Well we won today after three straight defeats but what does it mean to us? Well we're now above the 50 point mark and we've got three points further away from Tranmere and are now 7 points above the relegation zone with only three games to play. As I've said before we would stumble across the line and it appears now the stumble has nearly completed. So what about the game? Well before that I want to mention how good it was to meet up with some fellow not606ers before the game and what a community this forum has created. Now to the game.... Well not a lot happened in the first half, a couple of half chamces including Cody attempting to go for glory instead of playing back to Bayo, Weston blasting over and Lee with a nice outside foot shot which somehow caused Tranmere problems. Tranmere had a small shout for a penalty when they blasted it at Barrett's arm and then Bayo had a great chance at the end of the half with a chipped volley which just sailed wide. Other than that though the hame was rather quiet with both teams looking nervous at showing why they are both low down in the table. The only other real thing to report is that I had to suffer the whole of a the first half with an under 8s football team behind me constantly kicking my seat which trust me, gets really annoying after 45 minutes. Now 2nd half after an extra beer to get me through the pain of the kids behind me and to watch the football, we were back underway. Again not a lot to report for a good amount of time, Weston threatened down the flank but didn't bolt enough. Taylor took Charlie Lee off for Dack which I thought was quite strange considering he looked one of our better players but it paid off when Martin crossed the ball for a good volley by Dacky. Not a bad way to celebrate a new 4 year deal. Tranmere continued to huff and puff but didn't offer much. We got to see the return of Keds for the first time since January which was nice. He linked up well with Cody and it nearly paid off for Cody to be sent one on one only to hit straight at the keeper. Our corner came to nothing and we were fighting to stave off and then they got a crotner. Keeper went up and rightly so in the last minute when 1-0 down. Corner got clesred, Cody chraged up and scored. 2-0. Not deserved but we'll take it.
I agree, it was great to have another near the end of season meet with some of the Gills not606 community. To be honest the beers were probably much needed because i thought the game was going to end in a dour goalless draw upto the first 75 minutes. Watching this relegation dogfight I could see why both teams are in the positions they are more clearly than i have all season. We did what was needed and took the three points, which was the biggest step forward to maintaining league one football for next season. However, if i have to speak the truth and will ask my eyeball's what i thought of the team, the answer as my eyelids started to close is tired. Only the subsequent changes to bring on Dack and Keds turned the game, which leaves me saying, PT this is just not working. Yeah, we had our chances and scored two and conceded none for a change, the difference that Leon Legge makes, but preseason we will need to have a massive clear out, is PT the man to implement that change, only Mr Chairman will make that decision but in truth I have my doubts. I always believe a bad workman blames his tools and despite the faults within the squad PT should be producing better with what is available. Yeah give him a break I hear you say he has more or less achieved the goal, personally I don't believe he has achieved much more than if MadDog had still been around. In summary I could have done with the kids behind you The Gills PegLeg kicking the back of my seat, to keep me awake.
I listened on Gillsplayer and we did sound the better side.We seemed to have quite a few chances especially in the first half,but lacked the cutting edge.You do start to worry that it might not be our day,but Dack stepped up and scored a really good goal according to the commentary.The perfect way to celebrate signing a new 4 year deal this week.There was the usual nerves in the last few minutes and they sent their keeper up for the corner.Then the commentary said it was 2 on 1 with the keeper out of his goal,and Cody sealed the win.Its a massive result which hopefully should be enough to keep us up now.If anything we probably need a point at most,but results might mean we don't need another point. Hopefully once Easter is out of the way,Contracts can start being sorted out.
Well you could have been a bit more positive pegleg. The reality was that the team cruised from being probably safe to probably midtable, never mind what the mathematicians say. In terms of chances, Gills could have had a bagful and McDonald should have scored a hattrick. On the other hand Tranmere were competitive but until he had to make three sharp saves after an hour, Nelson had a quiet afternoon. Positives were a good show from Legge who dominated in the air, a constant menace from Weston and Kedwell spraying passes along the front line for the last 20 minutes. Less impressive was the vulnerability of the left sided defence and Akinfenwa after a great first 45, running totally out of steam soon afterwards. Dack and Hessy junior again showed flashes of real style. All in all a good outcome to an entertaining, if tense, game.
bristol407 - good outcome yes but entertaining and tense are two words the furthest from my vocabulary!
