Goalkeeper Mark Gillespie signed his first professional contract with the club in May 2010 after impressing with his performances for the U18 side.

The Newcastle-born stopper joined the club on a YTS contract in the summer of 2008, having previously been a part of the Newcastle United academy.

He was a regular for the United youth team in the second year of his YTS contract and also made a number of appearances in Reserve side throughout the season.

An injury to first-team keeper Lenny Pidgeley saw Mark promoted to the first team squad in February 2010, taking his place on the bench for the League One clash at Swindon Town.

He was an unused substitute on seven more occasions before Pidgeley returned to take his place among the substitutes for the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final against Southampton at Wembley.

Illness ruled Pidgeley out of the final game of the season against Norwich City at Carrow Road and Mark was again called up to the first team squad. After spending most of the game on the bench, he was then handed his first team debut as he replaced Adam Collin in the 89th minute, with United holding a comfortable lead.

That appearance made him the youngest ever goalkeeper in the club's history at 18 years and 42 days, beating the previous record set by current goalkeeping coach Tony Caig in 1992. A few days after the Norwich game, he was awarded his first professional contract, signing a one-year deal with the club.

For the first few months of the 2010/11 season, Mark found himself behind both Caig and Collin, playing mostly in reserve matches. He was handed the opporunity to get some first-team football by joining Blue Square North side Blyth Spartans on an initial one-month loan deal.

He very quickly impressed the Croft Park faithful with some assured places between the sticks. His deal was extended for a further two months as he helped the north east club to pull away from a relegation battle and towards the play-off positions.

At the end of his three-month spell, Mark returned to Brunton Park and was now looking to push towards a place on the subs bench. By the end of the campaign, he took Caig's place as Collin's understudy and showed enough progress to earn a one-year extension to his existing deal.

A highly rated goalkeeper who has impressed the club's coaching staff over the last few years, he will be looking to continue his development under Caig and first-choice stopper Collin over the next season.

Under contract until the summer of 2012.