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FOM BLOG: GILLINGHAM 2-0 BLACKPOOL
My Thoughts On Gillingham V Blackpool……………
Gillingham’s Home Match Against Blackpool On Saturday The 26th Of September was going to be one of Gillingham’s toughest tests of the season, which sounds bizarre on the outside looking in, Because Gillingham have played against two teams relegated from The Championship in Hull City and Wigan Athletic, and both of these matches gave Gillingham different challenges, But unlike those two clubs, Blackpool no longer have the off the field problems they experienced with the previous regime, And Manager Neil Critchley has recruited very well in the summer with Demetri Mitchell, Daniel Kemp, Bez Lubala, Jordan Williams, Ethan Robson, CJ Hamilton, Jerry Yates, Oliver Sarkic and Marvin Ekpiteta all signing for Blackpool, and the fact that all nine players mentioned are twenty five or younger suggests that Neil Critchley will focus on signing young players with potential, and Blackpool are tipped by many supporters to be one of the dark horses who can challenge for A League One Playoff Position at the end of The 2020 / 2021 Season.
Most of the messages that had been tweeted out by Gillingham Football Club on The Thursday and Friday had been regarding getting the I Follow Codes for Gillingham V Blackpool, And if you were A Season Ticket Holder, then you get to watch the match for free, But the code I received for Gillingham V Hull City was not going to work for Gillingham V Blackpool, which means that Gillingham have to constantly send out new codes for every league home league game - How is that going to work when Gillingham have back to back home league games on A Saturday or Tuesday Night, I have no idea - But if you had not renewed your Season Ticket for The 2020 / 2021 Season and you had every intention to renew your Season Ticket, but you were unable to do so because of lockdown, Then you have to pay £10 to watch every home league game on I Follow.
It also doesn’t help at all that Season Ticket Holders were only given one week to renew there Season Tickets back in February, and it also doesn’t help at all that supporters have not been given a choice regarding what happens regarding the missed home league games at the end of The 2019 / 2020 Season, Paul Scally mentions that supporters are happy to let the club keep that money to keep the club going, but the communication from Gillingham Football Club over lockdown has been very poor to say the least, Other football clubs have given supporters options, and one option I have seen from York City is the money lost from the home matches you have missed at the back end of The 2019 / 2020 Season, can be used as a partial payment to your Season Ticket for The 2021 / 2022 Season, that makes sense, the football club keeps the money and you are making savings on your Season Ticket costs in the near future.
Eventually, Gillingham’s Team News Appeared On Twitter, And Gillingham Lined Up As Follow,,,,,, Jack Bonham, Ryan Jackson, Jack Tucker, Zech Medley, Connor Ogilvie, Scott Robertson, Josh Eccles, Jacob Mellis, Dominic Samuel, Vadaine Oliver, Jordan Graham SUBS: Joe Walsh (GK), Robbie McKenzie, Alex MacDonald, Henry Woods, Trae Coyle and John Akinde - Gillingham could only name six substitutes on the bench, and one of the main reasons for that is because Centre Back Christian Maghoma had to be tested for Covid Protocols, But Jack Bonham recovering from his back strain was a unexpected boost, And I thought Dominic Samuel would be eased back into The Starting Line Up having signed for Gillingham On The Monday, And Josh Eccles is back in The Starting Line Up having been cup tied for the League Cup Third Round Tie Away Against Stoke City On Wednesday Night.
The last time Gillingham played against Blackpool, We were celebrating Brandon Hanlan’s stoppage time winner as Gillingham won 3-2 at Bloomfield Road, John Akinde and Regan Charles-Cook were on the score-sheet for Gillingham that night and I asked the question, Will we be celebrating another stoppage time winner from The Gills Today ??? - Looking at Gillingham Related News From Elsewhere, Young Striker Toby Bancroft was starting for Margate against Carshalton Athletic, And Former Gillingham Defenders Callum Davies and Finn O’Mara were both starting for Folkestone Invicta against Wingate & Finchley FC.
