Another dreadful performance at Priestfield Stadium from Gillingham yesterday, but unlike our recent games against Carlisle United and Brackley Town where Gillingham got something out of the game, yesterday against Oldham Athletic we got nothing, and to be perfectly honest considering how dreadful the performance was throughout the entire game I think Gillingham would of been very fortuitous to get a point from the game, let along picking up all three points. There was no urgency, no desire, no pattern of play and we had no idea's on how to keep possession of the how, how to pass and move and the only commitment and determination we showed throughout the game was from Danny Kedwell's challenge on Genseric Kasunga, which sparked a mass brawl and Danny Kedwell can consider himself very lucky to stay on the pitch after that challenge which forced Genseric Kasunga into the advertisement boards, I have seen this incident on Gills Player and Genseric Kasunga grabs Danny Kedwell around the throat after that challenge and I can understand the reaction from Genseric Kasunga, but once you grab a player from the throat upwards then your only going to be sent off. FIRST HALF..... Oldham Athletic had the first effort on goal inside the opening three minutes as James Dayton whips in a fantastic cross from the left wing and Danny Philliskirk's header forces Stuart Nelson to make the first save of the afternoon, Oldham Athletic also could of scored again in the eighteenth minute and as Gillingham had everyone back inside our own penalty area to defend the corner kick, Oldham Athletic's short corner routine caught everyone out and Johnson Clarke-Harris fires a low cross inside our penalty area and Danny Hollands completely misses the ball and we somehow managed to get away with that because the ball could of gone anywhere, excellent short corner routine from Oldham Athletic though and it is that kind of imagination which is catching us out when defending and attacking set pieces. Oldham Athletic were creating the better chances on goal and Danny Philliskirk's long range effort bounced awkwardly in-front of Stuart Nelson who did very well to gather the ball first time, and Oldham were still creating the better chances on goal as a quickly taken throw on down the left flank saw Korey Smith have control of the ball and he spun on the half turn and Korey Smith's shot was turned around the post by Stuart Nelson. Other notable moments in the first half was some truly dreadful distribution from Leon Legge, their were a number of occasions in the first half where Leon Legge failed to control the ball and his distribution was very poor and Gillingham even conceded a corner kick as Stuart Nelson and Leon Legge passed the ball between the two of them at the back, now Leon Legge will win the ball in the air all day long for you and defensive he is very solid, but Leon Legge isn't the most comfortable of players with possession of the ball at his feet, really we should get the ball into the oppositions half then look to pass the ball, you can over-play the ball at the back and one poor pass and the opposition could have a clear cut goal-scoring opportunity. Leon Legge also conceded a foul on the halfway line for getting in to tight on his marker and the same-thing happened to Elliott Hewitt as a long cross-field pass was well controlled by James Dayton and The Oldham Athletic Winger draw a foul out of Elliott Hewitt as Hewitt was caught underneath the ball. There were too really good passages of play in the first half from Gillingham that didn't result in a goal-scoring opportunity, the first one was from Chris Whelpdale who controlled the ball on the half turn and took two Oldham Players out of the game completley and as Chris Whelpdale ran towards goal he took too long on the ball to decide what he was going to do with it, either run at goal and get a shot off on target, or look to thread through a pass, by the time Whelpdale did thread through a pass the opportunity to get a shot off on goal had gone and I think Michael Harriman would of been flagged for offside even if he did keep the ball in play. Another potentially good opportunity came from Danny Kedwell who had possession of the ball and was looking to run the ball out of play and Kedwell played a fantastic through pass to Cody McDonald but Cody McDonald was in a offside position and the chance had gone, fantastic ball from Danny Kedwell and surely Cody McDonald should be looking along the line to make sure he is onside, a few Gillingham Supporters around me seem to think that Cody McDonald has put on some weight because he appears to be slower and reacts slower as well, his reactions were fast enough for the goal against Sheffield United the previous week but we are also not creating many chances and Danny Kedwell and Cody McDonald were not getting anything from our midfielders throughout the entire game let along the first forty five minutes. I thought Elliott Hewitt and Michael Harriman were trying to link up down the right flank, it wasn't always coming off and the two right backs might not be picking up the right positions but the two of them were trying to make things happen, also I felt their were quite a few fouls in the first half which were not foul-able offences and I thought Graham Scott was very fussy and he appeared to be happy to blow his whistle for any minor challenge, let along a strong physical challenge. What was really appalling was that we had one half chance on goal throughout the entire first half and that came right at the end of the half as Chris Whelpdale's long throw in was flicked on by Danny Kedwell and Kedwell's looping header just went wide of the far post, I jotted down my notes and my thoughts of the first half in my notepad but they were mainly observations of what had gone on the first forty five minutes and that performance was appalling and unacceptable, one half chance on goal in forty five minutes is not good enough, thankfully the score was goal-less at the time and if Gillingham can step it up in The Second Half then we might be able to grind out a much needed victory.