I'm still unsure why people don't want to keep a manager that has taken us from the bottom 4 to mid-table security in 2/3 of a season with no money. And pegleg I don't believe that we have "stumbled over the line". We have basically secured our Div1 spot with 3 games to go (I reckon we've actually been safe for the last month). It's not as if we've ever been in a position where we've had to rely on us winning all our games and others losing. Since Jan/Feb we've been out of the bottom 4 and always looked likely to stay out. Before today, we'd lost our last 3 (against top 10 teams) but still have a 7 point gap over the bottom 4. Personally I reckon PT has done an excellent job. I'm struggling to think of any other manager we could realistically attract who would/could have done a better job with this squad.
I thought the match was pretty end to end but we had the upper hand for the most part. I was a bit concerned when Dack came on initially because of how central he was drifting, especially with Brown looking quite sharp on their left, but he took his goal well. Whilst I have criticised him in the past, believe that Gregory had a good game yesterday. Other than his loss of possession on our left flank in the second half I thought he went about his business nicely, sticking his foot in and being more of a nuisance to other teams. Taylor's done okay, whilst our position appears to be about where mad dog would be, Taylor is laying in different ground work. I preferred yesterday's style of play over some of the games we won by a hairbreadth last year under Martin, all respect to him naturally. Win on Monday and let's get mathematically safe, one of Carlisle's remaining games is Wolves can't see that game in hand being all that profitable.
bristol407 - I'm sorry but in no way did we cruise our way through that game, most of the chances we had were half chances albeit Bayo's chip or Cody's teo tight angled one-on-ones. As brb said it was a dull match and you could clearly see why both teams are so low down the table. The first half was far from entertaining and both teams played with a very slow tempo. As for Sir Keefy we still aren't safe yet and every time we've looked like we could break away from the zone we fall back into the trap. We're 7 clear at the moment over Carlisle who still have a game in hand and we're unlikely to win our next two games. You can't claim yesterday was a great game of football because it wasn't. Did we particularly deserve to win by 2-0? I don't think so. We aren't a secure mid table team as we aren't safe and thats probably one of the reasons why we want to get rid. Also to answer your last question, Chris Powell.
It's interesting how there is two contrasting views to yesterday's game, one side stating it was far from entertaining and yet the other side stating it was. I would guess without actual stats to support it, that a majority of the play across both half's was at the Town End (BMS). I just wonder therefore if it is dependent where you sit in the ground and your proximity to the closeness of play?
brb Don't confuse the words 'entertainment' and 'quality' The match was 'entertaining' - inasmuch that both sides knew the importance of 'playing' for 3 points. The fear of losing, in my opinion ( other than at OUR corners ) did not prevent the two teams from trying to be progressive. The lack of quality did prevent more goals than could have occurred. On another day, Nelson wouldn't have been able to reach a couple of smart shots for which he made diving saves - and Dack's effort would have been blocked on the line and their goalkeeper would have been on the scoresheet etc. Gills quality may not have been brilliant - but at least they 'performed' a damned sight better than last Saturday - and just about deserved the win for the 2nd half effort. - - at this stage of the season it's all about the win and not the 'entertainment'. .........ps Did anyone else think the referee was poor - some of his decision making was baffling ( for both teams - but especially in his assessment of what was a Gillingham foul compared to those committed by Tranmere )
Mathematically, no, we are not. But then nor were Wolves until January. But take a look at the remaining fixtures and tell me we aren't safe with 51. It would take a miracle of 10 times the proportions that sent us down on the last day last time. Stevenage & Shrews both can't reach 51. Nott C have to win all 3 remaining games to reach 51 (would get them 52) Crawley, Swindon & Oldham. Extremely unlikely. Carlisle do have 4 games to get 8 pts for 52 because their GD is much worse than ours. But they have to play Wolves & Peterboro in that, plus Crawley & Oldham. They have taken 11 games to get their last 8pts, so highly unlikely Colchester & Crewe both need 2 wins in 3 games to overtake us. They have to play eachother as well as 2 tough games on top of that. So again, extremely unlikely. This is all assuming we get no more points. If we aren't safe on 51pts, I'll run naked around Priestfield if you like And like I said, barring miracles or a 10 game losing streak, I think we have been realistically safe for a month or so. Although being Gills, stranger things have happened I know.
Everyone has their own thoughts on what is entertaining. A 4or5-0 may please some shallow thinkers but for many, classic entertainment comes from closely fought games. So far as statistics are concerned they are there to see on BBC Sport. All very close except for shots on target where Gills were miles ahead and Cody had some apologising to do.
