It's now only one home win this season in seven attempts for our reserve side, after the mackem second string left a wet and windy Gateshead stadium with all three points on Monday evening.

And as it had been back in September at the dark place, the only goal of the game came from the boot of David Bellion, albeit indirectly on this occasion.

With a good crowd on hand despite the foul weather (more than three times the usual attendance for home games this season), it's unfortunate that they suffered what was an aimless weather-affected ninety minutes that won't linger long in the memory.

And yet again the Gateshead red card curse struck when the referee showed a yellow card to Bassedas after what was undoubtedly a foul on Stephen Capper, but hardly Charlie Manson stuff.

The Argentinean had already been carded early in the second period after a minor tussle with Bellion, although the toon player strongly protested his innocence to the unsympathetic official.

So, for the third successive home game and the fourth time this season we found ourselves reduced to ten men, Harper, Taylor and Bernard having previously fallen foul of officialdom.

Difficult conditions made it a shapeless, messy affair throughout, swirling wind and rain affecting the surface and making life difficult for both sides.

Chances were at a premium, and what threat there was for United came via occasional Lua trickery and a Bassedas bicycle kick.

Little treasure was named in the initial XI  but Chopra took his place after Lua was stuck in the Tyneside traffic. He eventually trotted out to take his place on the subs bench just after 7.10pm and was introduced at half time to try and liven things up.

There were also yellow cards for Kendrick, Griffin and Orr on a night when the referee once again made more headlines than the toon players - it has to be said that this joker failed to take account of the conditions and was hindered by continual bad line calls from one flag-waver in particular. 

Poor weather, poor score, poor ref, poor venue, poor match, poor punters of both sides who turned up and suffered this. Still, at least we managed to get a match on.... 

Biffa

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