Carl Morrison’s Heed show a dominant 5-star performance in Teesside in response to disappointing defeat.

Gateshead had to have a strong response following a dissapointing 4-3 defeat away to Chester-le-Street United on Sunday, April 16.

Morrison and Djassi made several changes from the previous game in County Durham, including the return of striker Jess Richardson.

Thornaby Women entered the game in poor form, winless in five, with only two being draws.

The hosts showed a willingness to turn this poor form around, with only nine seconds on the clock when the first chance fell to Thornaby.

With a powerful shot towards the bottom-right corner, Carly Salmon saved comfortably to keep the Heed on a steady foundation.

Gateshead’s response was emphatic- and continued to continually press for the opener.

The reward came after just seven minutes. Katie Lemmon was played in on goal, a clinical finish towards the bottom corner.

Morrison’s Gateshead, playing in the sky blue and claret away strip, could have been forgiven for slowing down play but instead pushed for the second.

Olivia Black delivered on 13 minutes, putting her team into the lead just before the quarter-hour mark.

Four minutes later and Black struck again, in similiar style to her second.

Gateshead’s number seven powered through with pace to beat her marker to the ball, before tapping home.

Heed were 3-0 up after 17 minutes, and continued to fight for more goals.

However, the South Tynesiders continued to power through, creating several chances to no avail.

Crid Murray worked her way in, hitting the crossbar with an ambitious shot just two minutes after Gateshead’s third.

Katie Lemmon continued her outstanding play, with some slick passes feeding her teammates through.

Feeding off Lemmon’s build-up play, the Heed had the ball in the net for the fourth time. However, the linesman quickly ruled for offside.

Shortly after, Gateshead would have a goal ruled out again. Five times in the net, but only three goals as a reward for the team’s outstanding first-half display.

On the stroke of half-time, Crid Murray made a last-ditch attempt to add to her streak of scoring in every game, and giving the visitors a fourth.

A loose ball fell to the striker on the halfway line, which was volleyed and unbelievably hit the crossbar.

It was a shot Ronaldinho would have been impressed by, and had it gone in, it might have been the best goal Gateshead Ladies has ever seen.

Going into half-time, the Heed coaching staff was keen to tell the players that they must keep up the standards set in the first-half.

However, the side may have been dissatisfied with the opening to the second-half.

Thornaby were arguably the better side for the majority of the beginning of the second half and started with a few chances to test the Gateshead defence.

The best chance came on 60 minutes, when Thornaby got the ball around Heed goalkeeper Carly Salmon.

With the hard work done, Thornaby failed to place the resulting shot in the back of the net.

However, Gateshead’s response was perhaps the most encouraging sign of the game.

Despite being against the run of play, Crid Murray provided an excellent through ball to Olivia Black, who was destined to complete her hat-trick on 63 minutes.

The linesman put a temporary stop to this, flagging for offside.

The travelling Gateshead supporters were extremely unhappy with the decision.

However, just eight minutes later, Olivia Black completed the hat-trick. In her usual style, she beat her marker and placed the ball in the back of the net.

That wouldn’t be it for Black, though, and on 80 minutes, converted once more. That was four for Black and five for Gateshead.

The referee called time on Heed’s dominant performance, with delight amongst the fans, players, and staff.

Gateshead Ladies’ manager Carl Morrisons’s post-match thoughts:

“I thought we did really well.”

“We secured the game early doors, and then it was trying to stick with what we were doing.”

“Sometimes when you get two goals early on, you can kill the game and stop playing. I thought we did that in the late first-half, but came out in the second and put on a show.”

“She [Olivia Black] has had a performance due like that. You can see it’s been coming. She’s taken her chances really well, and it was great to see her coming off with a smile on her face.”

“I thought Thornaby were the better team for a small spell in the second half. They went down 3-0 at half-time, so credit to them for coming out the way they did in the second half.”

“The defence is happy with the clean sheet, they worked hard until the end to secure that clean sheet. Thornaby were always a threat with the ball in behind.”

Gateshead Ladies next opponent is Bishop Auckland Women on Sunday, April 23.

Heed will look to continue the impressive form away in County Durham.