I didn't think he was any good. There didn't seem to be any consistency to his decision making. I also thought the lino on the Gordon Road side was poor. Missed a few things. In assessment of the game; I thought we deserved the three points. We were never really troubled by them and played okay. I agree the game was pretty dull (particularly in the first half) but picked up in the second. Cody should have put away two or three and it was great to see Keds back. Fairly certain we're safe. Job done PT, and I look forward to seeing what he can build next season.
In a 19th century novel this chapter would be called 'Some Northerners go to a pub, meet a Camel, drink some beer and watch some football'. That was my Friday afternoon, so it's now a matter of how much to expand on that. As has been mentioned in earlier posts there was a mini-meeting up in the Cricketers with brb and Gills PegLeg - and he has expressed my long held opinion that the game is more than just the football, it's also the camaraderie and meeting new like-minded acquaintances (and drinking beer). However he did show his lack of experience in declining a drink at past 2 o'clock when offered, thinking that his half pint would suffice. Such is the depth of queue and speed of service in the Cricketers that his half pint was finished by the time the round of drinks made their way back to our table. And so to the game. During pre-match speculation at the pub brb had expressed an opinion that even a game such as we had witnessed at Bradford, during which the consensus of opinion was that we would have had a more entertaining afternoon had we stayed in the pub, would be preferable to what he had witnessed the previous Saturday at Leyton Orient. Well, he more or less got his wish. It wasn't quite as uninspiring as at Bradford, but there wasn't a great deal to get the adrenaline flowing. During the first half it was apparent that whilst hoofball has been broadly eschewed for something slightly more constructive, the long ball game was still the preferred option, the difference being that the boot upfield was broadly directed to someone in blue. One ball in particular from Hessenthaler to Akinfenwa was particularly good, both from the point of view of seeing and then executing the pass. Unfortunately Bayo wasn't quite up to the job of controlling the ball as quickly as he quite often does. Both Bayo and Macdonald worked very hard chasing the long passes, but the end result just wasn't forthcoming. From a defensive point of view there were few alarms, with the Tranmere midfield unable to find the passes through the Gills defence, and Nelson was certainly the least worked played on the pitch. The second half followed broadly the same pattern, although from our position at the Rainham End end of the main stand it was frustrating to see so many passes from Martin not finding Weston, who also had a pretty effective game that could have been so much better had he received the ball higher up the pitch. Until this time even the Rainham End had been extremely quiet, possibly also thinking that an uninspiring if workmanlike 0-0 was a better result that a 5-1 thumping. As in the first half the Tranmere keeper fon Williams showed what a good shot stopper he is, twice saving from one against one with Macdonald after the through ball had put him through, the quality of the second save in particular being recognised by Macdonald. I was also surprised to see Lee come off for the introduction of Dack, but Dack coming on was the right move because of his generally attacking mentality, and straght away his ability to find space became apparent, as well as his speed at getting to an opposing player with the ball to break up play. Then at last for once the Martin / Weston combination worked, with Martin running on outside Weston to receive the return pass and put a cross over. I don't think for one moment that he was looking for Dack, but the ball floated over the Gillingham forward players and their associated defenders and fell to Dack who as usual had found himself some space and met the ball with as sweet a shot as he has hit for probably some time. The ref seemed to be apologising to Dack as he showed him the yellow card for taking off his shirt in deserved celebration. The second goal was well taken by Macdonald who I think did well to take the ball as far and as fast as he did after receiving it (can't remember who passed it to him, sorry), and would have been well within his rights to have taken the shot when he did simply because he was too knackered to run any further. So, at the end of the day most of the crowd would have gone home happy. Legge was awarded MOM by the sponsors, something that I wouldn't disagree with, and while nobody really stood out, nobody had a shocker. What did stand out for me was the 25 minutes or so that Dack spent on the pitch. He finds space more easily than any other Gillingham player - if only we had players who could get the ball to him with more regularity and accuracy - but does need to improve his decision making when making tackles. I do think he is a bit too impetuous at times and picks up too many yellow cards for tackles that have been made without thinking about the immediate situation. But there is no doubt he is a highly talented player and will very probably go on to play successfully at a higher level, but there is work to be done before he can achieve that. So, that was my one and only visit to Priestfield this season. Next Saturday will be my last match of the season, but based on recent away performances and Preston's home form I'm afraid my expectations of a positive result are low. Whether any Camels attend remains to be seen, attendance I think being dependent on whether the Leyton Orient experience has waned sufficiently....
