Dinanga’s hat-trick seals points for Heed

THERE was a mixture of delight and relief for Gateshead striker Marcus Dinanga as he finally racked up his first hat-trick for the club in their 4-0 hammering of struggling Oxford City.

It was Luke Hannant who opened the scoring on the quarter-hour mark with a well-taken penalty as the former Cambridge United winger notched from the spot from the second consecutive home game.

The Heed’s task was made more straightforward when their visitors were reduced to ten men ten minutes before half time when Andre Burley was shown a second yellow card for preventing a quickly taken free kick.

Dinanga got in on the act three minutes into the second half when the Heed top goalscorer added to his ever growing tally with a clever finish after Ben Worman had been denied.

Dinanga doubled his tally just before the hour mark and completed a well taken hat-trick in the third minute of injury time after neat approach play from Louis Storey.

Speaking of his hat-trick, the Heed’s top goalscorer told the club website: “Literally, I thought it was never going to come.

“I think when I missed the last chance it was here we go again, another two goals. Am I ever going to get a hat-trick for Gateshead? Obviously, Louis done well for the pullback and I was buzzing when I got it. (I was) over the moon, really.

“I’ve been on twos a couple of times and been taken off and I thought I might get taken off again.

“But we’d made all three subs, so I thought I would get another chance because there were chances coming my way being in the right place.

“When I got that last chance I was thinking ‘thank god’ and I was just praying for it and happy I got the three goals really.”

The win ensured Gateshead extended their unbeaten run to a seventh game against a City side that have received plenty of plaudits for their style of play in non-league’s top tier this season.

Dinanga admitted his side’s mentality had to be right as they took maximum points from a game where they met the pre-match expectations placed upon them.

“I think we came into the game thinking it wasn’t going to be an easy game,” he explained.

“They are a good team, they play similar to us and where they are in the table doesn’t mean that it was going to be a walkabout.

“We were expecting a good team and the mentality had to be there for us.

“We knew if we were on it today we were going to get the result so we are happy to get the three points and keep the train going.”

The Heed will aim to continue their push for a play-off spot when they make the long trip to Woking tomorrow night.