One thing I noticed as I was watching the pre-match warm up was the sound of the wind, and this is going to be one of those days where you appreciate watching Gillingham V Blackpool on I Follow, Because it must be freezing inside Priestfield Stadium (Even though we would love to watching Gillingham V Blackpool Live inside the ground, but right now that is not possible, But avoiding getting frozen watching the match live is something we can appreciate) - As for the match against Blackpool, I think this is a match that Gillingham need to win for three main reason’s, One, Gillingham need to bounce back from the defeat against Stoke City In The Third Round Of The League Cup and get a win which would give the players a much needed confidence boost, Two, A Win against Blackpool will see Gillingham pick up six points out of a possible nine, Which is very important when you look at the fixtures coming up in October, And Three, Gillingham would pick up there first home league win of the season, and we don’t want to be talking about Gillingham not picking up enough points at Priestfield Stadium, and therefore, It is vital for Gillingham to get that first home league win of the season against Blackpool.
I then posted the following on to Twitter,,,, Ten Minutes Until Kick Off - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!! - And the players came out on to the pitch ready to kick off the third League One Fixture Of The 2020 / 2021 Season, Hopefully, Gillingham can pick up all three points and start looking up The League One Table, rather then looking over our shoulder already at The League One Relegation Zone - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MATCH DETAILS (FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS)
Three Minutes Into The Match, And Jerry Yates is penalised for a foul on Josh Eccles and Gillingham have been awarded a free kick, and from the resulting free kick, Jack Tucker kicks the ball long down-field and Marvin Ekpiteta kicks the ball clear away from danger when Goalkeeper Chris Maxwell was calling for Marvin Ekpiteta to leave the ball to run through to him, And Bez Lubala wins the initial aerial challenge down Blackpool’s Left Side Of The Pitch In Blackpool’s Final Third - Gillingham’s Right - And Ryan Jackson wins the second aerial challenge to header the ball forwards towards Dominic Samuel, and Michael Nottingham has come across to provide defensive cover and Michael Nottingham has completely sliced the ball out of play for A Gillingham Corner Kick.
And Michael Nottingham conceding a very cheap corner kick for The Gills proves to be very costly, Because from the resulting corner kick, Gillingham manage to open the scoring, Scott Robertson whips in a dangerous in-swinging cross and Connor Ogilvie’s looping header clips the top of Blackpool’s Crossbar with Chris Maxwell well beaten in The Blackpool Goal, And Jack Tucker does brilliantly at the back-stick to header the ball back across the face of goal and there was Dominic Samuel in the right place at the right time to header the ball against the underside of the crossbar from close range to give Gillingham the all important lead in this League One Fixture against Blackpool, Because in both matches against Hull City and Wigan Athletic, It has been the opposition who have scored the opening goal of the game - GILLINGHAM 1-0 BLACKPOOL.
Connor Ogilvie almost scored from exactly the same spot where Ogilvie scored his header against Southend United when Gillingham won 1-0 against Southend United In The First Round Of The League Cup, And I have to give plenty of praise and plaudits to Jack Tucker to be so quick to react at the back-stick to header the ball back across the face of goal, and Dominic Samuel scoring just four minutes into his second debut for Gillingham is a dream start to this match for Dominic Samuel, and also, the perfect start to this match for Gillingham as well.
Nine Minutes Into The Match, And Blackpool almost equalised in fortuitous circumstances, Ollie Turton has possession of the ball down Blackpool’s Right Side Of The Pitch - Gillingham’s Left - Just inside Blackpool’s own half of the pitch, And Ollie Turton passes the ball out-wide to Grant Ward, And Grant Ward slips and this allows Jordan Graham and Scott Robertson to close down The Blackpool Midfielder, but despite the fact that Grant Ward was down on the deck, The Blackpool Midfielder still manages to pass the ball centrally to Ethan Robson, And Ethan Robson plays a first time ball forwards to CJ Hamilton, And CJ Hamilton passes the ball square to Keshi Anderson on the halfway line, just inside Gillingham’s Half, And Keshi Anderson goes on a driving run forwards in possession of the ball, And Keshi Anderson continue’s his towards the edge of Gillingham’s Penalty Area, And Keshi Anderson tries to pick out Jerry Yates with a pass, which is intercepted by Zech Medley, But the deflection off Zech Medley is heading goal-wards and Jack Bonham dives across to his right side to turn the ball around the post at the expense of conceding a corner kick, if there was more pace on the pass from Keshi Anderson, then the deflection off Zech Medley could have beaten Jack Bonham in The Gillingham Goal and Blackpool would have equalised, And from the resulting corner kick, Grant Ward whips in a dangerous in-swinging cross towards the near post and Josh Eccles manages to header the ball clear and away from danger, However, Demetri Mitchell is first to the loose ball down the left side of the pitch - Gillingham’s Right - And Demetri Mitchell takes one touch to control the ball, and another touch to hit a diagonal cross-field cross towards CJ Hamilton and Connor Ogilvie allows the ball to go over his head and out of play for A Gillingham Throw On, In Gillingham’s Final Third, Right in the corner of The Rainham End and The Gordon Road Stand.
