Elliot and Beck dedicate Gateshead's Woking win to injured captain Olley

Gateshead manager Rob Elliot and striker Mark Beck dedicated their side’s win at Woking to club captain Greg Olley after he suffered a horror injury at the Laithwaite Community Stadium.

The game was still goalless when the Heed skipper was the victim of a reckless challenge from Cards defender Dion Kelly-Evans, who was immediately shown a red card Matthew Russell. Former Newcastle United and Hull City midfielder Olley received extensive treatment on what was later confirmed to be a broken leg as the match official instructed the players to return to their dressing room and imposed a 30-minute delay on the game as an ambulance was called.

Elliot revealed he was in favour of abandoning the game after an offer was made to his side - but he revealed his stricken skipper and his team-mates made the decision to carry on and went on to claim a 2-0 win to preserve their place at the top of the National League table.

Speaking after the game, the Heed boss told the club website: “We just have to make sure that we’re there for Greggy, support him and take it from there. Greggy wanted us to play the game and carry on.  It was the more the lads that dictated it, I was quite distressed and I wanted to call the game off. The lads and Greggy made the right decision, and I though we went about the game really well.  But it’s kind of hard to talk about football after that to be honest.”

After the game was restarted following the lengthy delay, the Heed grabbed the lead when former Sunderland defender Kenton Richardson opened the scoring just a minute before half-time. Summer signing Mark Beck came off the bench to grab his first goal for the club with 11 minutes remaining and that was enough to seal the Tynesiders’ second win in a week. The former Darlington and Harrogate Town striker dedicated the victory to Olley and believes the win is a prime example of the character that has become a hallmark of Gateshead’s successes in recent years.

He said: “It’s not nice to see in the game.  Greg has been a great player for the club over the years and we all wish him the speediest of recoveries. It was strange to come back out again but Greg wanted us to carry on, there was an option not to but Greg wanted us to carry on and we’ve won that game today. It shows the lads’ character, wanting to get the three points.”