Heed in good shape for hectic schedule
GATESHEAD begin a gruelling spell of five games in 11 days at FA Trophy conquerors Bromley tomorrow.
Only one of the quintet of games is on home soil, next Saturday against Hampshire outfit Eastleigh.
Other than that it’s going to be a long slog on the road, although the Heed are letting the train take the strain on Saturday.
Assistant manager Micky Cummins told the Chronicle: “With such a heavy schedule and mileage coming up it makes sense to travel to Bromley by train on Saturday morning.
“That will allow us to get back to Tyneside on the same day, and it will be something different For the lads.
“We’ll then freshen up for the trip to Tranmere on Tuesday and then we’re at Halifax two days later.
“I’ve never been involved with so many games in such a short period of time during my career as a player and a coach.
“But then I hadn’t had to play home games at neutral grounds before or been at a club that has changed owners.
“I’ve experienced all of this at Gateshead. It couldn’t happen anywhere else but there is a resilience at the club.”
The good news is that Gateshead, who have played fewer games than any other National League side, have a fully-fit squad as the season goes into overload.
Eight games have to be crammed into the last three weeks of the campaign. Not such good news is the first of those games is on a plastic pitch. The Heed have trained on an artificial surface in preparation, but Cummins added: “That’s unfortunate as 3G is an unforgiving surface that can take it out of the legs,. “But we’ve just got to overcome all the hurdles in front of us. “The lad’s are a fit bunch. We’ll monitor them from game to game and tweak the side accordingly, but there won’t be wholesale changes. Obviously we can do without picking up injuries, but we enter a hectic period in a positive frame of mind and want to pick up as many points as possible.” Ben Fox has missed the last four games through injury and unavailability, and the Burton Albion loanee’s return to fitness is a timely boost. Scottish defender Fraser Kerr also returns. Bromley currently sit just outside the play-offs, and won 3-0 at second-top Sutton on Easter Monday. They have won five and only lost of their seven meetings with Heed.
I’ve never been involved with so many games in such a short period of time during my career as a player and a coach