And with CJ Hamilton not capitalising on that goal-scoring opportunity opportunity for Blackpool, Gillingham had the chance to double there lead from the next passage of play, Jack Bonham kicks the ball long down-field and Vadaine Oliver does really well to win the aerial battle to flick the ball on towards Jacob Mellis, And Jacob Mellis manages to retain possession of the ball before being fouled by Ethan Robson and Grant Ward, And Gillingham have been awarded a free kick, and from the resulting free kick, Jordan Graham whips in a high and hanging cross towards the far side of Blackpool’s Penalty Area, And Jerry Yates headers the ball partially clear and away from danger towards the edge of Blackpool’s Penalty Area, And Jacob Mellis’ first time volleyed effort towards goal clears Blackpool’s Crossbar by some considerable distance, And had Jacob Mellis scored that volleyed effort to give Gillingham A Two Goal Lead, Then Jacob Mellis would have scored a very early contender for Gillingham’s Goal Of The Season Award For The 2020 / 2021 Season.
Thirty Eight Minutes Into The Match, And Blackpool created one of there better opportunities of the first half to try and score an equaliser, Michael Nottingham passes the ball forwards to Bez Lubala inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area Down The Left Side Of The Pitch - Gillingham’s Right - And Bez Lubala manages to retain possession of the ball despite Jack Tucker tightly marking Bez Lubala, And Bez Lubala cuts inside into a more central position on the pitch, And Bez Lubala see’s his attempted pass deflect off Jacob Mellis, into Ethan Robson’s Path and Ethan Robson plays a first time pass forwards towards Keshi Anderson, But Jack Tucker is in the right place at the right time to boot the ball long down-field and Marvin Ekpiteta wins the aerial battle up against Vadaine Oliver to header the ball forwards and Grant Ward’s Header drops to Jordan Graham, who gets the ball under control before passing a short pass inside to Scott Robertson, And Scott Robertson gets the ball under control before trying to thread a through-ball through to Vadaine Oliver, But Ethan Robson is in the right place at the right time to make the crucial interception, And Ethan Robson takes a few touches in possession of the ball before playing a short pass sideways towards Jerry Yates, And Jerry Yates runs forwards in possession of the ball before striking as fiercely driven effort towards goal from twenty five yards out and the ball bounced just in-front of Jack Bonham, and Jack Bonham does brilliantly to parry the ball wide away from goal, And Jack Bonham manages to get to the loose ball ahead of Jerry Yates, who had pushed Connor Ogilvie down to the deck and Gillingham had been awarded a defensive free kick - A Very Good Save From Jack Bonham to preserve Gillingham’s Slender 1-0 Lead.
OTHER MATCH INCIDENTS WHICH WERE NOT SHOWN ON EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS
FIRST HALF
Five Minutes Into The Match, And Marvin Ekpiteta tries to pick out Jerry Yates with a long ball down-field which is slightly over-hit and runs all the way through to Jack Bonham to make a routine save - It’s fantastic to see Jack Bonham start in goal for Gillingham against Blackpool for this latest League One Fixture, Because I was convinced that Joe Walsh would start in goal and Gillingham would have to sign A Emergency Goalkeeper On Loan to provide Goalkeeper Cover On The Bench - Joe Walsh was excellent in goal against Stoke City for Gillingham’s League Cup Third Round Match On Wednesday Night, But having Jack Bonham back in goal is a major boost for The Gills - Six Minutes Into The Match, And Ryan Jackson tries to pick out Dominic Samuel with a long ball down-field and Demetri Mitchell had done enough to shield the ball back to Chris Maxwell and prevent Dominic Samuel from getting on to the end of Ryan Jackson’s long kick down-field.
