Great result tonight, but how did the players do here is what I think. Nelson 8- He was brilliant tonight, he showed how important it is to have a good keeper, without him we would have lost. He made loads of saves and looked so comfortable, I could not think how we would do without him. Fish 8- He was so good getting forward and getting the ball up the pitch he did not start great but was really really good after the first 20 minutes, he may have been man of the match against Bristol Rovers but he was better today, I feel he is now turning into one of the best right backs we have had, which is amazing after how he started, I did not like him at all but really like him now, his run in the second half where he took on 5 Southend players and won the battle was brilliant. Barrett 8- He was named man of the match and between him and Nelson I think that may be right, they were both as good as each other, Barrett was so good in the air like normal but this was his best game. Davies 7- He had a good game, worked hard and made sure that Tomlin did not get past him. Martin 7- He had a good game, worked hard and had like a double shift due to being down to 10 men as he had to cover for Frampton for a while as he did not do his job. Whelpdale 8- He worked so hard and passed the ball well, this was one of his best games, yeah he did not score but his job was to get the ball forward tonight and mark others and he done his job. Allen 6- This was not one of his best games, but he was still good, he did not pass the ball as well as normal but he still worked well. Lee- N/A went off injured, looks like a pulled hamstring as he walked past me and someone asked him what was wrong and he said maybe hamstring. Wright 7- He was really good today, much better than Saturday as he was really needed in the game due to how Southend played. Burton 7- He had a better game today, still not at his best but he was good. Kedwell 8- I think he had a good game, great pen, but he was left isolated in the second half when Burton went off as we had to push players back but he done all he could. Subs Frampton 4- He was awful when he came on but he was having to cover the gap however he came on into midfield and did not mark the right player, he looked lost. Dack 6- If he had not been sent off I feel it may have been an 8 as he was brilliant when he came on for Lee and he got us the pen with a great run but a stupid challenge which was defiantly a red and that reduced the score. Strevens 7- He worked well in the time he was on, he done all he could and covered better than Frampton but the job was to defend. So who was my man of the match, well I would give it to Nelson as he was brilliant also I cannot take credit away from Barrett who was named man of the match as without him we would have lost. I think we have found that we have a great defence and also a great right back in Fish. Hope Payne is back Saturday aswell as Weston as they are needed, don't know how long Lee will be out, I feel he may be out a few weeks which is a problem.
Living over 250 miles from GFC, and not being able to watch them, I'm grateful for your excellent analysis of the players. Thanks.
Normally write a bit more, but very busy and need to get up early for college, will have a lot to write tomorrow with my work so want to rest now.
Hoadie - I think you are being slightly unfair on Frampton - who was asked to play in a forward midfield role in that epic second half. I have praised Fish in a separate thread - and Frampton - who has been subject to my displeasure in the past, along with all the 10 men in the second half produced a really good defensive display and all deserve 8 or 9 out of 10. Weston - for those that weren't at the game on Saturday - Myles pulled up holding his hamstring in the final minute of the game - not heard how serious is the damage.
I did not notice that Saturday he played really well though regards to Frampton yeah he was played out of position but he looked lost, he did not know what to do.
When Frampton was brought on I did have my reservations also, however i felt it was a very clever substitution and paid off very well in the end. It was clear one of their main attacking options was down their right so putting frampton there really blocked that off well. Yes he was a bit slow and got sold a couple of times but having him there really forced them more inside which in turn caused Southend players to run into Wright/Allen rather than down the wing and putting a cross in.
Great result and in the second half one of the most disciplined performances I have ever seen from the Gills, and I thought that Nelson, Barrett and Fish were truly outstanding, but Martin Allen deserves alot of credit too, I thought his substitutions were excellent, Dacks sending off was deserved, but I would say that his challenge was not significantly worse than the Southend players lunge on Fish, who was lucky that Fish is an honest lad who jumped straight to his feet. The ref was poor in my opinion.
Great result, not quite such a good performance though and Southend could rightly feel aggrieved to be losing at half time because they dominated the game. Second half told a different story with a great display from the back four, Nelson solid in goal and Kedwell working his socks off up front with only Whelpdale and Fish giving him any support. Charlie Lee was back to his old stupid ways with a kamikaze tackle in the middle of the Southend half which injured himself rather than got a yellow card like last season. The trouble is Dack did exactly the same thing and rightly got a red card. Dack will learn, Lee seems to have no brain at all. Overall it was a triumph but we need a reality check. 4 of the wins have been against bottom 5 clubs and we were lucky against Bradford and Southend so Port Vale will be a real test. A point will be fine.
Yes 4 wins againist teams at the bottom BUT that has been are downfull in the past! We would have been in the playoffs if we beat these teams.
bristol407 again I understand your viewpoint - and we know that Gills were lucky on Tuesday - but - lets not forget that, as a team of 10 men we defended very well - and the ability and effort shown was not all luck, and nobody expected us to do much attacking in the circumstances. Lets also not forget that Southend were unable to get past our defence - maybe luck deserted them, or maybe they were not good enough. gioblues makes a good point about our record last season against the clubs in the lower positions. - quite miserable. If we can prevent the clubs nearer the top from beating us, we will only get promoted if we beat the remaining teams. I will be more than happy if I don't see any goals in our next three away (league) games - but, conversley was disappointed that we were not ruthless in the 2nd half at Barnet.
To be fair to Frampton, I thought he was much better when he was moved into central midfield. It was always going to be difficult for a 32 year old natural centre back to immediately come on to play left midfield. In regards to the rest of the performance, I thought we defended brilliantly on tuesday night. Some of the tackles that Callum made were outstanding and I felt that he should have been a candidate for MOM too. For me though, our best player all night was Nelson. What a brilliant keeper we've got here. Mad Dog well done on getting such a top class keeper to come down to play for us in League 2!
