League Two table toppers Gillingham took on third place Cheltenham Town for their midweek game on Tuesday 6th November 2012, at Priestfield. As with all midweek games it was the usual last minute mad rush to the ground, abandoning the car at the quickest and nearest opportunity for the final dash to the ground. Slightly hindered going to our seats by a steward who for some strange reason insisted on seeing our tickets. It caught me unawares and took me a few seconds to think, before realising I do not have a ticket as it is taken at the gate! Good job I kept my season ticket book in my pocket and did not just detach the ticket before leaving home. It was friends for a fiver game, so maybe they were just checking everyone was where they should be within the ground and it was not the normal steward manning that exit. Some local residents were still participating in their Guy Fawkes celebrations in the local vicinity, but it was nothing to match the display that was about to unfold on the pitch. Both sides were very much evenly matched in an exciting game, Gillingham were doing much of the attacking with Cheltenham seeming the slightly more organised. I felt in the first 45 minutes that too many of the Gills attacks were seeing the ball played slightly to long down the left for Fish and we were not quite kicking everything quite in to gear, much the same as the Cup game the previous Saturday and the reality of it heading goalless towards the break. That is not a criticism, more of an observation, that you could see why both these teams were occupying the top places but probably for slightly different styles of play that were counteracting one another. Number 11, Jermaine McGlashan was the obvious threat for the Robins and despite a nervy showing in the opening minutes by Frampton, when one on one with McGlashan. After that Framps was constantly breathing down his neck and for what he lacked in pace, he made up for in presence. It was end to end stuff and the atmosphere was electric, well as electric as it is going to be for a November evening. Every match has its defining moment and the one for this game was to come in the first half, when a Cheltenham player, whom I now believe was number 23, Kaid Mohammed, broke through the middle and towards the Gillingham goal. Last man was our number 15, Callum Davies. With shouts from behind me of come on take him, Davies had to time any challenge perfect, failure to do so, would have resulted in the referee being left with no option but to show a red card. The situation was as such it was wait for it Callum, wait for it...then Callum Davies timed his tackle to perfection and absolutely nailed the oncoming threat. With so many of his team mates waiting in the wings, such as Flanagan and Essam, he just put in a tackle that would earn any player their rightful place in the starting line up. It is tackles such as this that can see Gillingham reap the rewards. The first half finished 0-0 and I have probably missed out many events in this exciting encounter such as the Kedwell chance on goal, that somehow only managed to find its way on to the crossbar but the honours remained fairly even after the first 45. So to half time refreshments and foolishly forking out £3.50 for a lousy hot dog in which you could have used the bread as a hammer. Think I am joking well it ended up in the bin that is how bad it was! Second half gets under way with the Gills now kicking towards the Rainham End. With the Gillingham attacks becoming more frequent with some slick passing movements even McGlashan dropped back for Cheltenham in something of his own crusade to take on Myles Weston. It turned into a challenge between the two with both players more or less counteracting one another at any opportunity. I think McGlashan was starting to feel the pressure, with the crowd making their presence felt towards him, Framps still all over him and now Weston showing the number eleven he was not the only one with pace. Adam Barrett was continuing to push forward from the back for the home side and also attempting to get in on the action in front of the Cheltenham goal, an ever reliable defender this season. However, he did not have it all his own way during this game and the visitors number 26 Chris Zebrowski on many occasion during the game was equal in the air. Must not forget to mention another outstanding save by Stuart Nelson during the game. Myles Weston was eventually replaced by Danny Jackman. Now I have the greatest respect for Danny but I was a little nervous that Martin Allen may have made the wrong decision with this change. As always I was wrong and all fears were erased, when Jackman breathed some fresh life into our continued attacks. Which around the 80th minute nearly paid dividends, when Scott Brown in the opposition goal had to pull off a save from just under his own crossbar. One of the problems I felt thwarted the Gills attempts on goal, were their own set pieces, especially with free kicks outside the box, which we seemed to insist on hammering into the opposition wall. Also poor corners but Danny Jackman appeared to change some of that. With more threats from the corner than had previously been seen in the game. As we approached the final minutes I felt happy with a point on a hard fought night. I just did not want anything silly to happen in those final minutes. In the end the points were shared in this goalless but thrilling top of the table encounter. The good news that I heard on leaving the ground was that our nearest promotion rivals Port Vale had also drawn against Rochdale. Man of the match Callum Davies, that lad deserves every piece of praise in his direction tonight however, as I know he will remind us, it was a whole team effort. So well done lads.
Good article, just about spot on. i think our fitness this season has vastly improved. Although I'm still at a loss to understand why Kedwell is not made to lose at least another stone. He's just so slow in my opinion.
major - good question and surprisingly one that had escaped my observation. As mentioned earlier I was slightly late into the ground so was unsure who was on the bench. I do like Charlie Lee but in fairness whatever the reason, I don't know what anyone else could have brought to this game. Pure speculation but he was the only player to pick up a yellow in the last league game against Wimbledon, so if he is not injured maybe it is part of the players own agreed choice of rotation system. As I say pure speculation on my part. The only reason I say that is normally when players have picked up a card this season, I believe they have missed some part of the immediate or next play.
Lee picked up a bug and had to withdraw from the squad late in the day. At least a bug is normally gone within a few days unlike an injury!
Spot on with your analysis brb. You might have mentioned that Weston just had one of those days when nothing went right for him despite giving 100% but everyone else did well with Barrett Davies and Montrose outstanding. Jackman did offer a real positive difference when he came on and he provided a string of difficult crosses which created all the pressure on the Cheltenham goal but Cheltenham were good and they had a physical stature which enabled them to out muscle Gills for long periods. McGlashan v Frampton was a great sub plot with Frampton winning clearly on points even if he did resort to the "dark arts" of defending on several occasions. A great performance by Frampton in the circumstances but he is no full back and could not offer any attacking support. The team seems to be building an uncomfortable Illness/Injury list. It is hard to fathom but at least Allen's policy of a yellow card and you are substituted is eliminating the disruption from suspensions which cost so many points last season. As for Fatty Kedwell, that is just what you get and I doubt if a Skinny Kedwell would be either achievable or desirable. Any student of the game might have read about Brian Clough and his fat winger John Robinson who won him two European Cups almost single handed with Nottingham Forest. Clough was asked how good Robinson could be if he slimmed and he replied that he would be useless because he was just built to be fat. Kedwell is the same and he is still a lot more mobile than Burton. So last night was a good night not least because of other results and a great fightback by Rochdale. It was entertaining too but a reminder that it is not a one horse race. For me I gave the first half to Cheltenham 60/40 but the second was 70/30 in favour of Gillingham in terms of overall control and attacking threat.
Brb. I recommend you ditch the hot dogs and try the chicken balti pies. They are spot on and 50p cheaper
I know you are right. Must admit I deliberately put that sentence about the catering in the article. I can only hope one way or another the club will eventually get the message. I would personally have forked out £3.50 for one of those hotdogs for someone in a bit of authority at the club, under one condition, they ate the whole thing! The pies when they have ordered enough (from the clubs feedback), are not to bad, although yesterday of three that I saw served to the guy in front of me, two were burnt and the top crust was black. I remember going to the county show and the food is exactly the same, normally a good indicator is are the bins full of waste food, if so steer clear. Mind you the site inside the mens toilets was disgusting at the game Tuesday, someone had splattered a whole pie over the floor, it left not much to the imagination when thinking, who would take a pie in with them when going for a p!!!!!!
brb - not enough detail - was it before or after the pie had passed through somebody's digestive system ? <surely you're old enough to have known all the pies are sh*t>