Twelve Minutes Into The Match, And Ethan Robson is penalised for his challenge on Jordan Graham and Gillingham have been awarded a free kick, and from the resulting free kick, Jordan Graham whips in a high and hanging cross towards the edge of Blackpool’s Penalty Area and Connor Ogilvie jumps high to try and win the aerial challenge towards the back-stick, but Connor Ogilvie doesn’t win the aerial challenge, And Dominic Samuel is pushed down towards the deck by A Blackpool Player, and just when Blackpool were looking to hit Gillingham on the counter attack, there was Josh Eccles in the right place at the right time to make the all important interception to prevent Gillingham from being caught out at the back.
Fourteen Minutes Into The Match, And Jordan Graham see’s his dangerous in-swinging cross take a huge deflection off Grant Ward and Gillingham have been awarded a corner kick, and from the resulting corner kick, Jordan Graham’s dangerous in-swinging cross is headed clear and away from danger by Michael Nottingham and the chance had gone for The Gills - You do wonder with the windy conditions inside Priestfield Stadium, just how both teams will approach attacking and defending set plays throughout the entire match ???
Fifteen Minutes Into The Match, And Grant Ward is penalised for his challenge on Scott Robertson, And Gillingham have been awarded a free kick, and from the resulting free kick, Gillingham have the chance to potentially double there advantage, Zech Medley passes the ball out-wide to Connor Ogilvie, who takes a few touches in possession of the ball before passing the ball centrally to Scott Robertson, And Scott Robertson passes the ball out-wide to Ryan Jackson down Gillingham’s Right Side Of The Pitch, And Ryan Jackson takes one touch to control the ball, and another touch to play a diagonal cross-field cross pass towards Jordan Graham, who manages to keep the ball in play, And Jordan Graham runs forwards in possession of the ball, drops his shoulder to evade the challenge from Ollie Turton, And Jordan Graham’s see’s his fiercely driven effort towards goal blocked by Michael Nottingham, and that goal-scoring opportunity was the chance for Gillingham to go 2-0 up - Having Jordan Graham on the left wing gives Gillingham that player who likes to cut inside and shoot, Luke Rooney used to do that for Gillingham when he played on the left wing.
Vadaine Oliver is then penalised for a foul on Blackpool Goalkeeper Chris Maxwell, And Blackpool have been awarded a free kick, And In The Sixteenth Minute Of The Match, Blackpool really should have equalised, CJ Hamilton somehow has possession of the ball inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area, and we can consider ourselves very lucky that CJ Hamilton rushed his initial effort on goal which is hit wide of Jack Bonham’s Far Right Post, More composure and better finishing would have seen CJ Hamilton score the equaliser for Blackpool, Blackpool Supporters in the build up to this match have hyped up CJ Hamilton’s Performances for Blackpool this season, and although CJ Hamilton has not capitalised with this goal-scoring opportunity, he is a player that Gillingham need to watch out for throughout the rest of this match.
Eighteen Minutes Into The Match, And Gillingham have a throw on, right in the far corner of The Medway Stand / Brian Moore Stand Side Of The Pitch, And From The Resulting Throw On, Ryan Jackson hurls in a long dangerous throw and Blackpool not only manage to clear the ball away from danger, But the visitor’s turn defence into attack, with Ollie Turton passing the ball forwards to Keshi Anderson, And Keshi Anderson takes a touch to control the ball before managing to pick out CJ Hamilton with a long pass down the left side of the pitch, And CJ Hamilton takes on Scott Robertson, And CJ Hamilton see’s his dangerous in-swinging cross take a slight deflection off Connor Ogilvie and Jack Bonham was able to make a comfortable save catching CJ Hamilton’s Cross, However, Scott Robertson has gone down injured and requires treatment, And with Stuart O’Keefe, Kyle Dempsey and Matty Willock all out injured, Gillingham have picked up quite a few injuries in central midfield already this season, thankfully, Scott Robertson is OK to continue playing for now, and it may well have to be the case that Gillingham will need to monitor Scott Robertson and then double check his injury at half time to see if Scott Robertson is OK to continue playing in The Second Half.
