It's pantomime season - In August the two angry camels made a promise to go to wherever The Gills were to play with Ball. Some have likened these two fans to Cinderella's ugly sisters - ( well we're hardly a match for Prince Charming or Peter Pan). what I do know is that the cost of maintaining our promise is a bit more than a few Buttons. Two angry camels travelled to Colchester ( 936 extremely angry camels at the end of the game travelled back to Kent. ) - not on Alladin's magic carpet, but in a air conditioned King's Ferry stagecoach - keeping true to their word to follow the Gills through thick or thin . How many of you have kept your New Year resolutions after only 11 days of 2014 ? I have been to this fixture many times over the seasons. I remember the old Layer Road ground with a certain fondness. The short journey meant that there was always many Gills fans packed in behind the goal - from where you could almost touch the back of the net. The opposing fans would be separated by an open metal grille. This allowed the mutual exchange of many 'gifts' and no shortage of bodily fluids ! The new 'Community' stadium is a typical 'new type' of sterile construction and has been home to Colchester United since 2008. Colchester is the oldest recorded Roman town in England ( once its' capital ) and ruled by CUNOBELIN - King of the Britons ( who are the Britons? ) - certainly the old Layer Road ground resembled something that was a throwback to the Roman era. Perhaps the prospect of a lion chasing after the players might encourage them to move a bit quicker. Keeping with the history lesson for a bit longer - in 1648 (during the 2nd English Civil war), Colchester was under siege for over 2 weeks. All the fans from Gillingham wanted was a mere 90 minutes of sustained assault on the opposition goal. These two mature camels wouldn't even insist on any raping & pillaging ! Mind you 3 points these days could almost resemble the joy of sex. The camels were worried when they heard that Cochester has a reputation of being one of the driest areas in the country. Were we about to enter into a Temperance land ? - well the out of town location of the ground certainly gave cause for alarm that there would be no oportunity to locate an oasis where the right sort of liquids would reign.( not a misspelling - I didn't mean rain !) - perhaps we'd have to rein in our hopes of a pint before the match - always seems to detract from the matchday experience when that happens. Anyway -after the aborted mission to Stevenage on New Years day you'll understand that I don't want to see any rain fall for some time to come. Perhaps the lack of hostelries was on the orders of The Army. Colchester is the home of the only military corrective training centre in England. It is known as the Glasshouse. I'm sure that the lack of pubs in the area would be punishment enough for any errant squadie. Now just what punishment would be suitable for the players of Gillingham - for their failure in sharp shooting. They could do with a spell in Boot Camp to improve their aim. But, of course it is the fans who will suffer - not just because their favourites keep firing blanks - but because we couldn't drown our sorrows to numb our pains of combat. We need to ensure that it would be Colchester who would be licking their wounds in defeat, whilst the Gills became drunk with the intoxication of victory. I'm not sure if Adebayo Akinkenwa has read George Orwell's "1984" - Colchester features in the book as the target of a nuclear attack. Perhaps he might have been too busy pumping iron at the local weight lifting club - the fans from Gillingham would be grateful if anyone could lift the heavy weight of doom & gloom from too much of the season so far. Not even the knowledge that Colchester claims to be the home of a couple of nursery rhymes could lighten the load. These include "Humpty Dumpty". The camels were praying that their team were not heading for a great fall - otherwise the Priestfield home pitch of The Gills might end up as a grazing ground for all the Kings' horses before the end of this season - which has seen too much pantomime for my liking. The game was a fairly dull affair in the first half. It appears that Peter Taylor has decided that he will employ negative tactics in all matches - we had better get used to some dire football for the rest of the season. Cody did have a reasonable shout for a penalty after 5 minutes - but the referee was to set his tone for the remainder of the game - gave us nothing ( not that we deserved much .) To be fair to Colchester - they too could have been given a penalty after Garegory, ( who had a poor game ) handled. So - not a huge amount to entertain us in the first half - but at least we were level - but not for long. Colchester upped their game after the break. We continued to allow them the lions share of possession and allowed them to get in some target practise - with Nelson in the Gills goal keeping the scores level for as long as he could. In the 50th minute Colchester took the lead in controversial circumstances. Gregory got dispossessed leading to a shot by the scorer - Watt - but the No. 15, Bean was standing about 2 yards offside, directly in front of Nelson - who obviously could not see the ball as it passed next to him into the net. There was a conference between the officials and players before the referee decided that there was no interference !!! and the goal stood. You'd have thought that our tactics might have changed - to try to seek an equaliser - in truth you would have thought that it was Colchester who were in need of a goal - such was their desire to attack and shoot at will. To be fair to Colchester, they were rewarded for their adventure with 3 minutes to play. Their second goal was a cue for a lot of the 936 Gills fans to leave. Those that did were to miss the ONLY Gills shot that reached the Colchester keeper. Miles Weston received the ball on the right - went on a bit of a run - cut inside his marker inside the penalty area and made a good attempt which was well saved. This rare feat was greeted with much ironic cheer from the Gills fans that were left in the ground - but their number was to be decimated into the 5th minute of added time as Colchester strolled up to the Gills penalty area and ( despite what it says on the official site ) scored a 3rd goal. I have said many times that I don't mind losing so much as the lack of trying - the only thing that was trying today was my lack of humour at the pathetic tactics and endeavour of most of the players. I'm too angry to print much of what I feel about our 'performance'
Excellent write up. As if the doom and gloom of new arenas is not enough to contend with and destroying the match day experience, the agony of our travels were more compounded by a dreadful tactical display. We can point fingers at the referee but 95 minutes of what was on offer was never enough. I can't even give you a Gills man of the match. I've missed two of our 26 league fixtures this season and that has to contend as one of the worse. What worse than the 4-0 battering at Wolves, probably. I'm just too lost for words at this moment in time to express anymore.
