DINANGA RESTORES NORTHERN PRIDE
FIFTY-two years to the week since Ronnie Radford’s right foot played a major part in downing Newcastle United at Edgar Street, Gateshead gained a measure of revenge for the North-East.
Marcus Dinanga’s strike, although rather less spectacular than Radford’s, was none the less significant for his side who are now just two victories from Wembley.
“We’re really pleased,” said Gateshead boss Rob Elliot. “Hereford are a good team and there’s a good atmosphere here.
“We dominated the game but Hereford defended really well.
“But we got there in the end with Marcus coming on and showing a bit of quality to get us through to the next round.
“When you can bring a player on like Marcus Dinanga then you’re in a good position.”
National League Gateshead dominated the first half, playing down the Edgar Street slope to the extent that Harrison Bond in the visitors’ goal was rarely troubled.
Luke Hannant was the first to threaten for the away side, powering in a long-range drive which was confidently fielded by Bulls keeper Curtis Pond.
With Gateshead largely in the ascendancy, a Hannant cross was only partially cleared before Lirak Hasani fired into the side-netting.
Pond, however, had to be on top of his game in the 25th minute, reacting quickly to turn an effort from Hasani behind for the first corner of the game.
The home stopper was a spectator moments later, however, when a longrange effort from Connor McBride thudded against an upright and then went behind.
As the interval approached, Hereford, –whose only previous effort had been a wildly inaccurate effort from Alex Babos – finally threatened through Jason Cowley, whose shot was deflected behind for a corner by Louis Storey. The second period started in a similar vein with Dajaune Brown’s weakly-hit shot dribbling through to Pond.
Ben Worman’s drive from the edge of the area then went high over the Hereford goal.
With the game in danger of getting bogged down in midfield, both sides embarked upon a succession of changes in a bid to break the deadlock.
And, after Cowley had tested Bond with an effort from the edge of the box, it was one of the Gateshead changes which then paid dividends.
Top-scorer Dinanga, who had been rather surprisingly left on the bench at the start of the tie, had been on the pitch for just a couple of minutes when he got the chance to display his goal-poaching instincts.
Hereford skipper Nathan Cameron tried to direct a header back to Pond but Dinanga nipped in to slip the ball home.
The Bulls tried in vain to get back into the game as they piled forward at the end in search of an equalising goal.
A Cowley header scraped the top of the Heed crossbar and Pond, out of his goal and moving forward to join the attack, clipped the post with a header right at the death which would have been an incredible manner in which to level the tie.
“Gateshead are a very good side,” acknowledged Paul Caddis, boss of the National League North Bulls, who play a division below their Step 1 visitors, at full-time.
“But I’m really proud and really pleased with the players. We’ve had a good campaign and now we have to focus on the league.”
STAR MAN: Louis Storey (Gateshead) ATT: 2,263 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: Ben Whyatt