Gateshead boss thankful as Middlesbrough duo complete loan moves to National League club
Middlesbrough have agreed to allow two members of their Under-21s squad to spend the rest of the season on loan at National League club Gateshead.
Gateshead manager Rob Elliot has thanked Middlesbrough after they allowed Under-21s duo Shea Connor and Rio Patterson-Powell to spend the rest of the season on loan at the International Stadium.
Both deals were agreed in the final hours of Thursday’s National League transfer deadline day as the Heed looked to make one last push to bolster their squad ahead of the final weeks of what has been a season full of challenges on the south bank of the Tyne. Although Gateshead looked to be on their way to relegation into the National League North, they have boosted their hopes of staying in non-league’s top tier after Saturday’s home win against Yeovil Town meant they have collected 24 points from their last 12 games and now sit five points clear of the drop zone.
Connor and Patterson-Powell were not involved in Elliot’s matchday squad for the win over the Glovers - although there was a precautionary decision taken with the latter after the 20-year-old wing-back picked up an injury in training just over 24 hours before the game. A tactical decision was the reasoning behind Connor’s absence from the squad - but Elliot believes both players will be needed before the season comes to a close next month.
Speaking after Saturday’s win against Yeovil Town, the former Newcastle United goalkeeper said: “We are happy with the business and we are grateful to Middlesbrough for trusting us with two of their young players. Shea was superb in training on Friday and he wasn’t involved today just because we went without a goalkeeper on the bench. Pete (Jameson) has a bit of an injury so we needed another keeper and we are delighted to have Shea with us. We just felt we wanted to cover as many outfield positions as possible and Rio just had a little knock but he will be with us on Wednesday, if that hadn’t happened he would have been in and around the squad today. He’s a really exciting prospect, a really good player, he’s a good right wing-back, he gets up and down and he backs his own ability. We are looking forward to working with them. We’ve had some injuries so we are going to need these two lads.”