Rob Elliot lauds Gateshead's 'unbelievable achievement' - but doesn't want a repeat
Rob Elliot has praised Gateshead for avoiding relegation into the National League North.
Rob Elliot took a brief pause in the aftermath of Gateshead’s defeat at Altrincham to reflect on his side’s ‘incredible achievement’ as they fought a remarkable and successful battle against an almost inevitable relegation into the National League North.
The Heed were sitting 11 points from safety as recently as mid-February before a painfully rare win at bogey club FC Halifax Town kickstarted a stunning upturn in form that secured their National League status for another season. After claiming four points from Easter weekend games with Carlisle United and Scunthorpe United, Elliot’s men got themselves over the line when Harry Chapman netted the only goal of a narrow win at Aldershot Town earlier this month.
Elliot looked back at what has been an outstanding final three months of the season and stressed Gateshead must ensure they do everything they can to avoid being in a similar situation in the future.
He told the club website: “It’s been an incredible achievement from the players and the staff and everything they’ve done and how hard they have worked. When everyone is writing you off and you’re getting stick and even when you start turning it around, to stay mentally strong and be able to keep focus, block out the noise and keep up the momentum, it’s a credit to everyone involved.
“We have to be really pleased as a club, really enjoy what we’ve done in the last three months but make sure we use this as a platform to not be in the situation again. That’s the biggest thing for me, we can not allow ourselves to be in that situation on and off the pitch.”
Positives
There was understandable disappointment for Elliot as his side brought down the curtain on a season of contrasting emotions with a defeat at Altrincham.
On-loan Sunderland youngster Ethan Moore racked up his first senior goal in the loss as a Lucas Weaver brace and a Liam Humbles strike condemned the Heed to consecutive defeats. However, it was the appearance of two other young players that heartened Elliot as he reflected on what he called ‘a really good day for the club’.
“It’s really hard to sum up really. The positives for me were the last few weeks and securing our status. Being down to the bare bones, the lads have put such an effort in and there were injuries, tiredness and a few knocks. Tyrelle (Newton) in the warmup, just felt a couple of things and there’s no point risking him. He’s worked so hard and he’s so important to us so we didn’t want to risk him.
“The first-half we were so disjointed because of that. Young Harry Gittins has come in and he was absolutely superb, young Jake Lish came in, he was brilliant and his first run he took it down the sideline, beat two and won a foul. It’s a really good day for the club to see two young lads from the college come on, with Harry making his full debut and Jake making his debut in the National League.”