So it looks like us Southerners have got some competition from the Northern writers. Good write up mate. Can i just hasten to add its the PegLeg that got his timings and measure of liquid intake wrong, don't want people thinking brb is becoming a light weight in his aging years. The youth of today eh? LOL
My Thoughts on our 2 - 0 win against Tranmere Rovers....... Yesterday was defiantly the most nervous I have been at a Gillingham Game this season, there was so much riding on yesterday's result and the pressure probably intensified 100 times for the players and about 10,000 times for the supporters because both sets of supporters knew just how important it was for either side to pick up all three points - and thankfully it was Gillingham who picked up a crucial win, and that win and the three points against Tranmere Rovers should surely be enough for Gillingham to consolidate our place in League One Next Season, but don't we make hard work of it. Gillingham Lined Up as Follows..... Stuart Nelson, Elliott Hewitt, Leon Legge, Adam Barrett, Joe Martin, Steven Gregory, Jake Hessenthaler, Charlie Lee, Myles Weston, Adebayo Akinfenwa and Cody McDonald SUBS: Sam Baxter, Michael Harriman, Amine Linganzi, Bradley Dack, Chris Whelpdale, Craig ***an and Danny Kedwell - Peter Taylor wisely named a attacking line up because both Gillingham and Tranmere have conceded a lot of goals this season and with Akinfenwa and Mcdonald up-front we can cause Tranmere a few problems at the back, also it was great to see Danny Kedwell named among the substitutes because we have missed Kedwell recently. Gillingham made a very good start to the first half with Charlie Lee and Steven Gregory hitting efforts from distance which failed to hit the target, Steven Gregory dragged his shot wide and Gregory's shot really needed to be hit first time but by controlling the ball Steven Gregory took all the momentum out of the ball, Gills kept this bright start going and had there third goal-scoring opportunity in the sixth minute with some good build up play between Myles Weston and Elliott Hewitt down the right hand side of the pitch and Elliott Hewitt whips in a cross to the far post which Charlie Lee headers wide - Tranmere do not look strong defensively and Peter Taylor has clearly sent Gillingham out on the front foot to get the early goal and build from there. Gillingham created another goal-scoring opportunity inside the opening ten minutes and Cody McDonald spurned a glorious one v one chance as Cody McDonald took too many touches on the ball and tried to do too much and Cody's indecision making allowed 41 year old Ian Goodison to track back and Tranmere only conceded a corner kick when they should of conceded the opening goal of the game, what Cody McDonald should of done was fire across Owain Fon Williams rather then cutting inside and dragging the ball back, all Cody did when he did this was narrow the shooting angle. But for all our dominance in the opening stages of the match, Tranmere Rovers could of scored and once again we seem to only add to our own problems by bringing everyone back to defend a corner kick, I don't know why we don't leave two / three players forward (like Peterborough did when they defended corner kicks because we had to keep four players back to prevent the counter attack), Because we are so deep even when we did clear the ball (which Leon Legge did by headering the ball clear at the near post), no-one could win the second ball and the ball came back in our box after Tranmere passed the ball about to find that opportunity and Ryan Lowe was able to play the ball through to Jake Cassidy who prodded the ball wide when I thought either Leon Legge or Stuart Nelson were going to get to the ball first, massive let off for The Gills. Jake Hessenthaler, Charlie Lee and Cody McDonald all saw efforts block on goal inside the opening twenty five minutes of the match as Gillingham were pushing hard for that crucial opening goal of the match and it was also around this stage of the match where you could feel the nervous atmosphere around the ground because had one of our goal-scoring chances had gone in then us Gillingham Supporters would feel slightly more comfortable and relaxed but the tense atmosphere probably reflected our low risk taking on the pitch, Joe Martin and Elliott Hewitt kept clipping balls down the side of the pitch and going for the long ball approach rather then playing the ball inside to Steven Gregory or Jake Hessenthaler as we were perhaps wary of those two being intercepted and there-fore creating a goal-scoring opportunity for Tranmere, I know we had to be brave on the ball but there was a safety first element in how we didn't want to lose possession of the ball in our half of the pitch. Tranmere could of opened the scoring before the half hour mark as Jason Koumas played a fantastic ball over the top and Ryan Lowe's first touch was top class and Lowe's shot hit Adam Barrett and went out for a corner kick and Tranmere were claiming that Adam Barrett blocked the ball with his arm, I couldn't be sure myself but that was the first time that Ryan Lowe had evaded Adam Barrett and Leon Legge and if anyone is going