Gateshead move to within two points of the top with Brackley win
Owen Bailey insists Gateshead will not get carried away despite moving to within two points of the top of the National League North table with a 2-0 home win against current leaders Brackley Town.
The former Newcastle United Under-23s captain got the ball rolling when he headed home his first goal for the Heed with just seven minutes on the clock at the International Stadium on
Saturday.
Things got even better for Mike Williamson’s men when Paul Blackett doubled their advantage just before the midway point of the first-half.
Gateshead remained in control of the contest as they maintained their perfect home record in the league with a win against a Brackley side that were unbeaten on the road so far this season.
The Heed now head into a trio of North East derbies over the festive period with fixtures against second-bottom Blyth Spartans sandwiching a trip to Darlington, who are 14th.
Bailey is adamant his team-mates will not take their eye off the ball as they look to continue their strong form over the festive period.
He told the Gateshead club website: “As long as we can keep doing out bit, we are just taking things game by game.
“Every game at home, we go in feeling like we can win and our home record is really good.
“Hopefully we can keep that up, but it’s a bit early to be looking at league tables.
“We will just keep taking things game by game and if that’s putting us in the right place then we are doing the right things.”
Bailey hailed the character of his side after he reflected on a crucial win against the leaders that was secured despite the absence of top goalscorer Macaulay Langstaff and captain Greg Olley.
“It’s a massive result and I think the performance on the whole was a good one,” he explained.
“There were spells where we probably didn’t have as much of a foothold as we wanted to.
"But we started really well and created a few chances.
“We scored two goals and never really looked back from there.
“The character of the lads really came out.
“We are missing two big players for us in Macca and Greg and we dug in without them.”