Dunne dismissal destroys Avenue

Dunne was shown a straight red card after an incident with Keith Graydon. The referee missed it and went to his linesman to discuss the situation before deciding to dismiss the player, who did appear to have kicked out at his opponent.

Up to that point Avenue had torn apart Gateshead's defence with one

of the most impressive 45 minutes of attacking football seen from the side this season.

But goals win matches and Avenue just couldn't get the ball into the back of the net.

Even in the second half, with ten men, they looked the classier side for another 25 minutes before giving away a penalty which virtually killed off the match as a contest.

It had started so well for Gary Brook's side, who were unchanged from the one that tasted victory in the President's Cup at Ashton last week.

They ran Gateshead ragged and should have been ahead after just six minutes when Curtis Bernard missed Avenue's best chance, heading straight at goalkeeper Peter Keen from Dean Calcutt's fine right-wing cross.

Calcutt and Liam Flynn were a revelation on the flanks as Gateshead

hardly got a look-in. The back four of Liam O'Brien, Dean Jones, Jason Wray and Tom Agus snuffed out most home attacks and Dunne and Craig Smith looked good on the ball in midfield.

But despite cross after cross and numerous forays into the Gateshead penalty area, the end product was not there.

At the other end, Neil Thompson had to be alert when he came out to punch clear a dangerous-looking ball and then stood firm as it came thundering back at his goal.

Bernard showed skill and strength to shrug off defenders to get to the by-line but couldn't find a colleague in the six-yard box.

And several superb crosses by Flynn and Calcutt were met with the heads of Gateshead defenders instead of Avenue attackers.

Avenue did have one stroke of good fortune in the first half when Thompson clearly grabbed the ball outside his area - missed by the referee and linesman despite howls of protest from the home fans.

At half-time, with Dunne sent off, it looked like a case of holding out for a draw in the second period.

But Avenue resumed with the same ten battlers and the same hunger for victory. The players, who were running themselves into the ground, took the game to Gateshead and looked more likely to score.

Agus was hacked down just outside the penalty area but his free-kick thudded into the wall.

Then Calcutt went on a mazy run in the centre of the park, beating four players before his through-ball found Bernard in an offside position.

And Tom Greaves scared the home defence with an electrifying run down the left only for his cutback to be

slightly mishit at Flynn, who spurned the chance.

More misfortune was to hit Avenue when Calcutt, the man of the match, pulled up with a hamstring problem after 65 minutes and was replaced by Steve Oleksewycz.

Avenue continued to press but a rush of blood to the head resulted in Wray bringing down Graydon and Paul Thompson scored from the penalty spot. That goal came very much against the run of play and deflated the players.

Three minutes later Gateshead grabbed their second goal when Agus was uncharacteristically caught in possession and Terry Taylor scored from the resulting cross.

Brook made a double substitution in the 78th minute, Danny Walsh and Brook Newton replacing O'Brien and Smith.

Gateshead should have scored a

couple more before Oleksewycz netted a consolation goal from a tight angle in the 90th minute.

Calcutt, who now faces three weeks on the sidelines, said: "It's the same injury as earlier in the season and I am really disappointed. It's unbelievable that we have come out of this game with nothing.

"We were even better in the second half with ten men but we did not put our chances away and at the end of the day, that is what it is all about.

"I thought we really did well as a team and got plenty of crosses into the box. But, of course, the sending off did us no favours."