to score for Tranmere then it was going to be Ryan Lowe. Twenty Eight minutes into the match and Danny Holmes replaces Ian Goodison because of an injury, and looking at who Tranmere had out on the pitch with the likes of Ian Goodison, Ryan Lowe, Jason Koumas and Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro all starting there was a lot of experience in this Tranmere Side, Ian Goodison is seven years older then Adam Barrett so if Adam Barrett is considered slow at 34 then Ian Goodison must be slower then Adam Barrett. I thought Tranmere had opened the scoring as Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro has hit a fierce shot from distance and Stuart Nelson dived at full stretch to his right and the ball smashed into the advertisement board, I had my head in my hands because I honestly thought that effort from Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro had hit the back of the net, and we seem to be gifting Tranmere chances to score because Myles Weston very cheaply losses possession of the ball when he could of played a simple pass inside to Jake Hessenthaler, but as soon as we lose possession Tranmere are on the attack and only a late interception by Leon Legge see's Gillingham concede a corner when Tranmere should be at least getting a shot off on goal. Gillingham had three great chances to open the scoring before half time, first Jake Hessenthaler whips in a fantastic free kick which Adebayo Akinfenwa headers goal-wards and Owain Fon Williams tips over the bar, then we had a even better chance when Charlie Lee plays a sensational cross with the outside of his right boot which goes all the way through and no-one gambles on the ball to get a simple tap in, I thought Charlie Lee's cross might evade everyone and nestle into the bottom corner of the net, and finally right before half time, Elliott Hewitt plays a fantastic through-ball for Adebayo Akinfenwa to run onto and Akinfenwa gets to the ball first, chips Owain Fon Williams and Akinfenwa's lob goes just wide and that was the best chance right at the end of the first half - as Tom said to me at the time, if Cody McDonald gets to that ball he rounds the goalkeeper and taps the ball into the back of the net. HALF TIME: GILLINGHAM 0 . 0 TRANMERE ROVERS Gillingham should be in-front and my worry was that with all these goal-scoring opportunities spurned or not being taken then we might be hit on the sucker punch, Tranmere have had chances from Ryan Lowe, Jake Cassidy and Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro, but Akinfenwa has had two decent chances to score, Cody should of shot across the goalkeeper and someone should of gambled on Charlie Lee's cross / shot, there was another chance where Cody McDonald clipped the ball to the far post and Akinfenwa's header beat Owain Fon Williams but Tranmere were able to clear the ball off the line, we have done everything right except score and that is our big worry. But you can tell that the players and supporters are nervous, everyone knows just how important this match is and I think that is why the defenders are not playing the ball into midfield in our half of the pitch because we don't want to lose possession of the ball in our half of the pitch which will result in a goal-scoring opportunity for Tranmere, but at the same-time those nerves would disappear if Akinfenwa or McDonald converted one of the many chances we created in the opening forty five minutes of the match. SECOND HALF.............. The opening fifteen minutes of The Second Half saw nothing noteworthy except for Jake Hessenthaler being booked for his late challenge on Jason Koumas and it was a deserved booking for Jake Hessenthaler and I felt that booking would of made up Peter Taylor's mind who to take off because the last thing we want to see is Jake Hessenthaler picking up a second yellow card and I thought that Bradley Dack coming on for Jake Hessenthaler would give us that bit extra in midfield. But just before the hour mark and Cody McDonald could of opened the scoring for The Gills, Joe Martin plays the ball to Charlie Lee who plays the ball over the top of Tranmere's Defence and Cody McDonald brings the ball down inside the left side of Tranmere's Penalty Area, and Cody McDonald see's his shot saved by Owain Fon Williams who was off his line to narrow the angle. But as much as Gillingham are trying to open the scoring we also have to thank Stuart Nelson between the sticks for making two excellent stops to keep the score at 0 - 0, firstly, Jake Cassidy whips the ball into Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro who plays the ball back to Jason Koumas who's first time shot is hit with plenty of power but Stuart Nelson does really well to get down to held onto Koumas's shot, and then a few moments later Tranmere cause us a few problems down our right hand side, this time it is Jake Cassidy who has possession of the ball and he plays the ball back to Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro, and The Tranmere Robers Striker tries to place the ball into the bottom right corner but Stuart Nelson reads what he is trying to do and Nelson helds onto the ball. This is by far Tranmere