Twenty One Minutes Into The Match, And Jack Tucker has possession of the ball for Gillingham in Gillingham’s Own Defensive Final Third, And Jack Tucker tries to pick out Jordan Graham with a diagonal cross-field cross and Ollie Turton’s back header towards Goalkeeper Chris Maxwell is terribly judged by The Blackpool Right Back, Because Ollie Turton has headed the ball out of play for A Gillingham Corner Kick, And we will gladly accept a cheap corner kick in Gillingham’s Favour, Because Gillingham capitalised on the mis-kick from Michael Nottingham which allowed Gillingham to take the lead in The Fourth Minute, And we were hoping that another cheap corner kick given away will achieve the same result, And From The Resulting Corner Kick, Gillingham almost doubled there advantage in fortuitous circumstances, Because Jordan Graham whips in a dangerous in-swinging cross towards the near post, And there is a mix up between Goalkeeper Chris Maxwell and Defender Marvin Ekpiteta, And Marvin Ekpiteta at least headers the ball out of play for another Gillingham Corner Kick, And From The Resulting Corner Kick, Jordan Graham whips in another dangerous in-swinging cross and Marvin Ekpiteta just about manages to divert the ball out of play for another Gillingham Corner Kick, And From The Third Corner Kick, Scott Robertson whips in a dangerous in-swinging cross towards the far post and Jack Tucker manages to header the ball back across the face of goal and Connor Ogilvie is penalised for his aerial challenge on Demetri Mitchell, And Blackpool have been awarded a defensive free kick inside there own penalty area.
Dominic Samuel is then penalised for a foul on Demetri Mitchell In The Twenty Eighth Minute Of The Match Down Gillingham’s Right Side Of The Pitch, In Gillingham’s Own Defensive Final Third, And From The Resulting Free Kick, Ethan Robson whips in a dangerous in-swinging cross and Josh Eccles headers the ball clear and Josh Eccles then clears a second cross out of play for A Blackpool Throw On, Jack Tucker is then in the right place at the right time to header Grant Ward’s cross partially clear and away from goal down the left side of the pitch in Gillingham’s Final Third, But CJ Hamilton gets the ball under control and takes on Connor Ogilvie before whipping in a high and hanging cross towards Bez Lubala, which is over-hit and runs out of play for A Gillingham Throw On.
Twenty Nine Minutes Into The Match, And Marvin Ekpiteta is penalised for his foul on Vadaine Oliver and Gillingham have been awarded a free kick, There was some decent one touch passing between Scott Robertson, Josh Eccles and Jacob Mellis in the build up to that attack as well, and from the resulting free kick, Jordan Graham stands over the ball on the halfway line and Jordan Graham kicks a high and hanging ball towards Jack Tucker, who is beaten in the air by Michael Nottingham, who wins the aerial battle, and Ryan Jackson is on to the loose ball roughly twenty five yards out from goal, And Ryan Jackson almost manages to pick out Jacob Mellis with a clipped back down the right side of Blackpool’s Penalty Area, and Jacob Mellis just cannot get the ball under control and Chris Maxwell makes a comfortable save.
But A Minute Later, Gillingham went from almost scoring for 2-0, to almost conceding for 1-1, Because Keshi Anderson has possession of the ball for Blackpool and plays a one / two with Jerry Yates, And Keshi Anderson almost manages to pick out Bez Lubala with a reverse pass down Gillingham’s Right Side Of There Penalty Area, But Jack Bonham was off his goal-line quickly to gather the loose ball, and whilst we are talking about Jordan Graham, Vadaine Oliver and Dominic Samuel as Gillingham’s Front Three, Blackpool’s Front Three Of Bez Lubala, Jerry Yates and CJ Hamilton are players Gillingham need to pay close attention to if we are to pick up our first home league win of the season.
Thirty Three Minutes Into The Match, And Blackpool are looking to score the all important equaliser, Connor Ogilvie has managed to header a dangerous in-swinging cross partially clear and away from danger and Keshi Anderson gets on to the loose ball, And Keshi Anderson tee’s up Bez Lubala, who cuts inside and see’s his fiercely driven effort towards goal blocked by Ryan Jackson and the ball ricochets off Ryan Jackson and the ball hits Bez Lubala on the arm and Gillingham have been awarded a defensive free kick for handball, Ryan Jackson is then penalised for a foul on Bez Lubala and Blackpool have been awarded a free kick in a promising position on the pitch, And we can consider ourselves fortunate that the free kick was not capitalised on and Ryan Jackson prevented Bez Lubala from getting on to the end of a long ball down-field, and Ryan Jackson manages to shield the ball out of play for A Gillingham Goal-Kick.
