Gateshead secured a narrow victory over Woking at home in the National League, the two sides meeting in Regular Season round two on Friday evening. The match ended 2:0 to the hosts, a result that extends Woking's winless run while offering Gateshead their first points of the campaign. Both clubs enter this stage with identical records — one win, one draw, four defeats and four points apiece.
The opening half passed without incident until a substitution on the hour brought fresh legs into the contest. C. Richards came off after five minutes, and J. Kelly made way at the break, though neither change altered the flow of play. R. Syla picked up a yellow card on the hour, a rare booking in an otherwise disciplined encounter.
The breakthrough came at the interval, with A. Lankshear finding space to score in the fifty-fifth minute. He doubled his tally four minutes later, giving Gateshead a cushion that felt deserved given the visitors' inability to string passes together. K. Ferguson then added a third, though the final scoreline remained 2:0 — the extra goal came after the match had already been decided.
Substitutions followed in quick succession. B. Chadwick and T. Akinola were paired together at sixty-four minutes, while L. Supyk and M. Spellman came on later to see out the closing stages. R. Coyle's entry at the break had been the first tactical adjustment, but neither side managed to shift momentum significantly after the goals.
Gateshead registered four shots on target from sixty-three attacks, converting with precision when it mattered. Woking matched them in possession but could only manage three attempts on goal, with four off target and one blocked. The visitors also picked up four offsides, a statistic that suggested they struggled to time their runs behind the defensive line.
The result leaves both sides in the bottom two, but the gap between them and safety remains wide. Gateshead's home form showed no signs of improvement before this match, having lost three of their last four outings, while Woking's away record has been equally unpromising. The match itself offered little beyond the two goals — and a third that added nothing to the narrative of a game already decided.