Gateshead 1 v 1 Southport

Another season, another dose of play-off heartache. The circumstances may not have been as dramatic as the penalty shoot-out loss against Stalybridge Celtic 12 months ago, but the disappointment of defeat in the semi-finals of the promotion lottery is no less acute.

For Gateshead, the prize is a shot at Blue Square Premier football when they square up with AFC Telford on Friday night. For Southport, it will be a summer of consolidation. Once again, the play-offs provided a story of what might have been. To the Sandgrounders’ credit, the tie was kept alive until the very end; Adam Flynn’s header from a Steve Daly cross which cleared the crossbar in the final minute of added time eventually signalling the end.

Despite trailing by a solitary goal from the first leg, Southport will reflect on ample chances to have scored more during the second half of both their matches against the North East team. Indeed, the past two games have been a microcosm of the Sandgrounders’ whole season: individual errors punished at one end, chances spurned at the other, with the lack of added quality ensuring that, once more, they fall just short.

Gateshead dominated for large parts of the first-half, starting on the front foot and posing a particular threat in the wide areas through Wayne Phillips and Jamie Harwood. With the aim of extending their aggregate lead, the home side barely let Southport settle. Carl Jones squandered a free header from a Phil Tunbull corner, but the Sandgrounders fell behind at a time when they appeared to have weathered the brunt of the storm.

In common with a number of goals conceded in big matches this campaign, the damage was self-inflicted. On 24 minutes, the usually faultless Adam Flynn delivered a slack back-pass which, instead of arriving at the feet of Tony McMillan, was intercepted by Lee Novak, an invitation which the league’s deadliest finisher gladly accepted.

Ciaran Kilheeney’s header from a Robbie Booth cross was the sum total of Southport’s efforts during a disappointing opening period, but the second half brought about a change of approach, which garnered reward within seven minutes of the re-start. McMillan’s long kick up-field was won by Steve Daly, whose through ball split the Gateshead defence and released Kilheeney. With only keeper Paul Musselwhite to beat, Kilheeney’s saw his shot foiled, but Booth was alert to the danger, mopping up the loose ball from 12 yards.

Either side could have scored next. McMillan was down well to parry a fine turn and shot from Graeme Armstrong, who later failed to connect cleanly with Phillips’ superbly-delivered centre.

Earl Davis could not make the most of a profitable position, heading straight at Musselwhite from a Booth cross, while McGinn’s 30-yard free-kick was diverted narrowly wide and Shaun Whalley fired over. Southport finished the stronger, but Flynn’s header in the final minute indicated that time had run out. This was not to be their day, nor their season.