Bogie isn’t expecting another easy win

May 3 2008 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

GATESHEAD boss Ian Bogie has warned his promotion favourites to prepare for a “totally different” Buxton in today’s Unibond Premier play-off final from the team that they beat handsomely last month, writes MARK DOUGLAS.

The Tynesiders’ are at full strength as they welcome Buxton to the International Stadium this afternoon with a place in the Conference North the prize for the victors. The odds appear stacked in Gateshead’s favour, with home advantage and a recent win against their opponents making them firm favourites to take another step towards chairman Graham Wood’s vision of the club playing league football.

But Bogie is warning against complacency from his Tynesiders, who earned their place in the final with a 4-0 win against Eastwood – a victory that took their record to 10 wins out of 11 games.

“Everybody will be expecting us to win the game but it won’t be straightforward for us – there can be no room for complacency,” he warned. “We did beat Buxton and if we play to our maximum then I’m confident we can do that again, but we can’t just roll up and expect to win. Today is another day, it’s another game and the fact we beat them 5-0 doesn’t help us today one little bit.

“They beat the team that finished second in the league so they’re no mugs. But if we start the game in the same way that we finished the Eastwood game I’m confident we’ll be all right.”

In-form striker David Southern will lead the line alongside Paul Brayson as the Tynesiders look to add to the 97 goals they’ve racked up on the road to promotion, while goalkeeper Paul Musslewhite is hoping for his sixth straight clean sheet.

A big crowd is expected and Bogie is looking for them to add a helping hand to their promotion bid.

“Absolutely the crowd have got a part to play,” he said. “Our attendances haven’t been huge this season but the support we’ve got from them has been outstanding. Now, if we can just add a few more people to the crowd it will be a big lift for the team. It’s a huge opportunity for us.

“If someone had said at the beginning of the season that we’d be in the position where we need one win to get promoted we would have taken their arm off.”