Ian Bogie's Gateshead will play in the Blue Square Premier next season after winning promotion against 10-man Telford at the International Stadium.

A tight Blue Square North play-off final ended in tears for Telford in a disastrous final 10 minutes.

First, Telford had midfielder Lee Vaughan stupidly sent off for a double booking - his second handball offence.

And, just minutes later, Gateshead won it with a sloppy goal when midfielder Wayne Phillips' free-kick sneaked in.

Telford's 21-goal top scorer Danny Carey-Bertram did have one great first-half chance but veteran keeper Paul Musselwhite made a vital save. And that helped inspire a second promotion in successive seasons for Ian Bogie's side.

For Telford it finally brought an end to a punishing final three months of the season which has seen the busy Bucks have to squeeze in a gruelling 26 games (not to mention two wasted trips to Barrow) in just 84 days.

Scorer: Gateshead 1-0 Phillips (82)

AFC Telford United assistant manager Larry Chambers told BBC Radio Shropshire:

"Lee Vaughan did not help us. But we were always up against it.

"We did not perform as well as we could. We did not get the run of the ball and when we did have chances we didn't take them.

"Our supporters gave us fantastic support and I feel they deserved better.

"When you fail you feel like you've let them down.

"You can't fault us for work rate and effort. We just lacked a little quality."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version