Gateshead face a final day showdown with National League play-off rivals Southend United on Monday afternoon.

Luke Hannant has insisted under-performing Gateshead remain in a positive frame of mind ahead of Monday’s crucial clash with National League play-off rivals Southend United.

The equation is simple for Carl Magnay’s men as only a win will be enough to see them leapfrog their visitors and claim the final play-off spot in non-league’s top tier. After a run of just five wins in their last 21 games since the turn of the year, the Heed have slipped out of the top seven for the first time since the first week of the season and now have it all to do in front of what is expected to be a big crowd at the International Stadium.

Gateshead wing-back Luke Hannant celebrates after scoring one of his two penalties during his side's 4-0 win at Wealdstone (photo Jack McGraghan) | Jack McGraghan

placeholder image — Gateshead wing-back Luke Hannant celebrates after scoring one of his two penalties during his side's 4-0 win at Wealdstone (photo Jack McGraghan) | Jack McGraghan

The final months of the season have brought talk of a potential takeover of the club as a consortium led by former Sunderland and Everton striker Victor Anichebe look to complete a deal as talks continue between the two parties. Hannant admitted the speculation has made some impact on the Gateshead squad - but stressed there can be no excuses as they look to finally seal a play-off place on Monday afternoon.

He told The Echo: “I think there’s no denying it’s been a tough couple of months and the whole takeover has caused a little bit of a stir and maybe we’ve lost a little bit of concentration. Maybe it’s impacted on a few performances of late but we have brought in players with great quality, they’ve done really well coming in but it’s just been unfortunate not being able to get out of that rut. We have picked up some good results in that time and we still have a chance to get into the play-offs and the feeling in the camp remains positive.

“I was speaking to Boots (Regan Booty) and we were saying what are the chances over a 46-game season that we have to beat Southend to beat them to get into the play-offs? The atmosphere will be electric because they’re bringing a strong support with them and we have to feed off that because it’s going to be a big occasion for us. We know three points will do it for us, it’s that simple so we just have to do everything we can to get in.”

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