text: Phillips hat-trick is key for Tynesiders - Chronicle Live
  Phillips hat-trick is key for Tynesiders
  GATESHEAD cemented seventh place in the Blue Square North after they completed their first double of the season with a 6-3 win over Hyde United at the International Stadium.
  But the Tynesiders almost blew a four-goal interval lead in a Jekyll-and-Hyde performance as the lowly Tigers roared back to make it 4-3 with 17 minutes left.
  Wayne Phillips recorded his first Gateshead hat-trick with the Tynesiders' fifth of the afternoon, and then sub David Southern added a sixth late on.
  Gateshead have scored 13 goals in their last three Blue Square North home games, and are now the league's joint top scorers with 34 goals from 18 games.
  As a team, however, the attack-minded Tynesiders again struggled defensively, with the midfield failing to protect a defence that got the jitters in as Hyde poured forward.
  Manager Ian Bogie said: "It was a classic game of two halves. We were excellent in the opening 45 minutes when we carved Hyde open at will.
  "Both sides could have scored twice as many goals as they did in what was a crazy game that saw the good and bad side of Gateshead.
  "And while I was delighted with the first-half display, I was disappointed with the second.
  "As a manager, it was heart in your mouth time when Hyde fought back after the break, but we managed to score a couple more goals and I would have taken 6-3 before the start of the game.
  "We have to be more solid, but we remain in the top seven. Conceding three goals in the manner we did was poor, and against better opposition we'll be punished and won't have a chance to come back."
  It was the second time in a month that Gateshead had scored four first-half goals against a hapless Hyde, and it was Lee Novak, who hit a three-minute hat-trick in the first game, who opened the scoring after nine minutes.
  Phillips increased the lead from the edge of the box and then Dan Smith and Graeme Armstrong combined for Jamie Harwood to make it three with an overhead kick.
  A deflected Phillips drive made it four, but when Darren Holloway, making his first start, gave away a 48th-minute penalty that was converted by Chris Simm, it was the start of an unlikely fightback.
  Player-manager Neil Tolson hooked home Hyde's second after Armstrong had missed a golden chance to make it 5-1, and then Farrell Kilbane's header cut the gap to just one goal.
  Gateshead, who lost Novak and Steve Turnbull through injury, were on the ropes, but picked themselves up for Phillips to complete his hat-trick after his 75th-minute penalty had been saved, before Southern found the bottom corner to make it six.