In one of the boldest moves made by a semi-professional club, Avenue threw seven new players into the relegation dogfight at Horsfall Stadium last night.

And fans turned up at the ground to learn that three of the club's contracted stalwarts were no longer involved - skipper Dean Jones had gone on loan to Ossett Town until the end of the season, Danny Walsh had also signed for Ossett and striker Steve Oleksewycz's contract had been terminated.

That meant just one player in the starting line-up - Dean Calcutt - had made double-figure appearances this season, and he was given the captain's armband.

But it was all to no avail as fellow strugglers Gateshead won an ill-tempered scrap by the odd goal following a goalkeeping error by the normally-reliable John Lamb.

Avenue simply had to win this game to have a fighting chance of survival in the Northern Premier League. Now they have to hope for several miracles, starting with a win against title hopefuls North Ferriby at Horsfall on Saturday.

The defeat makes grim reading for new manager Phil Sharpe, who has now taken charge of four league games and lost four - and to make matters worse, Avenue haven't scored in their last three.

It could have been all so different as Avenue faced a side playing in their own blue away strip - Gateshead's kit was stranded somewhere along the motorway.

After forcing several early corners in a high-tempo start, Avenue's Neil Ross and Lutel James saw efforts brilliantly saved by keeper Peter Keen.

But fans are used to seeing Avenue dominate and then concede - and in the 30th minute, a whipped-in cross was badly misjudged by Lamb and Kesandu Okike nipped in front of him to nod the ball into an empty net.

The game was littered with fouls and minor skirmishes. James and lanky centre back James Curtis had a running first-half battle but it was Avenue who lost their cool and simply stopped playing football.

The second half was a mess but Avenue had several chances to equalise, most notably when Ross burst through only to blaze hopelessly wide at the end.

Avenue chairman John Dean said: "It was a bold move by the manager and we did it because we felt the current players were not good enough.

"In theory, these are decent players. But I think the Gateshead keeper pulled off some good saves in that early period.

"He made two brilliant saves which made a difference. And I thought our goalkeeper should have done better with the goal. We were a goal down and fighting once again. All is not lost but now it is very, very difficult."