Heed out to stop Tigers in their tracks

GATESHEAD will look to end Gloucester City’s 100% start to the National League North season tomorrow.

The Tigers have opened with three wins and put six goals past Blyth Spartans last week.

Gateshead’s sixth-tier start has been a stuttering one, with two defeats and one victory so far.

A lack of goals rather than performance has been the Heed’s Achilles heel, with playmaker Greg Olley keen to turn possession into goals.

Olley (below) said: “For all we’ve had plenty of the ball we’re not quite getting the final ball right.

“It’s all good having all the possession and everyone chirps on about it.

“We’ve had it for the first three league games, but if you don’t do anything with the possession you don’t win games.

“We work on it in training every day and you see the results on the training pitch.

“It’s just transferring that to games and last week at Telford was a lot better going forward.

“We just need to click, and once we do we’ll win games by comfortable margins.

“Confidence is, surprisingly, quite high, as we’ve literally played three teams off the park.

“Gloucester are obviously winning games and we have to stop them scoring and start scoring some goals.”

The Heed will be helped in that department by the signing of attacking player Jordan Cook this week.

The former Luton, Charlton and Grimsby Town man has returned to his native North East.

Cook, whose last game for Grimsby was on New Year’s Day, made three Premier League appearances off the bench for Sunderland.

He said: “It’s tough when you don’t get a pre-season in, but I’ve been keeping as fit as I can.

“Gateshead play the right way, which suits my style of football. The squad has quality all over and the goal is to get promoted.”

Spartans, still searching for their first victory, are at home to Southport, who are unbeaten after two games.