We planned to attend, but decided to convalesce from mild illnesses instead. Sounds like we made the right choice.
Excellent write up AlwaysRight I have to say that Colchester are the poorest supported home team that Gillingham have visited this season, OK Notts County didn't have too many at The County Ground but they are struggling and have Nottingham Forest on their doorstep, although Colchester have Ipswich Town just up the road and I think they were at home yesterday. Also the atmosphere was flat inside the stadium and with the flat atmosphere and slowish start to the match, at times it felt like a pre-season game where there was nothing on the line because for the first twenty five minutes of the match there wasn't anything to talk about.
Thanks to all for the compliments - I try to entertain, inform & educate. It's a real shame that, apart from the Sheffield Utd result, we have performed really poorly when best supported away from home this season. Yesterday's 'performance' ranks alongside the Wolves game at Molinuex ( understandable ) & Rotherham - where we at least scored a goal. Colchester were nothing special. I'm not being unkind or ungracious in defeat. Yes they played some good football and had several attempts on goal - but Gillingham allowed them to dominate proceedings without any real fight - Peter Taylor has recognised this fact. I EXPECT him, as manager to at least motivate his players to show some passion. I am sure that you are all fed up of me repeating that I do not so much mind a defeat - but the manner in which it is accomplished. I DEMAND that the players show some passion - I DEMAND THAT PETER TAYLOR GETS IT FROM THE SQUAD - is that too much to ask ?
Colchester how best to describe it; it is very close to motorway links, so for the modern day traveller in automobile it is convenient. Looks nice from the outside but first thoughts on this desolate land was football = winter, wind, rain etc...despite the surprisingly lovely sunny day on our arrival. So when are they going to fill in the corners of the stadium, what's with the gaps between structure and roof. Open to the elements. That is not a problem in itself but in the day of modernisation, what are we offering the supporter in the way of comforts...the steward points me in the direction of the Town...'15 minutes that way' - as i ask for the pub. So hang on that's a minimum of 30 minute round trip walk, our time is valuable when travelling by coach. The stewards are welcoming, actually probably some of the best i have experienced in yellow jackets this season. Despite one of them telling me before the game we were going to lose 3-0 while pointing me in the direction of cigarette bins so i don't litter the ground...jeez, if I had taken his guidance i could have been a rich man on a 3-0 bet or at the very least have stayed away. Inside the ground, well there was a food kiosk on each side of the ground, also selling GK IPA Ale or Carlsberg at £3.50 a pint, so makes up for the lack of public house but not quite the same with modern day plastic and not glass in hand. Inside the ground, SOULLESS, sorry about the capitals but it was worse than a morgue...although do funerals also have a drummer?...although some Yorkshire teams funeral was on the big screens as they were losing 6-0 to some team named after a day of the week. I look at Colchester in despair. What has happened to our game. It has been taken over by the money men, family stadiums, room to expand and political correctness or is that government health and safety propaganda! I look at Colchester and it is like the life has been sucked out of it. A steel structure with plastic interior. All topped off with men wearing bright new shiny orange jackets, surrounding pitch side. Scally if you build a ground anything like this, then i may just have to kill myself he says in jest. As for the football, well like the soulless ground the football was much the same from the visiting football team, parading under the name of Gillingham FC; Having been to 24 of this season's 26 league fixtures, that had to be the most tactically inept performance i've had to endure. Worse than Wolves AWAY? Well Wolves is a fading memory, the Colchester game is scarred on memory. You can blame refs but if you are going to apply those tactics at league one level then you run a risk of official errors for a game lasting 95 minutes. It might be unacceptable but its the reality. I prefer to blame the tactics, because if it was ability, then jeez we would have a problem. However, whilst on ability, Gregory did not relive his performance against Wolves at HOME. Young Hessy can do no wrong in my eyes and once again was a mature head on young shoulders, albeit i could see some frustrations creeping in his challenges and need a more experience player to put a mature hand on his shoulder for guidance. But who is that mature hand? Drop Adam Barrett i say yet again. Get a younger CB in there. I can't see it happening though and Peter Taylor like Martin Allen before him, refuses to see the selection decisions that need to be tried. We are conceding what must be an average of two goals per game. And what is Nelson playing about at, having spent near on 93 minutes of the 95 taking his time. Two minutes urgency is an insult to the travelling faithful. Look back at the highlights is our keeper more concerned about the muddy condition he was getting in...as he looks down at dirty kit and goes to wipe gloves on towel once again! Weston gets the only shot, what was it after 91 minutes and after coming on as sub?...i don't even rate the player, so says it all about the game to me. Maybe we need to start with Bayo and Cody because they looked like the only two that might click. But we all knew this was going to go wrong, when Legge's back pass to Nelson caused a subsequent exchange of words between defender and keeper. No wonder young heads are feeling frustrations when their elders cannot maintain their own instead of finding blame. Taylor if your tactics had worked you would have been a genius but sadly instead it was a failure and in all honesty do i want to watch this style for the next twenty games. No thank you, so failure may be a blessing...but only if he changes it...which he won't! 21st Century, oh please give me back my 20th Century game. Please some one with power and no not money...start a revolution, its too much for my soul to bear.
