'Outstanding' Gateshead thrill Magnay as Solihull Moors beaten
Gateshead claimed a last-gasp home win against Solihull Moors as Carl Magnay made his managerial bow at the International Stadium.
Carl Magnay hailed an ‘outstanding’ performance from Gateshead as they made it three games unbeaten under their new manager with a narrow home win against National League rivals Solihull Moors.
The Heed kicked off Magnay’s reign in positive manner by claiming four points from tricky away days at Altrincham and Sutton United over the last week - but it was on home soil when the Heed gave some indication of the direction they will take under their new manager with a controlled performance that delivered a maximum reward in injury-time. Gateshead enjoyed large swathes of possession during the opening 45 minutes but were unable to find a breakthrough as Luke Hannant was denied by a smart save from keeper Laurie Walker before looping a header on to the Moors net with half-time approaching.
The visitors, Gateshead’s opponents in last May’s FA Trophy Final, had their moments of promise as Conor Wilkinson’s wasted a one-on-one opportunity inside the opening five minutes before former Heed loan defender Alex Whitmore forced Republic of Ireland Under-21 international Tiernan Brooks into a fine reaction save at his far post.
The second-half was really all about Gateshead as they dominated proceedings and they kept their patience throughout what felt like an increasingly frustrating period of the game as the Moors kept them at bay with a mixture of organisation, hard work and discipline. After the likes of Ben Worman and Jacob Butterfield had gone close, a breakthrough finally arrived in the first minute of injury-time when Regan Booty’s pinpoint cross allowed Owen Oseni to head home the winner and leave his new manager to eulogise about his side’s performance as they remained within touching distance of the top of the National League table.
He told The Echo: “It was outstanding, I was so proud of the boys. It’s so satisfying as a manager and a coach when you implement some details and the players are so intelligent they just pick it up and utilise it. The scoreline flatters them because we dominated the game and there was no period when I thought they had any control over us and they are a very good side so it’s credit to the lads for that. We aren’t ignorant to going in behind and if the option to go over the press is on, we will do it. You either go over teams, through them or around them and today we were having so much success in recycling the ball and getting in wide areas, we had some many crosses, that we didn’t need to use over the top. Every aspect of our game was spot on so we are just very, very pleased with the lads.”
The Heed now have a two-week break before they return to National League action with a visit to an AFC Fylde side managed by Sunderland legend Kevin Phillips.