Up next...

Last time out...

New stadium...

Dates for your diary...

Links...

New Season, New Hope

Date: Friday 13th August 2010

Gateshead begin the journey as a full-time club tomorrow as Kettering Town visit The International Stadium for the first Blue Square Bet Premier League match of the season (Sat 14th August, kick-off 3pm).

Jon Shaw pulls on a Gateshead shirt, hopefully to be seen wearing it during a match soon.

Gateshead were out classed twice by the Poppies last season, but go into this fixture with the hope of getting better following a poor pre-season from Kettering, who're also suffering injury and suspension to key players. Keeper Nathan Abbey is suspended meaning manager Lee Harper will be between the sticks, and star striker Moses Ashikodi is struggling through injury and lack of fitness. However they have added experienced Football League striker Paul Furlong to their squad, and the player/coach will pose a giant headache for our backline.

However, our own pre-season can hardly be described as ideal, finishing the build-up with defeat at Conference North side Guiseley last weekend. That match saw trialists Bernard Quainoo, Callum Morris and left-back Darren Lough play. Lough has trained with the squad this week, Quainoo wasn't seen again and Morris was allowed to leave after failing to impress (subsequently signing for the Scottish club up the road).

The impressive James Marwood is expected to start tomorrow, alongside other new signings Tim Deasy, Ben Clark and Gary Mulligan. Whilst everything isn't rosey in the garden, it's a real chance to make a good start to the season before tough trips to Barrow (Tuesday 17th August) and newly taken over Forest Green Rovers a week Saturday (Sat 21st August).

League sponsor Blue Square Bet are offering fans the chance to win a season ticket for their club over on their website - www.bluesqfootball.com.