium to get behind Tyneside's other black n whites. Wembley awaits the winners. Gateshead v Darlington - FA Trophy Sem-Final 2nd Leg, Gateshead International Stadium, kick-off 3pm FA Trophy Semi-Final 2nd Leg: Gateshead v Darlington - Match Information Gateshead's second leg FA Trophy semi-final against Darlington will take place this Saturday 19th March, with the game on a knife-edge after the Quakers edged the first leg by a one goal margin, winning a pulsating tie 3-2 at the Darlington Arena. Extra-time and penalties will be used to decide the winners over two legs if necessary. Away goals do not count double in the FA Trophy. Segregation of supporters will be in place at the International Stadium with Gateshead supporters allocated the entire 3,300 capacity all-seater Tyne & Wear Stand, all four turnstiles available at both ends of the stand. More Info here

With Wembley the prize on offer, we play the FA Trophy semi-final 1st leg at Darlington tomorrow (Sat 12th March), 3pm. If anyone fancies popping down to lend us your support, it'd be greatly appreciated. Gateshead fans are in the East Stand (behind the goal) of the Darlington Arena, Gateshead Supporters Club are running buses to the match, leaving Gateshead Civic Centre from 12:45pm - www.GatesheadFCSupportersClub.org.uk The 2nd leg is at the Gateshead International Stadium a week on Saturday (19th March), kick-off 3pm.

The first part of the Gateshead v Darlington trilogy takes place tomorrow night (Tuesday 8th March) at Gateshead Stadium, kick-off 7:45pm. Both teams are in good form, last month Gateshead won 7 matches from 7 played and Darlington have now gone unbeaten in their last 8 games. Both have a realistic chance with games in hand to push on for the play-offs if they win this match.

Fo lyf blad. Where would the league be without the likes of Martin Brittain I ask you? He's the non-league Beckham

After knocking Blyth out 2-0 in the FA Trophy Quarter Final on Saturday, Gateshead have been drawn in a 2 legged semi-final against Darlington for a place at Wembley in the final. Darlington v Gateshead - FA Trophy Semi Final 1st Leg - Sat 12th March, 3pm. Gateshead v Darlington - FA Trophy Semi Final 2nd Leg - Sat 19th March, 3pm.

Sorry, you lost me?

If anyone fancies watching some football tonight, Gateshead take on leg breakers Hayes & Yeading tonight in the conference at the International Stadium, kick-off 7:45pm

Edmundsson was rumoured to be not too happy at playing on the left wing instead of up front. He's one of those players that looks disinterested at times on the pitch, but then produces a great bit of skill, but then also goes back into his shell. Even played out of position I would've expected him to rip conference defences to bits (if he was premier league quality). He has the skill, but imo needs to get the desire like Tavernier has (who's been outstanding) to make it. Good luck to the lad though, shame we didn't get to see what he could offer played up front. Not sure how many we'll take through to Blyth, you can never tell with Gateshead fans. We took 415 to Darlington earlier in the season, and about 350-400 to Blyth last time we played them a couple of seasons back. It has to be the biggest Tyne-Blyth derby there's ever been. One North-East team will be in a 2 legged semi-final for a place at Wembley, I just hope it's us!

According to today's Chronicle, Tavernier has had his loan extended until 9th of April but Joan Simun Edmundsson's loan has expired and he's returned to Newcastle. Oh, and we've been drawn away at some team called Blyth Spartans in the FA Trophy Quarter Final. Should be fun

If you fancy some football this weekend and want to see how Tavernier and Edmundsson are getting on, Gateshead are at home to AFC Wimbledon on Friday night at The International Stadium. Gateshead FC v AFC Wimbledon - Friday 28th January, Gateshead International Stadium, kick-off 7:45pm. If you can't make it, the match is being broadcast live on Premier Sports TV (Channel 433 on Sky), or commentary is available online from BBC Radio Newcastle.

Having watched my club play at Gateshead Stadium for years and dreamed of getting out to a real ground, I find it bizarre that either of these two clubs want to move out to this stadium. Even if they remove the track, the stands will still be miles from the pitch and the shelf life of the ground is questionable as the upper tier is designed to be temporary (in-line with the original plan). If they're concerned about the stadium having a longterm sustainable use, then they should bury the running track under turf and convert it into a cricket ground (like the MCG for the Commonwealth Games). If they need to host a big athletics event, they can always remove the turf to expose the track again.

Phil Airey? That would be nice, but I can't see it happening.

Only two matches, so maybe a little early to judge but: He's played left wing in both matches. Doesn't look like a traditional winger to me (not much in the way of crossing), very comfortable on the ball, cuts inside a lot and looks to link up. Maybe slightly overdoes it at times, hanging onto the ball too long but looks dangerous and worries the opposition. I'd be interested to see him upfront alongside Jon Shaw to see if he's got any pace when put in behind the defenders, but young Nathan Fisher has hit 2 goals in the last 2 games up there and deserves a starting place.