SECOND HALF...... At the start of The Second Half I was expecting either Craig ***an or Myles Weston to come on for one of Elliott Hewitt or Michael Harriman, neither player had been playing badly but I felt at the time we needed a winger on the right side who was willing to take Oldham's defence on and cause them problems at the back. You think with Gillingham kicking towards The Rainham End and after a talking to at half-time that Gillingham would show more determination and more urgency to try and win the match, but we seem to come out in The Second Half with the same lackluster and tired performance from the first half because Oldham Athletic were playing the better football, their one touch passing and movement on and off the ball was vastly superior to anything we were doing and Oldham were still creating the better goal-scoring chances. Stuart Nelson did very well to react first to a excellent cross from Joesph Mills who's cross from the right was punched clear by Stuart Nelson just as Danny Philliskirk was looking to header that cross goal-wards and so far the only thing us Gillingham Supporters have had to shout about in The Second Half was the blatant dive from Johnson Clarke-Harris who fell over inside his own penalty area as Chris Whelpdale was pressing him back to his own goal and how Referee Graham Scott can give Oldham Athletic for that I will never know. Still Oldham Athletic were creating the better goal-scoring chances as James Dayton's superbly flighted corner kick was right on James Tarkowski's head and The Oldham Athletic Centre Back headered the ball straight at Stuart Nelson, had James Tarkowski headered the ball either side of Stuart Nelson then Oldham Athletic would of taken the lead. Eventually Oldham Athletic did take the lead and we have had enough warnings and survived enough near misses and excellent goal-scoring opportunities to know better, James Dayton clipped the ball into Danny Philliskirk's path and The Oldham Athletic Striker checked back on himself and cut inside and beat Adam Barrett and Danny Philliskirk saw his shot well saved by Stuart Nelson and the re-bound popped up to Johnson Clarke-Harris who completely missed the ball with a air-shot but Michael Petrasso headers the ball over Stuart Nelson and Oldham Athletic take the lead in slightly fortuitous circumstances. But while the goal might have been lucky, look at how many Oldham Athletic Players are there inside our penalty area and look at how quick they are to react to the re-bound and the second ball, Stuart Nelson does really well to save Danny Philliskirk's shot but the defending after that is slow and Leon Legge seems to disappear completely as Adam Barrett has to come across to deal with Danny Philliskirk, a very bad goal to concede but on the balance of play Oldham Athletic deserve to be in-front and we needed something to wake The Gills up because we had played for fifty five minutes and Gillingham have done very little and we have not been in the game at all. That goal had appeared to have woken us up because suddenly their was this quick burst forward as Chris Whelpdale had possession of the ball and Whelpdale played the ball back to Joe Martin who whipped in a fantastic cross and Danny Kedwell can only header the ball over the crossbar from about ten yards out, at least it was something and had we equalized so soon after conceding the opening goal then you like to think that a equalizing goal would give us a second wind to go on and get a unlikely winner. Elliott Hewitt played a long ball down the right flank for Cody McDonald to chase onto and Cody McDonald's first touch was decent but Jonathan Grounds got himself between the ball and Cody McDonald, but Cody was able to anticipate Grounds attempted clearance and win possession of the ball and as Cody McDonald was about to pull the back into the danger-zone, Mark Oxley narrowed the angle and conceded a corner kick to preserve Oldham Athletic's lead. Sixty Five Minutes into the match and Peter Taylor decided to make a double substitution as Craig ***an and Myles Weston come on for Chris Whelpdale and Danny Hollands, interesting that it looked liked Gillingham were going with a 4.2.4 formation with Michael Harriman and John Mousinho in the middle of the park and Craig ***an, Myles Weston, Cody McDonald and Danny Kedwell up-front, we really needed to do something because Gillingham have been very very poor so far and hopefully Craig ***an and Myles Weston can make a impact for Gillingham from the subs bench. And Five Minutes after Gillingham had made that double substitution, we created our best attacking move of the afternoon as Leon Legge's long ball forward from the back was flicked on by Danny Kedwell and Cody McDonald was battling with James Tarkowski to win possession of the ball and Cody McDonald was twisting and turning and Cody McDonald's toe poked effort on goal was saved by Mark Oxley and Oldham Athletic were able to clear their lines. Oldham Athletic also made a double substitution themselves as Charlie MacDonald and Adam Rooney come on for Danny Philliskirk and Johnson Clarke-Harris, two strikers come off and two strikers come on and Adam Rooney has been in fine form for Oldham Athletic so it makes you wonder why he did not start the game on Saturday. With Craig ***an, Myles Weston, Cody McDonald and Danny Kedwell up-front, instead of passing and moving Leon Legge has knocked a few high balls in the general direction of Danny Kedwell and for the most part Oldham Athletic have been winning the aerial battles, Oldham