Former Newcastle United star’s ‘wake-up call’ inspired Gateshead win

Gateshead star Stephen Wearne has revealed a half-time ‘talking to’ inspired his side in Saturday’s home win against Ebbsfleet United.

The former Sunderland and Middlesbrough forward scored the first hat-trick of his senior career as the Heed claimed a 4-1 victory against their newly-promoted visitors and built on their midweek win at Dagenham and Redbridge.

However, for 45 minutes there was little between the two sides at the International Stadium and that led Heed manager and former Newcastle United defender Mike Williamson to take some unexpected action according to hat-trick hero Wearne.

He told The Echo: “We didn’t get the hairdryer but we had a little talking to at half-time and we came out second-half and took the game to them. That showed the character and the quality we have in the changing room. Since I’ve been here, that’s probably the first time I’ve seen the manager raise his voice. He’s so good psychologically and I admire that side of the game that he brings.

“So when he does lost it a bit it does give you a wake-up call and I guess it worked because of what we did in the second half of the game. I know he likes to keep his cool and he is a good man manager and gets the best out of his players in that way.”

After a hectic start to the new season, Wearne and his team-mates will be given the luxury of two days off this week before returning to training on Wednesday to begin their preparations for a tough-looking home game against Woking on Saturday.

Wearne admitted he is expecting a real challenge against the Cards but insisted his side have shown what they can do in the win over Ebbsfleet and wants to see more of the same at the International Stadium next weekend.

He said: “Woking are a good side and they gave us a tough game when we played them away last season. But we have shown what we can do when we get the ball down and play and we just need to stick to what we do well with our patterns and hopefully the rest will take care of itself.”