Gateshead vice-captain Robbie Tinkler is hoping for another watertight defensive display on the road when his side travel to face Barrow AFC tonight.

Tinkler played as a right wing-back in the Heed’s impressive 3-0 victory at Chesterfield last Saturday, which saw them keep their third clean sheet in five games, having failed to do so in their first seven matches.

The last two shut-out have allowed Steve Watson’s side to come away with all three points on their travels and maintain their recovery from a run of four National League games without a win.

Tinkler told Gateshead’s official website: “It took us a while to get one clean sheet, but as a defender, that’s what you play for.

“We speak day in day out about keeping clean sheets and how big it is, especially in this league.

“Keeping clean sheets is a key foundation to a successful side so we’ll just see where we get to and go into Tuesday’s match [at Barrow] looking to carry this on.”

Gateshead head to Holker Street in confident mood after two goals from striker Steve Boden helped them to their biggest win of the campaign so far at the weekend.

The result against the Spireites lifted them up to ninth in the table, four points ahead of AFC, who are looking to build on their morale-boosting victory over Maidenhead United.

But the Bluebirds will know they face a tough task in making it back-to-back wins, especially if they find Gateshead in a similar mood as the one they were in at Chesterfield.

Tinkler was full of praise for the display at the Proact Stadium, saying: “I think that was the most complete performance we’ve had all season.

“From back to front, we were really good for the entire game, really.

“We knew that they had a direct threat and, rather than nullify it, we dealt with it far better than we probably anticipated, especially early in the game.

“We broke well and got the first goal, which drew them out a little bit more, and then we sucker-punched them just before half-time with the second goal.

“Obviously their red card affected the game slightly, but that doesn’t take anything away from ourselves because we dominated the whole game, even when it was 11 v 11.”