Gateshead 2 Barrow 1

Date: Wednesday 17th February 2010, by Tynesider

Lady luck finally smiled on the Tynesiders last night as Gateshead beat a dogged Barrow side 2-1. Two first half goals from Peter Winn and Phil Turnbull were enough to gain three points and move the Heed out the relegation zone ahead of Saturday's massive home match with Ebbsfleet United.

Ex-Tranmere winger Andy Parkinson was making Gateshead debut on the right and played an impressive role in the victory. Troubling the Barrow left-back with some direct runs and more importantly quality crossing. It was him who setup the first goal, picking the ball up on the right he delivered a hanging cross to the back post out of reach of both the defence and Deasy in nets, Peter Winn arrived to tower a header in on 7 minutes.

Gateshead matched up against a three man central midfield for Barrow and for the second match in a row the energy of Kris Gate was a massive miss. Andy Ferrell was once again left to do the donkey work with Phil Turnbull unable to stick a foot in and win the ball. Ironically it was a poor tackle by Turnbull that saved an equalising goal on 14 minutes. Boyd shrugged off a the challenge to unleash a pile driver, only for the referee blow for the free kick as the ball found the near corner of the net.

The referee allowed barrow to take the resultant free-kick quickly as Gateshead lined up the wall, the ball was illegally lifted over the wall as the barrow player put his foot under it and flicked it rather than kicking it (similar to that Coventry goal in the 70s), play-on was waved and Walker put the 1-on-1 just wide of the post.

Gateshead should've been two up as Andy Parkinson raced through 1-on-1 only to lift his shot over the bar after going round Deasy.

Barrow then started to pressure with Chadwick bringing a good stop out of Farman, before he made a fantastic 1-on-1 stop as Wayne Buchanan's poor back pass was intercepted.

The pressure paid off not long after as Chadwick hit a defence splitting pass for Walker to run onto and round Farman to make it 1-1.

The good side of Phil Turnbull when going forward is a thing of beauty, but he massively needs to work on his tracking back and his tackling in midfield if he wants to be first choice. Thankfully, it was his good side that came to the fore just before half-time as he started pulling the strings going forward. First he tried his luck from distance, only for Deasy to turn it round the post. Chadwick then missed a sitter (putting it over when easier to score), before Turnbull hit the Tynesiders back in front with a beautiful 25 yard strike from outside the box that found the corner of the net.

HT 2-1

Andy Parkinson should've killed the game off in the second half as he made another great run, being put through 1-on-1 instead of shooting early he again tried to round Deasy only for the keeper to pull off a fantastic save.

Barrow were then gifted a gilt edged chance as Rikki Bains (just on for Buchanan) hit a howler of a first touch back pass under pressure, allowing Walker to go through on goal only to fluff his lines as Curtis got a toe to the ball to send the shot looping wide by inches.

James Curtis was lucky to stay on the pitch as he made a daft last-man challenge on Walker, luckily the through ball had been knocked slightly too long with Farman always favourite to collect it. With the Heed fans expecting the worst the referee produced a yellow card. I guess that decision evens out the non red card to the Hayes defender on Saturday. One thing that can be noted from the situation, maybe is that if Farman had've shouted KEEPERS at the top of his lungs Curtis may've pulled out of the challenge. A bit more communication is needed from the young goalkeeper to his defenders at times.

Somehow the referee found a magical six minutes of injury time, even though there had been no second half injuries. It seemed like the inevitable equaliser would happen, however Paul Farman came to the rescue with a fantastic match winning save as he somehow clawed Phil Boland's header out the top corner and around the post.

Gateshead were hanging on, trying to keep the ball in the corners, but Brian Wake had another fantastic opportunity to finish the match off as he was put through 1-on-1. Instead of pulling the trigger early he opted to attempt to round Deasy only to be thwarted. However the Heed hung on and the final whistle was a massive relief.

Gateshead: Farman; Baxter, Curtis, Buchanan (Bains), Heckingbottom; Parkinson (Sinclair), Turnbull, Ferrell, Winn; Clare (Armstrong), Wake
Subs (Not Used): Provett, Francis

All in all a massive win for the Tynesiders. Whilst far from pretty and certainly nerve jangling, it's the perfect way to start our four home match sequence. Next up on Saturday is fellow strugglers Ebbsfleet United, who've unfortunately picked up in the last month with ex-Carlisle striker Magno Viera having a massive impact infront of goal. He'll certainly need to be watched closely!

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Gateshead 2 Barrow 1