Losing 3-4 a bummer but from what I can tell, no disgrace. To get back to 3-3 then lose Danny spiller who'd only just come on..(was it that bad a foul for a straight red?). Still keeps the pressure on.....the point would have been a lot better. A lot of guts shown today.
Alright Cheese We were 1-3 down mate against a good Crewe side. We pulled back to 3-3 and then picked up a straight red Virtually the last kick of the game sealed it for them. I haven't checked your results, must go and look now...
No game today m8,Crewe's where i live so watching the score.The young lad powel i think,tipped for big things.
A lot of credit due for the team effort but the reality was that Crewe should have scored at least 6 against such a pisspoor defence. Only Jackman gave any confidence in the back four. Hessy did really well to squeeze a performance from the resources he had but he has to do something about the idiot Charlie Lee. His first serous foul which set the tone was clattering his man in the middle of the Crewe half which was totally unnecessary. 5 minutes later he just pushed the guy over for a yellow card in a non-dangerous position and he then committed two further howlers that deserved a red. Totally prattlike behaviour. In future Hessy should take him off immediately if he gets a first half yellow and fine him a week's wages. He would soon change. Montrose was unlucky with his booking but Spiller deserves his rs kicking for his foolish contribution. No arguments, straight red. So, as well as the injuries, next week we have C Lee, Martin, Montrose and Spiller suspended. This was 100% avoidable and there must be a big fine looming at the season end for Gills disciplinary record. It would not be so bad if they really were an aggressive team! Miller showed real promise today. It was a bit of an insult to Jackman, Payne and Montrose to give him man of the match but good luck to him.
bristol - I gave Charlie Lee man of the match in my opinion. To be quite honest if those fouls right in front of me, were deserved of that response from the ref, then the tackles on Miller in the last game were worthy of red. It was the ref that was piss poor, so much so, that Charlie was backing out of doing his job in the end, having to force other players in, because the ref was trigger happy, as was proved by Spiller. One occasion Charlie was right in front of me shoulder to shoulder with a Crewe player that went down like a sack of spuds that had been knocked over by nothing more than a feather touch. The same dramatics shown after the Spiller red. Charlie forced Miller to go in for the same tackles to protect his position on the pitch. I really wondered if that ref was wearing a red jersey today. No protection is being given to our young lad because the ref see him just as the small guy going over to larger guy. Because Lee stands his ground he gets punished.
Gills were unlucky - but also guilty of giving Crewe too much room in midfield when Crewe were attacking. I thought Montrose spent too much time marking nobody ( especially when we went to 10 men.) The referee gave very little to the Gills. Although Hess doesn't argue the red card, Spiller's foot was always on the ground ! and it was a 50/50 ball to be won and their player wasn't hurt. I wonder if we can buy the referee a new watch - I think his stopped ( I timed the 4th Crewe goal as in the 96th minute) and the linesman on the alwaysright shed side was so slow (why every week?) Despite the bad luck - Gills should have been tighter @ 3-3 and a man down. I feel that the injuries plus the suspensions - against Cheltenham & Crawley might leave us with little prospect of one or two points at best - with too few games left to catch up. (& we've still got to play Swindon) On the plus side - the youngsters did reasonably well again. The experience they're getting is invaluable, but realistically we will probably have to wait until next year for promotion.
alwaysright - IMO their goal was scored in at least the 96th minute, where did the ref find all this additional time from. My son mentioned during the game that he had noticed a lot of complaining by the Crewe players which was receiving subsequent responses in Crewe's favour, Gillingham were doing very little if any complaining. However, at one point Whelpdale on your side of the pitch (The Shed), complained about a booking being given for an earlier handball the opposing way. The ref immediately responded by giving the Crewe player a yellow. Now tell me what is going on there!
We've had the ref before - and was just as much an arse.... as I said Gills should have been tighter in defence - however when you get poor officials you might as well give up. Although I criticised Montrose, his booking was a joke. The lino on my side was no where near with in line with the last defender and obviously had given his guide dog the afternoon off. ( can we get his flag mounted on a white stick ?) brb - please don't ask me difficult questions as I consider football officials more of an enigma than women.
We were much better in the second half when Kedwell came on for O Lee and we switched to a 4-4-2. Crewe were a good side though and passed the ball very well. We have to sort the defence out though and I thought we really missed Richards today. Hopefully some of the walking wounded will be back for the next game.
alwaysright - sorry for asking difficult questions I suppose my trouble is I am too passionate and over the course of the season it evens itself out. Crewe were a very good side today and I cannot account for defensive failures that bristol407 mentioned earlier. Not saying he was wrong but in the second half any frailties were furthest from my view. However, the incidents regarding Lee this week and Miller last week were not. I could hear some fans commenting on why we were not getting forward in the dying minutes. Well the simple answer was that they were knackered, whether that is fitness levels I will leave that to those in the know. One serious mistake we did make and you picked up on the culprit was Montrose. Why the hell did he not put his foot on the ball? He launched it forward knowing no one was there and it brought us straight back under attack. Its the oldest rule in the book at that stage of the game. Trying an heroic ending cost us. I continually mentioned in previous games about Tomlin's constant one man running and the lack of assist from elsewhere, eventually it cost us an injury. Miller will go the same way if we continue with the likes of Montrose's unnecessary long balls at such a vital time. That's Gazza's line of attack, I do not expect it from a midfield that is pulling back with the defence.
brb I wasw on the half way line in the Medway Stand and nobody could argue that the two fouls leading up to Lee's Card were worthy of a booking. The real issue was that there was absolutely no need to commit either....there was no danger. Afterwards there was little doubt thta the Crewe players went down easily...what do you expect when the idiot had got himself carded in the first 20 mins. The ref told him twice that he was in the last chance saloon and lucky not to have got a second yellow. He could have gone and it was his own fault. it is no good doing impressive deeds when you cannot do your proper job because you are on the verge of being sent off and you cannot blame the ref who dealt with him leniently. This is happening every game he plays and blaming refs does not hold water. Talking about the ref he made an error with the Montrose yellow but was right on Spiller. Even Hessy agreed. On the extra time I reckon he gave a minute for their goalie timewasting (which he indicated) two mins for all the subs and two minutes for the 5 goals between 45 and 90 mins. It was not outrageous, just hugely disappointing and hugely damaging for the next couple of games.
I am talking comparisons, more than who did what... I cannot comment in regards to the incidents leading up to Charlie Lee's booking, what I saw down in front of me, not at the half way line, was clearly no more a foul than Miller getting battered. The rules of the game have not been applied consistently and fairly in the last two matches. The difference being is Miller needs very little strength to be muscled out, Charlie Lee up against there guy, needed a higher level of strength but nothing more person on person for standing ground. Now put that in reverse, when Charlie Lee forced Miller to go in, he did not get penalised because the ref's just see him as the little guy. This is more about what the ref perceived happened, as to what actually happened. I believe the crowd had wound the ref up to early on. Ironic really, Spiller now has a three match ban from this game and Richards has a broken leg from the previous, comparisons eh? I also noticed this ref was fussier about Gazza's kicks, never been a problem with any other ref and vital in its decision in regards to his normal style of play. Also in the added time, how much did he give for Spiller's challenge, there was enough fuss about it. Also there goal keeper gets penalised for time wasting but the time is added at the point when it is against us (expected and normal). Maybe the ref could have been a bit more lenient with his watch with that in mind. Rather than going in to what appeared past the sixth minute.