Rovers best spell of the game as The Gills are on the back-foot and Leon Legge had to make a crucial interception sliding in to knock the ball out for a corner kick, Jake Cassidy saw one effort on the edge of our penalty area blocked and we just couldn't get out of our half, but Tranmere's best goal-scoring opportunity fell to Jake Cassidy who had time to run with the ball and let fly from twenty five yards, and Stuart Nelson dived at full stretch to his left and Cassidy's chance went just wide - that looked in and I shouted "COME ON GILLS" in frustration because Tranmere have had some very good goal-scoring opportunities in this second half. Gillingham made two changes in five minutes as Bradley Dack and Danny Kedwell came on in the sixty fifth and seventieth minute respectively, with Charlie Lee and Adebayo Akinfenwa the players to be substituted, I thought we might have moved Cody to the right win with Danny Kedwell and Adebayo Akinfenwa up-front but Peter Taylor stuck with the same formation with Steven Gregory and Jake Hessenthaler protecting the back four with Dack, Weston, Kedwell and McDonald given the licence to go forward and attack. And Bradley Dack and Danny Kedwell coming on gave Gillingham the lift they needed because we needed something to get the fans going again because we not really attacked much in The Second Half, Leon Legge's defensive header was flicked on by Bradley Dack who climbed highest to header the ball onto Danny Kedwell who threaded the ball through to Cody McDonald to run onto and Cody McDonald's shot to the near post was turned around the post by Owain Fon Williams, Cody does need to shot across the goalkeeper more often but on this occasion I think the angle was too narrow for Cody to do that this time. In The Seventy Eight Minute and Gillingham opened the scoring and took the lead, Myles Weston had possession of the ball on the left flank and waited for Joe Martin to go on a over-lapping run, and Joe Martin hangs the ball up in the air and his cross is too high for Cody McDonald to header goal-wards but the ball falls kindly for Bradley Dack to volley the ball into the back of the net to put Gillingham 1 - 0 with twelve minutes plus stoppage time remaining, Bradley Dack was booked for taking his shirt off for the goal-celebration. I have to say that I thought Bradley Dack's goal was quality yesterday but the highlights make the goal look even better as Dack anticipates where the ball is going to land and he catches the ball perfectly on the laces to smash the ball into the back of the net, what a strike and what a way to celebrate a four year contract extension at the club - that is defiantly Bradley Dack's most important goal he has scored in his Gillingham Career to date so far. That goal just seemed to lift everyone inside the stadium, the players were getting encouragement from the supporters, every tackle and every pass were being cheered and I looked across to the bench thinking that we might bring on Amine Linganzi for Jake Hessenthaler as I was wary about Jake's yellow card and Jake seemed the most likely player to be substituted. Now that we were hanging on for the win that clock wasn't just slowing down it was going backwards, the effort and commitment from the players was there for all to see and The Gills have put in a real shift, but there have been plenty of late goals at Priestfield already this season and while I can understand why Myles Weston and Danny Kedwell were holding onto possession of the ball in Tranmere's Half, it was only the eighty sixth minute and that time was only going to be added on, really we needed the security of the second goal and then we can waste a bit of time. Tranmere Rovers brought on Cole Stockton and Stephen Arthurworrey for Jason Koumas and Ryan Lowe and I felt that Tranmere had brought on two strikers to try and force a equalizer, in-between those two substitutions and Myles Weston could of made the afternoon more comfortable for Gillingham as he took on Matthew Pennington and Myles Weston fired across goal but Weston's effort was tame and easy for Owain Fon Williams to save, I was chanting "GO ON WESTON" and I just felt we needed that extra goal to seal the win which would surely secure League One Football for next season. Tranmere had one last gasp chance to score the equalizer from a corner kick, which was swung by Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro and Stuart Nelson punches the ball clear and as Max Power tried to header the ball clear Cody McDonald blocks the second ball and Gillingham can breakwith Cody McDonald and Myles Weston, everyone wanted Cody to strike the ball from 50 - 60 yards but Cody McDonald ran with the ball into Tranmere's half and clipped the ball into a unguarded net and that goal should seal all three points and now we can relax and now everyone can sing "WE ARE STAYING UP" - Every out-field player joined in with the goal celebration including Stuart Nelson and Cody McDonald deserves that goal for the way he played yesterday, there were some chances he could of converted, but this goal late on in the match should guarantee League One Football Next Season. FULL TIME: GILLINGHAM 2 - 0 