GATESHEAD boss Rob Elliot showcased his respect for York City and Neal Ardley after a late strike secured the Heed a point in a 1-1 draw.

Elliott was frustrated not to come away from the match with all three points after Kyran Lofthouse’s 82nd minute strike cancelled out Ryan Fallowfield’s opener, but the Gateshead boss was pleased with his side’s performance.

However, Elliot is expecting a tough match in the reverse fixture at the LNER Community Stadium on New Year’s Day (3pm) and is looking forward to locking horns with a manager as experienced as Ardley again.

“Neal Ardley is one of the most experienced managers in the league, I was just in the office with him and we had a really good chat, he’s a really good guy who’s done a brilliant job since he’s come in,” Elliott told the Gateshead media team after the full-time whistle.

“I’m looking forward to the game because of his experience, with it being so high, I think he’s at the start of a transition at York from where he is now to where he took Solihull and Wimbledon before that.

“It’s going to be a good game, it’ll be a big learning curve for me because I’ve only been doing this for nine games. I’m learning, making mistakes and trying to be better.

“It’s more of a challenge for the lads because we thought that we should have won the game, we dominated every area and we need to go and put that right on New Year’s Day.

“We need to respect York because their set-up is spot on, they will be able to find the weaknesses with the experience in their coaching staff, we need to be able to negate that.

“Teams have to come on at home and have to step on us a little bit to win the game. Hopefully that gives us more spaces to play in and to break teams down.”

Elliot was also ‘disappointed’ with the point, but felt it was a good insight into how he can expect teams to approach matches with his Gateshead side, who Ardley claimed play the best football in the Vanarama National League.

“The result is disappointing and frustrating, but the performance overall was good.

“I think it’s a good insight into what we’re going to expect at home now, I think that teams are going to come to sit back, set-up, try to stop us and counter.

“I think there was one or maybe two counter-attacks and they scored from it, which is frustrating considering defensively we have been excellent since I’ve taken over.

“I want us to be stable defensively and I think we have to understand and deal with situations better.

“It’s a huge testament to the lads that teams that are the size, budget and structure of York with the money they’ve spent are coming here, respecting us and sitting back.

“It’s good because it gives us loads to sink our teeth into to find solutions and develop another side of our game.”