Albeit 6 yellows and a very iffy penalty, did ourselves proud. Have been knocked out in the first round for a few years now, so now lets concentrate on our league programme. Also well done to those that traveled, especially with all the sad problems else where. Looking forward to the next important fixture, This Saturday. UTG
7 yellows in the end wern't it LOL, I am not too bothered about league cup either so we can just win the league now, well get promoted at least, good game really as there was a lot of action and a lot of promise from us.
I also think it's a good result, we played well, had good chances, and looked good against a championship side away. We were never going to go far in the Carling cup and it wouldn't bring in much money, all it is, is extra games. So now we can concentrate on the league for a while and continue to make a strong start. Tonight also showed we really need another striker, even though Kedwell played very well tonight, he really needed someone to play off him, as at times he got frustrated when he made flick ons with no one at the end of to put the ball in the net. But very promising performance i think.
great performance, soft pen decision espically given that we should have had a free kick first. nice pie, nice stadium, shocking parking arrangements. that about sums it up
Just got back in from the game. Gills looked a very capable side and played some nice football....although penetration in the final third was a little lacking. Kedwell is a decent player who works b***** hard and chases everything. Got a nice touch on him too which is good to see. (All he needs is someone to play off him). Flitney, solid, controlled his area well and kicking very good, with distance and accuracy Fuller was always going to be tested by any of the three fleet footed Brighton players (Noone, Buckley and Calderon) but he stuck to his guns. Gills did have their chances and went in at half time on top. I was sitting halfway up the west stand in the vipers nest of Brighton supporters. Living near Hastings that is the only way I could get tickets.....(wife came too and is a knowledgeable football supporter being from Manchester.....a City and England follower). Her opinion was that Gillingham were well organised and certainly not 2 divisions inferior to Brighton...whose finishing she thought was cr** as did I. Fullers booking justified, Kedwell....(was he booked, I must have missed that?) Jack Payne .....nice trip of Noone from behind.......try and be a little more discreet next time BUT it did make me laugh ..and to be in the midst of all the 'upset' Brighton supporters was a grin!! Other bookings.....well Stefan Payne, just how did you manage to stay on the pitch after that one? Naiive and stupid tackle....enough said. He has ability but hides it well!! Bottom line ...Brighton have three very quick and lively (skilful players) who cost way more than the entire Gills side. At every opportunity they were looking for the foul / free kick rather than pursue the attack on goal, as their finishing was dire. So ...'turbo charged' but studless boots were the order of the day. The rest of the team looked very ordinary. Question: Is football still a contact sport? If so, Brighton don't like it. Result ....immaterial. Bookings a shame. Nice ground and facilities. Pies were undercooked and beer (bitter) cloudy.....so a bit like Brighton then..style over substance. Outlook for the Gills.........................pretty good I'd say, but we're not going to score many goals at the moment. There will be a lot of 1-0 wins and 0-0 draws methinks.
I also just got back from the game and can only really echo the thoughts of Windyrog. Worked hard but in the end Brighton were just a bit better than us today. Nobody else is back yet as their all stuck in Brighton's piss poor attempt at a park and ride system! Took me 45 minutes to get back to the car! All in all we looked good and it really didn't look like Championship vs League 2 more like Championship vs Championship. Looks very positive for Crewe! However Hessy really has his head in the sand if he thinks we can get by with Kedwell on his own until Christmas time. Need another striker to give us some real bite up front.
Good assessment by Windy I'd say. Haven't seen the free kick count but it must be massively in Brighton's favour as the officials seemed to forget there were two sides out there. From my angle Montrose was clearly tripped in the box as he danced his way through too - if their's was a penalty this one was worth two! The parking left a lot to be desired. Having taken nearly as long to get from the park and ride to the ground as it had taken me to get from Rochester to Brighton, I decided to jump in a cab back to the park & ride. It was £10 well spent I think as I was home at 10:35pm. Very smart ground though and an example to any of the Luddites who claim we don't need a new one because we couldn't fill it.
No it was a bad result but a decent competitive performance. All that was missing was a pairing like Akinfenwa and Macdonald up front. No criticism intended of Kedwell who is a real trier but lacks the close skills of Bayo and has no sidekick to help him. Gills are going to have a real problem with suspensions at this rate. Doesn't more than five cards in a match prompt an FA investigation? JPayne should have been sent off for his crude trip and the penalty was a straight forward tackle from behind. This nonsense about touching the ball with the tackle is irrelevant if it is from behind. Any questions about Flitney's distribution were well answered last night which was a positive. Brighton knew they had been in a game but Gills know they are unlikely to score 10 goals by Christmas.
I went to the game on Saturday and I saw the live stream last night. IMO we are solid as a team and I am proud that we have not conceded a goal in 180 minutes of open play. It's appearing at the moment, that many league two opposition will have trouble scoring against us, however, let's not paper over the cracks and be honest with ourselves that we are just as unlikely to score. Kedwell ran his heart out for the team but unfortunately that is not going to bring the goals, so we've got a committed side but we urgently need to fill that void, then our team will be complete.
Saw the game via live stream (at work.. shhhhh!) A few points: 1. Flitney looked really good in the air, and as already mentioned, kicked it well. 2. Kedwell did look a bit frustrated at times at the lack of support up front, when he was getting the odd flick on etc. We desparately need a 2nd striker. 3. Defence looked good, but still suspect to pace. 4. Too many bookings... at this rate by the end of September we could have half the team out suspended.. 5. When we did get the ball down and play football, we actually looked quite good. So until Bichall is fit, or another forward is aquired, then it looks like it will be 0-0 1-0 scorelines from now on... UTG
Agree with most people - when have we ever cared about the League Cup? Encouraging that we only lost 1-0 to Championship Brighton. Also completely agree about the need for another striker.
Even if we don't get another striker in, i'm sure when Dennis regains fitness from his virus he can fill the gap. He won't set the league alight but kedwell definitely needs a striker to play off with.
BRIGHTON vs GILLINGHAM Possession Brighton 54% Gillingham 46% Attempts on target Brighton 4 Gillingham 2 Attempts off target Brighton 7 Gillingham 1 Corners Brighton 6 Gillingham 2 Fouls Brighton 7 Gillingham 20 Now im sorry but you'd have to have a pretty hot headed and dirty side to have a ratio of 7 - 20 fouls, so i think the ref may have got a few wrong and has even admitted he made a mistake with the pen or wanted to see it again or something. rest of the stats showed we gave them a good game and tbh of their 4 on target shots i only think flitney was troubled but the pen
Interesting comments. I had logged on to comment on the number of yellow cards, so now it's just a matter of adding my concern. It's not so much of a problem now, and hopefully an FA check will only result in a warning at this stage of the season, but likely to be more problematic when points suspensions kick in. It's great to learn about the enthusiasm, but perhaps a little more self-control, or at least better judgement, is called for in the tackling department. What's more worrying to me personally are the comments regarding the strikeforce, given my prediction for next Saturday.
Another positive to come out of last night is that we were so unlikely to score! This will surely make Hess and Mr. Scally make sure we bring someone in up front soon (if not by crewe) or suffer a lot of 0-0 draws. We are solid at the back but don't really threaten up top.
This is what I said a few days ago when I suggested Gills could be unbeaten in the league with 17 wins and 29 goalless draws. From what I've seen I'm not going to change my mind ---- I do hope the bookings at AMEX don't come back to haunt us later. My thoughts were that, given our priority being on promotion, we should have rested Kedwell -to release him on Crewe and Barnett in quick succession - instead he got booked! Anyway onwards and upwards. UTG
