Clark praises Gateshead endeavour in FA Cup draw at Hednesford Town
Gateshead will be in Monday's FA Cup first round draw - but they have work to do as they prepare to host Hednesford Town in a replay on Tuesday night.
Interim manager Ben Clark admitted a draw was a fair result as Gateshead face up to an FA Cup fourth qualifying round replay with Hednesford Town.
The BBC cameras were on hand at Keys Park as they look to capture an upset with the Heed facing a tricky test against a Northern Premier League West Division outfit that have already come through five rounds of the competition during the first two months of the season. After a goalless first-half, it was the Heed that made the most of some positive passages of play when former Luton Town midfielder Tyrelle Newton opened the scoring midway through the second-half with his second goal for the club. However, the Pitman grabbed an equaliser five minutes later and earned a Tuesday night replay at the International Stadium when striker Rob Stevenson beat the offside trap and kept his cool to beat Heed keeper Harry Moss.
During a tense and nervy final quarter of an hour, both sides had sights of goal and it looked as if on-loan Birmingham City youngster Josh Home has sealed Gateshead’s passage into the first round proper in the closing stages as his powerful drive seemed destined for the far corner - but sneaked just beyond Jack Rose’s left-hand post. That ensured both sides will go into Monday’s first round draw alongside the likes of Wrexham, Bolton Wanderers and Birmingham before facing off on Tyneside just over 24 hours later.
Speaking after the game, Clark told the club website: “It was a good game, I throughly enjoyed it and I thought we played some good stuff at times. We were really good on the ball, probably could have worked the goalkeeper a bit more and we’ve had good chances when we should have scored. Our goalkeeper has made a couple of very good saves in the first-half and we started the second-half really well, dominated the ball and scored a really good goal. They got a goal against the run of play and we lost our way a little bit. Overall, I was pleased with the performance, the lads showed great endeavour, didn’t go away from our style with some lovely patches of football - but overall, it’s a fair result.”
Following Tuesday’s replay, Gateshead face a tricky away double header with visits to National League rivals Altrincham and Sutton United next on the agenda.