I think it's a working title, but seems to be getting mentioned more and more whenever they refer to the new ground. I'd imagine only a big sponsorship offer (which is unlikely) would stop it being called that now. We're playing Barrow at home tonight in the league. After winning 6-0 on Saturday, hopefully we can get some league form back. Tavernier has looked a class act and Edmundsson got on the score sheet on Saturday. Kick-off tonight is 7:45pm at Gateshead Stadium, if anyone wants to see the two loanees in action. Spot on. What's the max loans you can have? Would love it if we sent a couple more your way. I'm not really sure tbh. The rules surrounding loans seem bizarre to me especially with these emergency loans where you can loan anyone for a 28 day period outside the windows, with them turning a blind eye to it not really being an emergency. But a player can only be emergency loaned 2 or 3 times/months or something along those lines. We were after a Boro player on-loan, but nothing has emerged there so far. We desperately need a goal scorer to fire us up the league, we have Jon Shaw who's your target man 10 to 15 goals a season type player, we just need to find the little man style goalscorer to play alongside him. However apart from loans, there's not a lot out there and you have rich teams such as Crawley, Luton & Fleetwood signing up every possible striker/good player just to stop their promotion rivals doing so. All three must have about 5 or 6 quality strikers on the books. I don't envy Ian Bogie's task in the transfer market, but he needs to pull a rabbit out of a hat from somewhere if we're to avoid looking nervously over our shoulder again.

I think it's a working title, but seems to be getting mentioned more and more whenever they refer to the new ground. I'd imagine only a big sponsorship offer (which is unlikely) would stop it being called that now. We're playing Barrow at home tonight in the league. After winning 6-0 on Saturday, hopefully we can get some league form back. Tavernier has looked a class act and Edmundsson got on the score sheet on Saturday. Kick-off tonight is 7:45pm at Gateshead Stadium, if anyone wants to see the two loanees in action.

Its where he's played most of his career, Newcastle seem keen to mould him into a LM though. Very tidy on the ball, though seems a bit prone to hold on it a bit too long. Not sure if that's due to people not supporting him though, in the games I've seen. He did hold onto it a few times too long, and doesn't seem like an old fashioned winger who'll stick to the touch line and deliver a cross. That's why I wonder if he'd be more suited to playing up front, a bit like Peter Winn (sorry for mentioning his name) was for us last season. Played left wing, but had been converted there from being a striker and didn't deliver much ammo. Another of our ex-Newcastle youngsters James Marwood had his best game in a Heed shirt on Saturday. Came off the bench and put the cross in for the equaliser. He has bags of potential, very quick and scares defenders but unfortunately (until Saturday) had zero end product. Hopefully he can carry on from there.

The three loan signings (Including left-back Michael Liddle on-loan from Sunderland) did well on Saturday. Both full-backs were good, Tavernier looked strong, composed on the ball and good at going forward. Edmundsson looks like he has a load of skill, and caused Kidderminster a lot of problems. He was played on the left wing (not sure if he's better suited to up front?) and did well, setting up a few opportunities. Maybe he'll be played up front next Saturday when we play at home to either delightful Hayes & Yeading in the league or Hampton & Richmond in the FA Trophy (if we get through Tuesday's trophy replay). The highlights of Saturday's match are on Gateshead's website.

We lack quality in the wide areas at the minute to stretch teams, and with Nelthorpes daft sending off against York on New Years Day then Edmundsson should get a good chance to show his ability. As mentioned by others, the Conference is a completely different animal to what it was 10 years ago (last time Gateshead were in it). Then you had 1 maybe 2 teams who were full-time, now there's only 3 who are part-time. Most teams that go up in the past few years go on to reach the play-offs of league 2, and there is a raft of recent ex-league clubs struggling to get out the Conference (Luton, York, Darlington, Grimsby, Cambridge, Mansfield, Wrexham, Kidderminster, Rushden) along with the likes of Wimbledon, Crawley (Spending crazy money) & Fleetwood (Spending big money too). It's also a stepping stone for players, right-back Michael Kay who was on-loan from Sunderland for two months earlier this season has now gone on-loan to Tranmere.

After our awful start to the New Year, Bogie has loaned a couple of your reserve players: Are they any good? We need something to rescue us at the minute. Cheers for them btw, first loan since Harper last time we were a Conference club.

Some football finally Today's match at home to York is ON after passing a morning pitch inspection, 3pm kick-off.

If anyone fancies a footballing distraction to the New Year hangover, we're finally expecting to play a league match tomorrow after having the last 7 postponed. Gateshead v York City - Tomorrow (Sat 1st Jan), kick-off 3pm at Gateshead International Stadium

We were poor last night, and certainly looked like a team that hadn't played in 3 weeks. But at 2-1 up with 10 minutes to go, the referee took over awarded them a dodgy penalty and sent off Kris Gate. Still, the Wembley dream lives on, just...

He was close to moving back up here to join Gateshead last January transfer window. Very sad news. RIP Dale.