Athletic have also been able to counter after headering the ball clear and Elliott Hewit takes one for the team by pulling back Sidney Schmeltz as Elliott Hewitt was pulling The Oldham Athletic Midfielder down to the floor, Elliott Hewitt is booked and Oldham Athletic have a free kick in our half of the pitch. There had been a number of incidents throughout the match where Oldham Athletic had feigned injury to stop play, like when Michael Petrasso goes down after Leon Legge wins the ball in the air and Michael Petrasso is lying down on the pitch right next to the touchline and Michael Petrasso could crawl off the pitch, after his substitution he walks around the pitch behind The Rainham End and along the touchline in-front of The Medway Stand where he is getting a lot of stick. But these feigned injury incidents were building up a lot of frustration among The Gillingham Supporters and The Gillingham Players so it is hardly surprising that Danny Kedwell's challenge on Genseric Kasunga sparked a mass brawl because that had been building up throughout the entire match, now I have watched that incident on Gills Player over and over again and Danny Kedwell is very lucky to have only picked up a yellow card for that challenge which forced Genseric Kasunga into the advertisement boards, had Genseric Kasunga not reacted the way he did then Danny Kedwell would of been sent off. As soon as Oldham Athletic went down to ten men Peter Taylor makes Gillingham's third and final substitution as Bradley Dack comes on for Adam Barrett and Gillingham look to switch to a 3.4.3 formation to try and get a unlikely equalizer, but it was Oldham who created the much better chance as Bradley Dack conceded a foul in a very dangerous area and Oldham Athletic had a free kick in a promising situation, Joseph Mills curls a brilliant free kick over the wall and his free kick goes just wide of Stuart Nelson's right hand post, had that gone in then that would of been game over for sure. Gillingham had more then seven minutes of added time to try and score the equalizer but the only notable chance we created throughout that time was a long cross-field pass by Michael Harriman and Craig ***an controls the ball brilliantly, ***an plays the ball out-wide to Myles Weston who whips in a fantastic cross first time and Mark Oxley has to dive at full stretch to punch the ball clear and Craig ***an's attempted shot from the edge of the penalty area goes out for a throw on. Mark Oxley also goes into Graham Scott's Notebook for time-wasting but by the time he was booked it was the sixth minute of added time so he is not going to care about that, why book a player for time-wasting right at the end of the match, surely if your going to book a player for time-wasting then you should be booking them after the second / third time they time-waste ???
To be honest you cannot blame Oldham Athletic for time-wasting, we did the same-thing at Sheffield United last week when Stuart Nelson gathered the ball and hit the deck pretending to be injured and that annoyed The Sheffield United Supporters, and if you pick up three points from feigned injury, time-wasting and unsportsmanlike behavior then if your winning games you don't care how you win even though that sort of conduct is not in the spirit and Morales of the game. When the full time whistle went inside Priestfield Stadium there were a lot of boo's and I don't blame anyone who decided to boo that performance, Gillingham were dire, devoid of any idea's and we only started to play in the final twenty minutes of the match and to play like we did against a Oldham Athletic Side who started the day below us in the table is unacceptable. The players have to take the larger amount of the blame because they are the ones out there on the pitch who were playing that poorly and we had so many players who were not on it and who put in a poor performance that it is hardly surprising that we lost, you can have 2 - 3 players having a off day in your team and get away with it, but 8 - 9 putting in a bad performance is something you cannot get away with. Peter Taylor needs to look at some of the decisions he makes as well, but the players have to take the larger portion of the blame for Saturday's performance and result because that was unacceptable and we have not put in a good performance at Priestfield Stadium for sometime now, finally you have to give some praise Oldham Athletic because with the exception of time-wasting and faking injuries they were a really good passing team, full of enthusiasm, imagination and had willing runners and that was typified in the goal they scored as Oldham Athletic had 3 - 4 players in Gillingham's Penalty Area and we did not show the same desire to get forward. A bad performance, a bad result and very little positives to take out of Saturday's game, you like to think that we won't play as bad as that against Stevenage tomorrow but our performances against Carlisle United ( In The First Half) and Brackley Town were equally just as poor as The Oldham Athletic Game. Final Mention: As I went into The Ticket Office to buy My Rotherham United Ticket, I left My Season Ticket on the counter as I went into The Mega-Store, I rushed back to The Ticket Office and My Season Ticket was thankfully still there, I reminded Diane about her Season Ticket as she had left her Season Ticket at home and she brought a match ticket in The Gordan Road Stand and would go back to The Ticket Office with her Season Ticket to get a refund. SORRY MY POST IS DIVIDED INTO THREE POSTS
