despite the supporters frustrations at the Oldham result and away form, from a more positive perspective Gills are still only one point off second place, with Wigan having played the same number of games. So if fans are disappointed with our performance(s), then I can only imagine the same disappointment at other clubs who are possibly more affluent. I've said all season autos will go to the wire, the first objective is to secure the play-offs. So with the 14 games to go....Gills are 10 points clear of 7th place. Even if we take into consideration the game in hand for some teams, that can only be reduced to 7 points at the minimum. Giving us a three game advantage. Let us look at the other clubs and the top eight. Millwall: MillwallvWigan Tue 1 Mar MillwallvSheff Utd Sat 19 Mar BradfordvMillwallSat 26 Mar MillwallvBurtonMon 28 Mar CoventryvMillwallSat 16 Apr Just that one example, excluding the Wall match at Gills on the final day of the season, shows that the top eight will all be taking points off one another, which in itself increases our advantage even further of securing a lottery place. Yes it would be brilliant to gain an auto place, but no amount of stats will confirm that situation, so no assumptions should be drawn at this stage for other teams either, other than Burton being the most likely to maintain the top two on consistency, five point gap and two games in hand (one in some cases). Come on Gills, we can do this.
Play offs are a huge lottery and to fail there would mean the dismantling of a good team and necessitate a rebuild. This brings into play the finances available and players desires. From a positive stand point I personally feel that we should go all out for an auto place and accept a play off place if the Gods decree it, rather than aim low for the play offs and end up with a draw that doesn't help. As we've seen so many time in the play offs, final league nor previous games records count for anything.
I think the current injuries will indicate how much the Chairman wants to go all out for it. His finger tips are on the pot of gold, has he the finances to bring it home, I think this is our one chance, so I do get supporters ambition but personally it's been a better season than i could ever have imagined, so I feel no negativity towards the Oldham result and I think some comments on twitter are insulting to the opposition, we are ourselves are known for beating bigger opposition, yesterday we got a taste of our own medicine, grandeur counts for nothing in the lower leagues and we should know that more than most.
I do agree with everything that you've said.....but being a long term and passionate Gills fan (like so many on here) it still hurts when we lose, especially what was on paper an 'easier' game......and having taken the lead.
Burton 10 game form...2.21 points per game. 6 game form...2.0 points per game. Wigan 10 game form...2.20 points per game. 6 game form...2.38 points per game. Millwall 10 game form...2.2 points per game. 6 game form...2.17 points per game. Gillingham 10 game form...1.7 points per game. 6 game form...1.33 points per game. The above shows that of the top 4 teams our form is the worst, at 1.33 points per game we would even struggle to make the playoff (and if we made it winning would be a gamble) on Saturday Oldham had 13 shots, 6 of those were on target, Gillingham had 6 shots with only 2 on target, a pattern that is becoming increasingly common. Early season we were out scoring the opposition, more recently our shots column has been suffering, I think this is due to lack of service, caused by Jacksons injury and the failure to play Dickenson. Ok I know about his defensive frailties but if we want to continue a narrow midfield then wingbacks who actually get forward are essential, and our defence is conceding plenty of goals without scoring at the moment. I know the youngsters are going to suggest I be patient, trouble is I'm at the age when I can't afford to keep being patient, fail this year and we'll probably lose Dack, Egan, Wright and the rebuild starts again.
just to look at it from another view point on the stats grumpygit when i did a thread at the beginning of Jan; A quick calc off the top of my head, I make that 76 points for us, apologises if that's wrong and only twice since 1999 in 16 years have teams failed to make the play-offs on 76 points.
