Hello and welcome to the all new and improved Match day Hub which is now the official place for Gillingham fans, I decided to update this so that you will know where to go and chat before and during the game. I always post this a few days before the match so you can start to create a debate before the game on what you think will happen in the upcoming game, you can post who you think should play in the game and why. In addition to that you may share with us what you think the team will be that plays as that may be different to the team which you think should play, if you think a certain player should not play you can share with us the reason why as it is good to know what the fans think about the team and why certain players should not be in the team if you want to tell us why. So all you need to do is post your starting 11 plus the 7 which you think will be on the bench, you may be correct or not but it don't matter as no points are awarded it is just for fun. If I am not at the game I will normally post updates about what is going on and the team which is playing, but when I go to games I write up a match report afterwards. You can post freely during and after the game sharing your opinion with us on the result and what you thought of the players who played. If you go to the game it would be great if you could write up a match day report telling up what you think of the result and what you rate each player out of 10 giving a reason why. This is open to both Gillingham fans and also the opposition, don't be afraid to post just because you are not a Gills fan if it is friendly banter that is allowed. Have fun and debate freely! Just want to add aswell if you do any bets you can share with us what you think is the best bet, I do bets each week so I will share them with you if you want.
I will be expecting the Gills to do nothing less than taking the 3 points today - that will not go to plan then! While Port Vale do not play until Monday and Fleetwood are at home against an ever improving Wycombe.
First home, or should that be away, of the season for me today. Hoping for a good result. Also taking the wife for the first time since the play off final
It is not often that you come away from a 4-0 victory feeling disappointed but that wasn't a great performance. Aldershot were awful and we didn't really get out of second gear, nor did we need to.
Good performance not a bad player on the pitch ( wearing a red shirt anyway ) you can only beat what's infront of you UTG
Very good first half performance but Aldershot are the worst team I have seen this season. I could not decide between Myles Weston or Adam Barrett as MOM. Not quite sure how my opinion works on that one with Barrett, if the Shots are the worst team I have seen this season! Joe Martin actually impressed me for once in spells and then gets subbed for the start of the 2nd half . Was this because of the yellow card he picked up? From where I was sitting it looked a certain yellow, despite moans to the contrary that I was hearing but I will let those nearer to that half of the play be the judge. Although leading up to it, what a mess, we seemed to play around with the ball to much and got ourselves in to a situation that cost us for our completely pointless ill discipline. I have absolutely no idea what happened over on the other side for Jack Payne's yellow and his subsequent substitution. Back to Myles Weston, he certainly ran the Shots in to the ground or was that himself in the first half. The change from the previous game at home that I saw against Rochdale was this time we were using the width of the field. Although that seemed to go a stray for parts in the second half. Maybe the reason for him coming off but I still stood and applauded the player for what I felt was an excellent individual performance. Sub Robbie Findley who replaced Weston, rarely got chance for a proper look in, as coming up to 70th minute mark the game already appeared all but dead after our fourth by Whelpdale. I never even cheered for Whelpdale's goal, from where I was sitting I couldn't work out at first if it was actually going to bobble its way over the line! Stuart Nelson had one vital save to make in the first half and as usual pulled it off superbly. Then was called up for another one although appearing slightly less challenging in the second half. Other than that the second half seemed more like a Sunday stroll in the park. The Shots should certainly have scored but never looked like finishing and also gave the ball away soooooo easily it was embarrassing. The best comparison I could give to this game was Barnet away but at least they did have one good player that stood out. I have still not got the measure of ability other than what I have read about David Wright. Is he Mr Cool as in ice cool because he seems to play the ball around without a shred of nerves and yet rarely catches my attention. Sort of just does the job required of him in a professional manner without putting a foot wrong. Keds he scored another comfortable penalty with Deon Burton watching from the sidelines as he was warming up - As long as Keds keeps putting them away like that then Burton is not going to get a look in even if he is playing. Not been feeling well for the past week, so 4-0 and 3 points and top of the league certainly helps lift those Autumn blues (pun intended).
BSG Don't be fussy - you're a Gills fan ! I'd take 4-0 and the team strolling in every 2nd half. We put in a good show with a lot of effort at Oxford last week and were robbed by a brilliant goalkeeping display. ( and it's not as if 4-0 was at all flattering - nor was it without good play on our part ) brb Payne's challenge was slightly mistimed - and as he always goes in fully committed, the referee had little option but to card him - although I did feel that the referee must have had a huge amount of sympathy for Aldershot with the lot that he allowed to go on.
It was difficult to judge the quality of the performance because the opposition was so poor. I reckon it was a probably a thoroughly competent performance but the defence had little to do, Nelson had two saves to make, and the midfield only had to cope with a series of crude challenges. On the positive side Weston and Kedwell looked a really sharp combination and Wright (to my complete surprise after the Rochdale game) just oozed quality with his classy passing.
After the utter dross we've seen in the two previous seasons, I can't believe some fans are questioning some of our performances. Enjoy it, we've got a bloke that knows what he's doing now.
This season we have been so good defensively, we have kept a good amount of clean sheets, I am sure we have kept more than at the point of the 2008-09 play off season which Royce kept 20 if I am correct. Nelson is such a good keeper and with a defence like we have we have done so well, some of us worried when we signed Barrett after what some of the Bournemouth fans said about him however he is a top player. I have had a look and I believe if Royce played them all we kept 20 clean sheets all season including the play off semi finals and final, however I can't remember if Royce played all that season I think he did though. By this point in 2008 we had kept 4 clean sheets in the league however this season we have kept 6 so far in 12 league games which is an amazing record.
Always, I know I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth and we were deserving of the 4-0 win but, oddly I came away from the Port Vale game happier with only a 2-0 win. To my mind the Port Vale performance was ten times better than staurdays and if we had played to the same standard against Aldershot we would have stuck a few more past them. I am aware that you can onlt beat what is in front of you and we didn't have to play that well to cruise past Aldershot but some of the possession and passing in the first half was top draw but we didn't maintain it for any length of time and it was like a training game in the second half.
BSG I didn't disguise any sarcasm in my original reply to your post. I actually agree with both your posts. I can only think that the players may have felt relieved to have got proper reward for their first half efforts ( which they didn't get at Oxford ) and felt justified in relaxing in the 2nd half v Aldershot. I have seen all the league games - we seem to be getting better with each game ( ok except the Rochdale game - for reasons that have been thrashed out ) If the Gills perform as they did at Port Vale, Oxford, Northampton and the first half against Aldershot, it's difficult to see anything but automatic promotion.
Mulligrubs, mulligrubs, mulligrubs. We can't maintain this level of consistency. We will fall over soon. I'll be glad when we get 50pts and safety. We've only played poor teams. Good teams will find us out. I'll be over the moon with a play-off spot. We will lose our best players/Manager in January. We've been lucky so far. There. Have I managed to un-jinx us with that lot? Gees alwaysright. Please be careful what you say in future
SirKeefy In my post ( No.15 ) I started the last sentence with IF. I am working on the principle that we should be able to replicate the aforementioned performances if we put in the same effort and committment thus far. I am also able to accept that the team are more than capable of shooting themselves in the foot.
