Gateshead 0 North Ferriby United 1 - Steve Housham full of praise after gameplan works to bring away day joy

Not many had given Steve Housham’s side much chance of even a point from high-flying Gateshead, but they reckoned without a fine performance from The Villagers.

Housham changed his formation and played five across the back with three in midfield. It was a formation that frustrated Gateshead. The home side generally looked comfortable on the ball when they had time and space but once they got into the Ferriby half they were constantly hassled and harried by Connor Oliver, Danny Clarke and Simon Russell.

The contest between Reece Thompson, who ran himself in to the ground up front for Ferriby, and the hosts goalkeeper Sam Johnson started in the first minute when the goalie was out quickly to take the ball off Thompson’s feet as the striker tried to get control to score.

Gateshead managed a couple of shots from distance before Oliver saw his goal-bound shot deflected in to Johnson’s arms.

The hosts continued to press but were generally kept to long-range efforts that did not really trouble Rory Watson.

At the other end, Danny Clarke hammered in a 25-yard shot that Johnson parried. Unfortunately the ball reached Thompson too quickly and he did not have time to control it.

The Villagers got off to a flying start in the second-half when Oliver’s fine through-ball allowed Thompson to shrug off a defender before scoring from what seemed like an impossible angle.

Most of the scoring attempts after this came from Gateshead but, like the first-half they were largely forced to shoot from distance. Watson only had one fairly comfortable save until the final few minutes.

Ferriby did regularly force Gateshead back and the home side’s defending was frequently rushed and lacked composure.

Substitute Gus Mafuta forced Watson in to a great one-handed save. The ball fell to Reece Styche who put his shot on to the bar.

“It’s a relief to get the first away win,” said Housham afterwards. “But what is more pleasing is the way we achieved it. We had a plan and we kept to it.

“I’ve been constantly reminding the players that we have to improve our concentration levels and we did that tonight.

“We can’t get carried away about one result and we need to try and build on that at Dagenham on Saturday.”

Gateshead: Johnson, Bolton (Wrightson 76), G Smith, M Smith, Hogan, York, Brundle, Jones (Johnson 45), Oates (Mafuta 45), Styche, McLaughlin. Subs not used: Hanford, Hannant

North Ferriby United: Watson, Middleton, Topliss, Hare, Gray, Skelton (Emerton 64), Clark, Oliver, Thompson, (Kendall 70), Robinson (Fallowfield 79), Russell. Subs not used: Mukendi, Armstrong.