A Chris Traynor first half hat-trick and a forth from Gordon Ramsey helped seal a win for Gateshead Hockey Club and keep their 100% home record intact, as top met bottom in the NHML Division 2 East.  It was a poor afternoon for Wakefield Hockey Club who are yet to record a point since their 3 – 3 draw, in the opening game of the season against Harrogate. Tom Smith was only able to grab a consolation goal in the second half as they played out for damage limitation and their troubles continue.

The hosts made a bright start stealing the ball three passes after Wakefield hit off the game and immediately putting them on the back foot. Wakefield struggled to stamp any authority on the game throughout the first half; in possession they were rushed and careless and any attempt they made to press the Gateshead defence was futile.
It wasn’t long until Gateshead were able to take advantage of this and open the scoring from the first penalty corner of the game.  Fortune was at hand for Gateshead as the Wakefield defensive team broke the line early, as Tim Hardy hooked his push out high and wide away from any Gateshead representative. Umpire David Crew pulled the short corner back and Hardy had a second chance to deliver. This time he did and Chris Traynor delivered himself, with a low drag-flick into the bottom left-hand corner; which keeper Chris Binns could only get a weak stick to.
It was only 5 minutes later when Traynor snatched his and Gateshead’s 2nd goal, with a sliding deflection at full stretch.  Gateshead worked the ball down the left-hand side of the pitch after switching the direction of play and Jack Williamson found Mike White just inside Wakefield’s 25 yard line. White in turn drilled the ball across the face of the goal and Traynor slid across the wet pitch deflecting the ball into the net.
The pattern of play didn’t change in the first half and Traynor capped the half off with his hat-trick.  Gateshead forced the ball into the Wakefield “D” after Wakefield once again lost possession carrying the ball out of their defence. The ball never fully under control from any one player rattled about ending up just outside the right-hand side of the Wakefield goal. Traynor pounced onto the loose ball, sweeping a reverse stick at it trying to knock the ball across the face of the goal into the danger area, but inadvertently his stick nipped under the ball, sending it high looping over Binns head and into an open net. A hat-trick is a hat-trick no matter how you get it and Traynor wouldn’t have taken his luck back.
Though not managing to muster many defining attacks of their own Wakefield did manage to pull a goal back through captain Tom Smith.  Similar to Traynor’s 3rd, after a breakaway attack Smith found himself able to dribble through a series of tackles and fouls, cutting across the Gateshead “D” onto his reverse stick.  He mustn’t have been more than 2 meters from the back line when he struck the ball with the toe of his stick and the ball shot up in the air over the helpless Gateshead goalkeeper Peter McEwen’s head and nestled sweetly into the top right-hand corner of the net.

In the 2nd half Wakefield changed tactics, standing off the Gateshead defence when they were in possession of the ball, and playing half court.  This seemed to stifle the Gateshead attack, facing them with a wall of 11 men between them and the goal. Gateshead held the ball well but failed to find a way through the Wakefield defence, usually losing the ball when trying to dribble through a solid bank of players.
The game played out a frustrating half for Gateshead until Hardy was able to stubble through a few weak tackles and further stumble a bobbled pass to Ramsey, who swept the ball hard into the Wakefield goal.  The goal somewhat summed up Gateshead’s 2nd half display, as the only other action of the half came from Matt Collinson who managed to blaze the ball high and wide of the net, unchallenged, from a third into the Wakefield “D”.
That turned out to be the last touch of the game, leaving Gateshead with although not a spectacular win, another win all the same.  So the table stood the same for both these teams as they did at the start of the day.  Wakefield lie last in the league with one point to their name and Gateshead hold a 2 point lead over 2nd place Lincoln Roses.