Due to personal circumstances this was the first game I have attended since late November. What a refreshing change to see some energy back in the side, the free movement to attack without the negative tactics of PT. At 0-1 down going into the break, due to what looked a soft penalty I always felt that we could turn this around but just needed for fate to give us a break. The Coventry back four stood strong but as time went on I felt they would actually buckle and they did as we came away 3-1 victorious. Even if we had lost I would have not been down because sometimes you lose when giving your all. The changing point for me was McGlashan coming on. Because as the visitors tired his pace would turn to our benefit. The only one that out paced our number 11 was Nouble but McGlashan was fresh legs and it would not be long before the Sky Blues big man tired. Egan was named man of the match but for me it was our number five Ehmer, I knew i was watching pure quality, organised, attacking sense while still keep the back line. I believe we have two players alongside that will be a match for any one in this league, we just need to get more settled. Hessy as always never put a foot wrong, forever consistent and reliable, while Dack never stops running, loving the hippy look by the way! Have we finally turned a corner? Mr Chairman when the new man who ever it is comes in, this is the style i want to see, blood and guts, give your all and suspense with the fancy tacticians. Today my Gills did me proud... 01 Nelson 31 Hoyte 04 Egan Booked 05 Ehmer Booked 02 Garmston (Dickenson - 83' ) 18 Pritchard (McGlashan - 70' ) 07 Loft 08 Hessenthaler 23 Dack 09 Marquis 10 McDonald
I think I agree with most of your analysis brb. Ehmer was strong and deserved m.o.m but was run close by Loft and the two newcomers who showed good commitment. But don't get carried away. Coventry were poor but they were looking certs for 3 points with 10 minutes to go and they comfortably bossed the first half. For once Gills got some luck and you are right to point to McGlashan who finally delivered something on his promises which usually flatter to deceive. This is a little group of relatively easy fixtures so it is vital to pick up points.
bristol i cannot believe you think Loft had a good game he was the worst player for Gills today by a country mile. You keep saying how good he is but since he got sent off he has been very disappointing and is lucky to be in the team.
I thought Marquis deserved a shout, he didn't stop running all game and was happy to compete physically against their centre backs. It was nice to see the connecting passing play between our midfield and our strikers. This is the first match I've seen since Taylor's sacking and the difference is monumental.
As I've stated on another thread, McGlashan changed the game for me. It was only really when he came on that it looked like we could really get at Coventry and get the win. It did help though that Coventry are low on confidence and we were able to capitalise on that. His introduction also gave some of the other players a lift, especially Dack who also looked on a mission to score towards the end. Marquis' hard work deserved a goal but I can't see him setting the world alight with goals but aslong as he supplies Cody, we should be ok. I was really pleased with Garmston. Considering Martin's recent poor perfomances, it was good to see a pair of young fresh legs getting at their RB and also delivering dangerous crosses. At the same time he defended well and Coventry didn't look much of a threat attacking that side. Loft disappointed though. Too many wayward passes and poor decisions by him. In my opinion he should have been the one to make way for McGlashan and not Pritchard.
Loft has for me been the biggest dissapointment of a signing in recent years, don't get me wrong he hasn't been terrible, just i expected so much more from him after seeing him perform well against us in the past. Pritchard was again terrible on Saturday, he gives the ball away more often than not and insists on flying into tackles, now whether their player dived or not for the penalty, what is Pritchard doing sliding in the area like that. I thought Marquis was ok, ran a lot but devoid of quality a lot of the time, i don't see an improvement on Kedwell there and if we can i'd like to see someone with more quality come in to supplement Cody. Prior to Mcglashan coming on as many of you have alluded to, we had absolutely no end product. A lot of the ball yes, but the only man on the pitch who looked even remotely like scoring was Cody (as usual). Then of course Jermaine came on and opened the game up completely, everyone else picked themselves up accordingly and in my opinion we got lucky with the penalty but hey, we've had a lot of late unwarrented goals against us this season so we deserve a bit of luck. Besides we got completely stitched up in the reverse fixture where the whole world wanted Coventry to beat us and we actually deserved at least a point from that game, so considering we deserved 3 from this one, getting the penalty is justified IMO. Must push on though and get another 3 points next week.
