Durham 3's vs Gateshead 3's

After a couple of interesting journeys and certain members of the side not realising this was an away game, a confident 3's side got off to a slow start in this fixture. The defence and midfield were troubled early on by the pace and movement of the Gateshead front line and it was not long before they found themselves 1-0 down after a well taken strike. Durham gradually worked themselves back into the game and some excellent running from Joe Reynolds soon saw Durham start to create some chances.

After shuffling things around a bit in midfield, Joe latched onto a great ball and calmly slotted home to level the score before half time.

Half time and Durham were told to up the intensity and try to utilise the space that was opening up in midfield. On too many occasions we had been beaten to the ball and everyone needed to switch on and bring their A game.

Durham started the second half very brightly and produced some sustained pressure for a good 10 minutes, but were unable to convert, thanks in part to some good, yet unorthodox, keeping from the Gateshead goalie. Unfortunately Durham conceded a short corner from a speculative pass up front and with the captain producing a hospital pass, that got the defence into trouble from a sideline ball. Gateshead managed to convert with a well worked routine and put the pressure back on Durham.

Despite some excellent running from midfield and a couple of clear efforts, the 3's just couldn't put the ball in the goal. Graeme Jorgenson managing to sky an effort from 6 yards and then being unfortunate to have a short corner goal ruled out for height. Despite dominating significant parts of the second half the game ended 2-1 to the home side.

All round it was a good, competitive performance which bodes well for the season, but we were left to rue our missed chances.