Gillingham View attachment 22392 Vs Accrington Match Day Thread 23rd March 2013 3PM- Priestfield Stadium We are getting to the important part of the season where we could witness a league winning side for the first time since 1963-64 so this is an exciting time so it is time that we all get behind the team and cheer them on and this is important. All fans are required to turn up and raise the atmosphere this weekend and all you need to bring along is your ticket and your voice and your voice is needed. Lets cheer on our team to a title and not moan about them as this is tough and we are grinding the results out and this is important that we keep a positive atmosphere and not be so negative. Now lets get behind the boys and enjoy this as this is as good as it gets as times like this don't come round often and this is a time we should never forget. This is the Match day thread, this is where you can post your team predictions, chat before the game about the match or anything else, chat during the match and post updates on the match and also chat after the game about the score and write your match report. Also if I am at the match I will write my report after the match giving my view on the players, join in the chat and have fun. Team News It is not known yet who Gillingham could be missing as Bradley Dack, Matt Fish, Chris Whelpdale and Charlie Lee all took knocks in the game against Rochdale on Tuesday and it is not yet known the extend of any of their injuries. Myles Weston did not return in that game but could be back for this game if we passes his fitness test. Andy Frampton is one player who defiantly not be in the team as he collected a red card on Tuesday and he will be suspended for the next 3 games. Accrington team news to follow. Past meetings Gillingham have an even record against Accrington which is 4 wins, 2 draw and 4 defeats so we are not amazing but we are not too bad against them however our record away against them is not good but this is a home game which is good because we do have a good record at home against them as we have played at home 4 times against them and we have not lost in any of the meetings with 3 wins and 1 draw however the draw come in our last home meeting with them which was a 1-1 draw back last season on the 10th September 2011. You can say our record against them is good but in fact we have won 1 of our last 6 meetings with them with 2 draws and a defeat in our last 3. 07 Sep 1960 Gillingham v Accrington Stanley W 2-1 League Division Four 12 Sep 1960 Accrington Stanley v Gillingham L 3-0 League Division Four 30 Aug 2008 Gillingham v Accrington Stanley W 1-0 League Two 07 Mar 2009 Accrington Stanley v Gillingham W 0-2 League Two 19 Jan 2010 Accrington Stanley v Gillingham L 1-0 FA Cup 02 Oct 2010 Accrington Stanley v Gillingham L 7-4 League Two 12 Mar 2011 Gillingham v Accrington Stanley W 3-1 League Two 10 Sep 2011 Gillingham v Accrington Stanley D 1-1 League Two 28 Jan 2012 Accrington Stanley v Gillingham L 4-3 League Two 24 Nov 2012 Accrington Stanley v Gillingham D 1-1 League Two Accrington are not playing amazing but have recorded 2 wins in a row but I do believe that we can win this game as Accrington are down near the bottom of the league for a reason and that is that they have not been that good this season and we need to take advantage of that and play well at home as we need to give teams less respect when they come to Priestfield as that seems to be our problem. All we need to do is get the ball down and play our football and we will be fine and we can win this. There is many ways that you can take our record as you can think it is either good or bad if you look at the overall picture, recent picture, home form against them or away form. Current league table As of 21.03.13 Gillingham sit top of League 2 with 72 points after 39 games and with a win this weekend we could make it 75 and that would be 10 home wins and 11 away wins which is good but home could have been a lot better but we can make up for that with a good run at home in the last 4 home games. Port Vale are second and they are 5 points Gillingham on 67 points after 39 games so there is no game in hand for us now as we played that on Tuesday. Accrington are not doing amazing but have done a lot better in the last 2 games and have won them both scoring a total of 7 goals between the 2 games. They have climbed off bottom with 43 points up to 22nd which is 2 points ahead of York who are 23rd who have just dropped into the relegation zone after a bad run of form which has seen them not win in the last 15 games. HOADIEâS View on this match I think that this is a must win now with only 7 games to go we need to get a good together if we are to win the league because if we don't stay consistent I think we may finish 2nd. I think that even thought Accrington have been good in their last 2 games we need to win and we can win as they are struggling for a reason and that is that they don't really have much of a good team and our team even with injuries is better so I think that we can win this and with style. The score line and scorers I think that the score will be Gillingham 3-0 Accrington with Kedwell getting 2 and German also getting 1.
I am going to have a go at guessing the team even though there is a lot of doubts but this is what I feel it will be. Nelson Fish Legge Barrett Martin Gregory Lee Robinson Allen Kedwell German Subs Forecast Davies East Muggleton Weston Burton Birchall So I am guessing that Weston may be back and Dack and Whelpdale will be out with Lee and Fish recovering however I will probably be wrong. If all of them were out I think we would be bringing in extra players on loan as we would not have enough players however I think many of them will be fine. Dack sounded like the worst injury and I hope he is fine but Whelpdale sounded like he had done the same a few weeks ago. Hopefully they are all fine as that would be the best possibility but it is likely that at least one of them will be out of action this weekend.
