24hrs have elapsed since the Gills (depleted side) heroic victory over Scunthorpe. I was glued to 'The Wall' as I live away and was flipping 'twixt the BBC coverage and 'The Wall'. It seemed that we were second best all game yet managed an 'ugly' victory. The BBC stats had us at just over a third for possession and were outperformed in 'Shots' by almost 3:1. I would really like to hear a summary of the game from someone who was there......rather than the 'official' Gills site report as theirs would be 'without warts'. How did the team perform? Was Williamson as anonymous as he seemed to be? Was Jackson missed and is there a chance of getting Josh Wright's red card removed? There is a quarter of the season gone and I don't believe our position is a fluke, but the depth of talent within the squad does concern me. We are not a rich league one club and there are clubs whose pockets are a lot deeper than ours. Last night, to me, shows the very obvious gaps in skills or talent depth when injuries or suspensions (inevitably) present themselves. Are we expecting too much? No, I don't think so when the likes of other 'smaller' clubs e.g. Wigan, Bournemouth, Blackpool and even Rotherham, Doncaster and Plymouth have all achieved 'stellar' heights on a (relative) budget. Why shouldn't we want to get, at least, back into the Championship? This season, I feel, is going to be the best opportunity of achieving this......so lets keep getting behind the team and hope the board are as visionary as the fans.
Gills were poor. very lucky to win . Nelson egan and Lennon played well all game. Dack two good deliveries for the goals otherwise not very good. Williamson did nothing Donnelly not much better.Midfield was poor apart from Wright who was good but very late challenge for red card. Thought was unlucky but after seeing it on replay not a great tackle cannot see worth an appeal. Good header by Dickenson for the goal. The good thing is Gills do seem to win matches even when not playing at their best so could be a very good season. Must be doing something right to be top. One last thing i think the attendance was not the true figure; looked more like 6000 plus
I'll add one thing - the referee was absolutely horrific, not simply the red card incident which the ref was the only person in the stadium to think it warranted a red card but also for every free kick they got for us brushing one of their players when he missed the assault from their bald centre half on Donnelly all game. The standard has to improve, it's ruining football matches.
I have to slightly 'disagree.' --- I thought that the referee correctly penalised our fouls (excluding the Josh 'red card'). I think we can have no complaints - because our [other] fouls were fouls ! The red card was a disgraceful judgement from the referee - I'll admit the intention was to 'stop' what was going to be a breakaway attack - but the incident was not a lot more than obstruction - and in 'their' half - hardly a goal-scoring opportunity. However - the referee was 'one-sided', and failed to award free kicks when obvious fouls were committed on our players. He must have realised that he had overstepped the 'mark' when he flashed the red card - because, all of a sudden, he then began to award us free kicks. My point is illustrated by the fact that the free kick we got that resulted in the winner, was for virtually nothing - but Williamson was nearly 'buried' in the first half - but the referee waved 'play on.' Donnelly was constantly being 'strangled' - but this was OK!!! As for the linesman on the GRS side of the pitch - I think his name must be Mr.Magoo.
This is the main problem with referees, the inconsistency. One week you see a ref giving fouls for absolutely nothing, then the next week centre halves can perform wrestling moves and nothing happens! Without a doubt they are inept at this moment in time, and what do the FA do about it? Absolutely nothing. Josh's red is upheld which means the FA believe it to be the correct decision, this will continue and there is nothing any of us can do about it. Disgraceful
Didn t think we would win appeal after looking at the replay. Yes could have been just a yellow card but once it was red we had no chance. Will miss him for 3 games which is a shame was hoping it was only 1 game.
I feel that without the referee making that howler of a decision regarding the Josh Wright card we would not have won the match. Say what you will, I think the atmosphere in Priestfield was relatively tepid (in the grand scheme of things) and the crowd were bloodthirsty as soon as the card was flashed. Home games are either made by conceding, scoring or refereeing errors. The Scunthorpe game, we had the latter, we were down to ten men and John Egan had to go off the pitch with a knock, we were down to nine men and had all of ours in our half. The crowd lit a fire under the backsides of our players, it was personified in Nelson's celebrations at the end after that left handed paw saved the three points. Regards to the FA's decision to not overrule, the camera angle wasn't particularly helpful to Wright's cause but if you look at the footage check out Madden getting up after the 'injury' as soon as the card is flashed. I don't think the tackle was out of control, I think it was a professional foul and worthy of a yellow card. If anything, under the new ruling system, I feel Madden should have been penalised for play acting the injury.
Speaking as a devout Gills' fan, I have to say that it was Scunthorpe who ultimately 'suffered' for the appalling decisions by the referee. It is only fair to say that Scuntthorpe had the better of the play - and deserved at least a point -- BUT -- The red card for the challenge by Wright was only 'worthy' of a booking. The referee then made a complete idiot of himself by trying to rectify his 'mistake' ( some call it cheating ) - he awarded us a free kick that would never - in a million years - have been awarded in a penalty area. We then got lucky and 'stole' 3 points. Some of you will say that these 'breaks' work against us - and that they even themselves out. I say that two wrongs do not make a 'right' -- they still remain two wrongs. But more disturbingly these 'wrongs' tend to have a great deal of 'cheating associated with them. I hate cheating. I don't like to lose by cheating - but probably, more personally important to my integrity, I don't want to win dishonestly There have been many times when I have almost given up with football because I couldn't stomach the cheating that prevails.
I have been to a lot of games and seen a lot of sendings off, but Wright's red card was easily the worst red card decision I have ever seen. And I've seen a lot of stinkers, both in Gills games and big Prem/Champs Lg games on tele. If ever there was a challenge that defined the term "yellow card offence", that was it. Late but not dangerous. Cynical but certainly not preventing a goal-scoring opportunity. The FA need their heads examining to uphold that decision and give poor Josh a ludicrous three game ban. I think the ref has lost his temper here - Josh had a few angry words with him a couple of mins earlier after a dubious decision - I reckon the ref has reacted to that. Cannot think of any other reason for a totally inexplicable decision. And if that is the case, it's unprofessional as well as incompetent. Thankfully for the ref, his blushes have been spared by the FA who look after their own. Thankfully we ended up winning, but we will pay in the 3 games, and already missed him against Southend on Sat.
