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Article: AFC Wimbledon 0-1 Gillingham | Football, Gillingham FC

Discussion in 'Gillingham' started by brb, Oct 27, 2012.

  1. brb

    brb Guest

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    The Gills were on their travels on Saturday 27th October 2012, with a trip to Kingsmeadow for our League Two match against AFC Wimbledon. The game was a sell out for Gillingham supporters, for which I felt was reasonably priced at £15 for a place in the East Terrace.

    I met up with a fellow not606 board member at 12.15pm who kindly offered me a lift to the game. On arrival at KT1 we found somewhere comfortably to park within just a short walking distance of the ground. My first thought turned to some liquid refreshment and after some steward guidance made our way to the Robert Peel PH, followed by a reasonably decent bag of chips on the way back to the stadium.

    On entering the ground, we found a large contingent of Gillingham supporters had already found their places within the packed terrace, so we decided to use our ageing years to find an advantage point to watch the game. We had some warning from fellow supporters that the stewards were a bit of a jobsworth, so of course I should correct that in I thought they were very pleasant and used common sense judgement because we were not moved!

    So to the line up, certainly different to my pre match expectations but then I never get it right. With a team that included Frampton at left Back, Ben Strevens and the new loan signing which I did expect to see, Romain Vincelot.

    The Gills started the first half well and never seemed to be troubled too much by the home side, with Stuart Nelson probably having only to be concerned by one shot flying over the bar in the first 45 minutes. Whereas the Gills persistence to push forward paid dividends on the 23rd minute, when debut player Vincelot found the back of the net, to put the Gills 1-0 up.

    During the first half I felt that Wimbledon did not try to exploit us enough down the left and constantly changing it to the right of play with no end result. Especially considering Andy Frampton took an early knock in the game and it seemed to trouble him for some time, despite keep constantly reassuring the bench he was ok, several times coming off to spray his upper thigh, during breaks in play.

    On reflection 1-0 was a fair enough score line at half time, although we certainly had more opportunities with Myles Weston’s constant runs appearing to panic the Dons back line.

    The second half was to be a complete reverse of the first, with AFC Wimbledon expelling their nervousness and becoming a constant threat. I counted at least three decent chances for the opposition within the first 20 minutes of the second half.

    So the Gills had to stand firm and rarely made opportunity to come forward. However, on the odd occasion when they did, the Wimbledon keeper appeared rather clumsy even ricochet a clearance of his own player, in one of those awkward moments when the ball starts to make its way back towards your own goal.

    Martin Allen changed things around slightly to ease the pressure by introducing Charlie Lee to replace Myles Weston on 76 minutes. Charlie Lee duly obliged the ref on a cold Autumn day, by allowing the ref to warm his hands in the few seconds it took him to reach into his pocket to show Lee a yellow card of for a 50/50 challenge with the Dons keeper who was venturing out of his box again.

    Three minutes added time at the end, gave those final last minute heart flutters for the travelling fans as we were made to hang on for the three points, which finally came at the call of the final whistle. The travelling fans were in fine chorus throughout the game, making it a pleasure to travel away from home and the players duly applauded that support at the end.

    Having already heard that Port vale had lost in an earlier kick-off made it a pleasant journey home.

    MOM – the whole team. It is when you take the 3 points at games like these that will ensure you are within auto distance at the end of the season. It is hard thought experiences such as this that will make me start to believe this could at last be our season.











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    #1
  2. bristol407

    bristol407 Well-Known Member

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    A fair analysis brb. You missed covering the crossbar competition at half time when Wimbledon came close to scoring.
     
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  3. bucksgill

    bucksgill New Member

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    I think it was one of those games that the players, manager and fans will leave thinking we've done the job and got the three points despite not being particularly good offensively. As the old cliche goes the top teams grind out results.

    Of course I can only say that based on what I saw, which wasn't much! There was about a quarter of a pitch that I couldn't see (our left flank in the first half, where the ball always seemed to be) and I'm 6ft2 so not exactly a midget. It made it quite humorous for the fans around us however you couldn't build any tension and the goal wasn't as nice to celebrate as you couldn't see the build up. I'm not surprised that it took a few more days to sell out compared to last year after people realised they would get a better view of the game listening to the shoddy GillsPlayer. Must be the worst view either me or my Dad have had at a game and it seemed to be the general consensus from those around me. Shame really but we are top, so lets enjoy it! <ok>
     
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  4. alwaysright

    alwaysright @ Very Angry Camel

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    <yikes><grr><laugh> How dare you call me mature - at least I remembered to put my clocks forward.


    You should know by now that brb is as blind as a bat and can't see beyond the halfway line.
     
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  5. gavingills

    gavingills Member

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    Got to say it was my first visit to Kingsmeadow and although couldn't see much it gave me a chance to watch Martin Allen on the bench .I was very impressed how he goes about his job and the way he comunicates with the players .
     
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