None of them sound particularly promising so I think he will go with this team: Nelson East Legge Barrett Martin Gregory Richardson Robinson Allen German Kedwell Subs: Forecast, Davies, Muggleton, Lee, Weston, Burton, Birchall. If Richardson has returned to Newcastle then I think Mad Dog will either risk starting with Weston, or push Gregory higher up the pitch and play Davies as the holding midfielder. Josh Hare or Jake Hessenthaler will probably be used to make up the numbers on the bench if that is the case.
Hare and Hessenthaler are out on loan. I know Hessenthaler is out on loan but I think Hare is as well. I personally would like to see them play defiantly Hare as he seems very promising.
An important match as the season is coming to a close and with some very tough away matches are home form has now got to be good. We need to keep this 5 point lead for as long as possible for promotion and even better the title.
I see that Hessenthaler and Devante McKain have been recalled from their loans now so they will take the places of any people who are missing so I expect that they may take a place on the bench.
From the sounds of Mad Dog most players will have a fitness test today. Them being Whelpdale, Lee, Weston and Bradley Dack. No mention of Matt Fish so he's probably fit then. Richardson also has gone back but McKain, Hesenthaler and Hare have been recalled from their loans.
Hoadie said "they are struggling for a reason" what struggle? looking at their last 10 games. away at Rochdale they won 3 - 0, something we failed to do. Wimbledon they beat 4 - 0. Barnet they beat 3 - 2. Torquay 0 - 0. Cheltenham 2 - 2. Southend 1 - 1. Whilst it is winnable, let's not get complacent, the above results are not that bad and most are before Jeffers arrived.
grumpygit - Exactly my thoughts but I did not have the heart to tell him. You can be so cruel at times
I know they have had a few good results but before the last 2 games their form was not great as they have lost a lot of games and they have a poor goal difference to show for it but I do believe that they have not been very poor as the teams down the bottom all have had good spells this season and there is no team that stands out to go down other than York on current form. What I believe is that there is no team this season down the bottom who seem like they would lose 5-0 or 6-0 each game like teams have been like in the past such as Hereford.
I think if Accrington score early, they could force us to let down our drawbridge and come out of the castle keep to fight toe to toe. We could end up with another goal fest on the lines of our games with them over the last couple of seasons. An excited big crowd will then hopefully roar us on to victory. You lucky people! Mad Dog will then likely have a turn and be carried away on a stretcher!
Bad news it is snowing in Gillingham. I really hope this don't get worse as it better not get called off.
Teams (courtesy of the OS) Martin Allen makes three changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Rochdale in midweek. Steven Gregory replaces the suspended Andy Frampton, Charlie Allen comes in for the injured Bradley Dack and Deon Burton replaces Antonio German in attack. Myles Weston makes a welcome return from injury on the substitutes bench. Gillingham: Stuart Nelson, Matt Fish, Joe Martin, Leon Legge, Adam Barrett, Steven Gregory, Charlie Allen, Anton Robinson, Chris Whelpdale, Danny Kedwell, Deon Burton Subs: Tommy Forecast, Callum Davies, Danny East, Charlie Lee, Adam Birchall, Myles Weston, Antonio German
Didn't sound like it was a great performance but we are now 8 points clear so we can't complain really
BSG In the first half we played some very good football ( very positive ) - we really should have scored 5 ( 2 headers cleared off the line, a Whelpdale one-on-one with the keeper that was wasted and a Martin shot that only just went wide). As the 2nd half progressed so Gills began to retreat. Accrington got more of the ball - but never really threatened to score. When Weston and German were introduced we regained more of the initiative and I didn't have any real concern that we would drop 2 points - this was a 'comfortable' 1-0 win.
Unusually today I sat in the Medway stand, and the noise from the Rainham end was fantastic. Was a real game of 2 halves we dominated the first and as 'always' has said we should have had more than the 1 goal to show for our domination. But the 2nd half we didn't really get going, Gregory was particularly poor in my opinion not sure how he gets picked ahead of Charlie Lee! MOM went to Legge it could just as easily have been Barrett, and despite lots of possesion for Accrington in the 2nd half I don't recall Nelson being tested. Fish, Martin and Whelpdale played OK, I thought Kedwell led the line well, all in all we deserved the win but made harder of work of it than we should.
I thought Burton, Keds and Whelpdale played very well in the opener and the trio seemed to combine well, without to many of the sometimes momentary lapses. Joe Martin put in another good performance and I think I have worked out after all this time he is best suited as an attacking left back, basically no one in front of him. I've seen the frustration in him over the seasons, which is why I have vented my own disapproval towards him. Sadly though Weston really winds me up at times, he has everything I look for in a player but his concentration at times is questionable. He needs to remain focused, what was he playing at when Charlie Lee cleared up the mess through the middle today and Weston just stood watching as Lee tried to play him through. Basically what I'm saying is MOVE! Good performance though, kept the ball on the ground, played it out from the back with Nelson and a cracking goal from Fish. Would just for once this season like to see us do it for a full 90 minutes. We should have stuffed Accrington today, especially in the first half.
Saturday's win over Accrington Stanley was our 10th home win of the season and saw us achieve a double double, by which I mean we have made double figures for victories both home (10) and away (11). Surely this can not have happened often in our history. A fantastic achievement well done to all the team.
