Gateshead 1-6 Southend: this time, the football matched the result

Southend did not need a rescue at Gateshead. They scored six before half-time, with Sam Austin claiming a hat-trick and Harry Cardwell twice finishing the chances supplied to him. The preview asked whether Tuesday’s improvement against Tamworth could travel. This was a considerably more emphatic answer than even my 4-0 prediction allowed for.

For me, the encouragement went beyond the finishing. The back four of Vontae Daley-Campbell, Ben Goodliffe, Dan Cox and Kyle McAdam looked much more settled, with Darren Oldaker operating in front of them. Gateshead were poor, so it was not a searching test. What I can say from the match is that I cannot recall Joe Duncan having a save to make before the interval, and Goodliffe’s second-half block on substitute David Eguaibor was the one intervention of note.

The preview’s caution about Gateshead’s home record lasted six minutes. That resistance had owed plenty to Peter Jameson’s saves against Solihull, but Jameson was on the bench here. Noah Phillips, who had played at Kidderminster in midweek, was making his home debut in goal.

Cardwell stays, the service changes

Kieron Dyer made three changes, bringing Oli Coker and Austin into the side alongside Zavier Massiah-Edwards for his first Southend start. Sahid Kamara, a starter against Tamworth, was missing from the squad, with the reason unclear. The discussion beforehand had centred on whether Promise Omochere should lead the attack after changing the Tamworth game from the bench. Cardwell kept his place. There was no starting partnership to assess, and Omochere again replaced Cardwell after 59 minutes. This time, however, Cardwell left with two goals and the match long settled.

Massiah-Edwards needed only six minutes to show why he had been selected. His pass put Cardwell through on Phillips, and the striker placed his finish into the bottom corner. Two minutes later the new starter was away on Southend’s right, escaping Alex Lankshear inside the area before rolling the ball across for McAdam to fire high into the net. Southend’s left-back had arrived to finish a move created on the opposite flank.

“The reason we started him today was to bring that energy, off the ball as well with his runs and penetration,” said Southend’s assistant manager Adem Atay, who handled the post-match interview in Dyer’s place.

Austin makes his start count

The preview identified openings on both sides of Gateshead’s defence. Daley-Campbell found another on the right to send in a low cross for Austin, who took a touch and poked home from close range after 19 minutes.

Three more goals followed before the interval. At 40 minutes Coker and McAdam exchanged passes on the left, then Coker’s shot took a deflection into Cardwell’s path. The striker drove it into the roof of the net. There was fortune in where the deflection fell, but no hesitation in the finish. Austin made it five two minutes later, shooting from the right-hand side and beating Phillips with a fine left-footed strike, as described in the Echo’s live coverage. McAdam then pulled the ball back for Austin to complete his hat-trick in added time. The moves on the left had been as productive as those on the right: both full-backs had supplied goals, and McAdam had scored one himself.

The club records that 6-0 as the biggest half-time lead in its 120-year history. Austin had turned his starting opportunity into a hat-trick before the break. Atay praised his approach and spoke about the work Cardwell puts into his finishing. He also described McAdam taking on different roles according to the game, rather than operating within a fixed formation.

A quieter half, and an avoidable finish

Ryan Battrum made his Southend debut at the interval, replacing Daley-Campbell. Dyer made a triple change at 59 minutes, with Omochere joined by Rayan Oyebade for McAdam and Ryan Colclough for Leon Chambers-Parillon. Josh Popoola replaced Massiah-Edwards ten minutes later. Atay said players had been taken off to rest them, and acknowledged that the changes in personnel and shape probably affected the flow.

Southend eased off. Watching the match, I counted eight passes between Oldaker and Goodliffe during one second-half spell. The ball was moving, but without the forward urgency of the first half. Coker still had a shot saved, and Phillips held Oldaker’s effort from distance comfortably.

Keon Lewis-Burgess (on at half-time for Jordy Hiwula, the runner the preview had flagged) gave Southend a warning when he reached a direct ball before Duncan and lobbed wide. In the 89th minute, Luke Supyk’s cross reached Eguaibor, whose first effort struck the post before he followed in. It was a sloppy goal to concede, although neither starting full-back was still on the pitch by then. The clean-sheet count remains one in nine league games.

Atay wanted it too. It is fair to be irritated by its loss without allowing a late goal to take over the account of six scored at the other end.

The pressure on Lee Cattermole was apparent before the scoring began. The Echo reported boos as he emerged from the tunnel before kick-off, and a defeat like this can only add to it. His side are bottom with four points.

Seven points from a week containing two long away trips leaves Southend second, on 20 from nine games, three behind Boreham Wood. The bigger encouragement here was a performance which deserved its score. Southend had been looking for a way to make their attacking football work without first needing to repair the damage. At Gateshead, they had six goals before there was anything to rescue.

Match details

Gateshead 1-6 Southend United (half-time 0-6). National League, Gateshead International Stadium, Saturday 19 September 2026.

Goals: Gateshead: Eguaibor 89. Southend: Cardwell 6, 40; McAdam 8; Austin 19, 42, 45+2.

Southend: Duncan; Daley-Campbell (Battrum 46), Goodliffe, Cox, McAdam (Oyebade 59); Oldaker, Coker, Massiah-Edwards (Popoola 69), Austin, Chambers-Parillon (Colclough 59); Cardwell (Omochere 59). Unused substitutes: Hartigan, Sims.