TRANMERE ROVERS Once the full time whistle went Owain Fon Williams collapsed to the floor knowing just how big a defeat this was for his side and how big a victory this was for Gillingham, and with Gillingham seven points clear of the relegation zone on 51 points and a number of sides below us having to play against each other I think we are safe now - although a win against Walsall on Bank Holiday Monday would make absolutely sure we are mathematically safe. I spoke to Gary outside the ground and before the game he placed significant importance on whoever scored the first goal because Gillingham normally win at home when we score first and this was proven the case yesterday, but the more important stat is that Tranmere rarely win when they concede the opening goal of the game, although this was a devastating defeat from Tranmere's prospective they can still be smiling come the end of the season because there fight to stay up still remains in there own hands. The amount of shouting I did yesterday after we scored the opening goal, hoping, praying and begging The Gills not to mess this up and hold onto the win, The Gills really do put us through a emotional roller-coaster and we cannot win games convincingly or with ease, even when we were 3 - 0 up against port Vale we had to concede twice to make things interesting. I also thought that Leon Legge and Steven Greogry showed just how much we missed them at Leyton Orient with the way they performed against Tranmere yesterday, it is great to have Danny Kedwell back and be in a position where we can rotate Danny Kedwell or Adebayo Akinfenwa to see who plays alongside Cody McDonald and we also had Chris Whelpdale and Craig ***an as attacking options among the subs if we needed them to come on as well. Final thought: I thought yesterday was about character rather then skill and it was about three points rather then the performance, I think we saw a Gillingham Side with Character, we played very well and got the three points in a match that we had to win - with League One Football almost secured we might be able to play with a bit more freedom against Walsall, Preston North End and Shrewbury Town. But I do agree that we got a big summer coming up and defence and midfield are the area's of the squad that need huge levels of improvement and we can do with injecting more pace in the side and players who are more comfortable in possession of the ball - we also need to play a system that gets more strengths out of our players rather then putting square pegs into round holes so we need to pick the way we want to play and then sign the players who are best suited for the way we want to play, because I am not sure we will play 4.4.2 next season. I thought Leon Legge was My Man Of The Match Yesterday but I got to give My Honorable Mentions to Bradley Dack who's goal deserves to be in that Goal Of The Season Clip, what a strike and what a relief to know we have tied Bradley Dack down to a four year contract as well. My Portion of Chips and Cheese-Burger tasted nice last night , safe in the knowledge we will be playing League One Football Next Season, but I hope we end the season strongly and try and finish as high up the league table as we possibly can.
tim What a load of rubbish ! Clearly you have spent too much time in the pub to do any proper research. Where is the associated trivia with your report? How the hell am I supposed to find out anything about Gillingham if you can't be bothered to give me some interesting titbit ? Has Wikipedia not reached north of Watford or is it a lack of electricity ? - I'm just glad that by the time your beer reached you from the bar it had time to 'warm up' to the temperature that you prefer. ....see you next season in Rachedale -- THIS is what I mean. I might be able to forgive you if you concede that YOU wrote its' entry ( Recedham Manor ) in the 1086 version of the Domesday Book.
brb - just to make certain there is no misunderstanding, the reference to lack of experience was directed towards Gills PegLeg (and hopefully received with the humour that it was intended). I had hoped that anyone who has any experience of this board would have understood that brb and the Cricketers are more or less inseparably linked before a home match, and therefore the possibility that there could be any level of inexperience would be discarded without further thought. alwaysright - I had considered trivia, but given that most readers should be familiar with the journey to Priestfield, and the history of the area, I surrendered that opportunity. However, given your alarm at the incompleteness of the report I will give the matter some consideration for my next visit, whenever that may be. And, for the record, I was the one buying the round (yes, I do occasionally), and I haven't heard you complain much about the quality of the beer up here! Looks like we might get a few more matches up here next year - Rochdale are pretty close to automatic, and Fleetwood, Burton and York look like they'll be contesting the play-offs. Coming the other way looks like Barnsley are down, and Blackpool are on the edge. Have you booked your appointment for your visas and innoculations yet?
