For Gateshead, pure joy. Victory under Wembley’s arch after twice finishing on the losing side, the most recent just 12 months ago in this very game.
For Solihull, the ultimate gut-wrenching defeat, six days after the same penalty fate on this pitch to Bromley in the National League Promotion final.
Quite how Andy Whing’s side hauled themselves off the deck to go the distance again is anyone’s guess. Behind to Regan Booty’s opener, Mark Beck forced extra time before smashing in a penalty for the lead.
But Derby County starlet Dajaune Brown levelled with ten minutes left and then stepped up at the end of an epic shootout to fire a decisive spotkick.
Football can be the cruellest of sports. Tyrese Shade and Joss Labadie both missed their kicks in the final against Bromley. Both blazed off target here too and although Moors keeper Nick Hayes made three penalty saves, Alex Whitmore crashed off the bar allowing Brown to finish it.
Rob Elliot’s Gateshead were seeking redemption of their own. The Heed’s play-off dream was taken out of their hands just hours after the regular season.
Elliot’s Heed would have travelled to Moors in the eliminator game but by Sunday morning they had been barred from competing having unsuccessfully appealed an EFL decision that they don’t meet membership criteria.
It centres on having, or not as is their case, the required ten-year security of tenure on their International Stadium home.
This story is from the May 12, 2024 edition of The Rugby Paper.
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This story is from the May 12, 2024 edition of The Rugby Paper.
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