Thirty Five Minutes Into The Match, And Gillingham had a unbelievable opportunity to go 2-0 up, Jacob Mellis has possession of the ball and Jacob Mellis is really standing out for Gillingham in this match so far with his own individual performance, And Jacob Mellis manages to pick out Dominic Samuel with a pass in a left / central area inside Blackpool’s Penalty Area, And Dominic Samuel manages to evade the attempted challenge from Marvin Ekpiteta, and just as Dominic Samuel was one on one with Chris Maxwell, Dominic Samuel has mis-kicked the ball at the crucial moment and Blackpool survive, Because 2-0 to The Gills would put Gillingham in a very strong position to pick up all three points, And that was a golden opportunity for Dominic Samuel to score his and Gillingham’s Second Goal Of The Game.
Thirty Six Minutes Into The Match, And Ollie Turton has tried to pick out Bez Lubala with a dangerous in-swinging cross towards the far post which is over-hit and the ball runs out of play for A Gillingham Goal-Kick, and the main reason as to why Bez Lubala could not get on the end of that cross from Ollie Turton was the exceptional defending by Jack Tucker, who just did not give Bez Lubala any opportunity to get on the end of Ollie Turton’s Cross.
And Jack Bonham saving that shot from Jerry Yates was just the start of a attacking onslaught by Blackpool, Because the visitor’s are looking to score a vital equaliser just before half time, Zech Medley was in the right place at the right time to header Ollie Turton’s dangerous in-swinging cross towards the near post away from danger, And Scott Robertson manages to keep the ball in play and kick the ball against CJ Hamilton and win Gillingham A Goal-Kick, Ethan Robson was then penalised for his challenge on Jacob Mellis on the halfway line in The Forty Second Minute, And Gillingham were awarded a free kick, And From The Resulting Free Kick, Jack Tucker’s Long Ball Down-Field was to long and ran all the way through to Chris Maxwell in The Blackpool Goal, A Very Routine Save For Chris Maxwell, But the windy conditions are going to make things slightly more difficult for both goalkeepers throughout this all important League One Match.
Forty Three Minutes Into The Match, And Zech Medley makes a vital clearance to clear the ball away from danger, And In The Forty Fourth Minute Of The Match, Bez Lubala is penalised for his challenge on Jacob Mellis, And Gillingham have been awarded another free kick, And From The Resulting Free Kick, Jack Tucker has kicked the ball long down-field, and although Vadaine Oliver has won the aerial challenge up against Marvin Ekpiteta, Vadaine Oliver has been penalised for a foul and Blackpool have been awarded a defensive free kick.
And the final noteworthy moment of the first half see’s Keshi Anderson penalised for his challenge on Josh Eccles, and the free kicks awarded to both teams at the end of the first half has just slowed the pace and tempo of the game down, and after three additional minutes of stoppage time (No doubt three additional minutes were awarded for Dominic Samuel’s Goal, and the injury to Scott Robertson) Referee Lee Swabey blows his whistle for half time, and the half time score at Priestfield Stadium for the third League One Match Of The 2020 / 2021 Season Is Gillingham 1-0 Blackpool.
HALF TIME:
I wrote the following status update on Twitter,,,,,, HT: GILLINGHAM 1-0 BLACKPOOL - Dominic Samuel's goal is the difference between both teams at half time, Robertson whips in a corner towards near post, Ogilvie's header hits the crossbar, Tucker headers the ball back across the face of goal and there was Samuel to open the scoring, Jack Bonham does really well to save a deflection off Zech Medley to prevent Medley from scoring A Own Goal, CJ Hamilton has failed to hit the target for Blackpool and Jerry Yates driven effort towards goal is saved and then gathered by Jack Bonham at the second attempt. Gillingham have the lead going into half time and that is what matters the most, Gillingham really can do with a second goal, Because I can see Blackpool eventually getting themselves on the score-sheet, Thankfully, Robertson Was OK to continue playing after picking up a knock.
But will Scott Robertson be OK to play for Gillingham in the second half ??? - And should there be a enforced substitution, Then you have to say that Alex MacDonald and Henry Woods are both favourite to come on as substitute for Gillingham In The Second Half, As for other options that Gillingham can use from the bench, Trae Coyle and John Akinde are both there to provide Gillingham with attacking options, Should Gillingham need to make a attacking change, Because Dominic Samuel perhaps will play for a hour, and ideally, We want to see Gillingham go 2-0 up at some point in The Second Half, and then Gillingham are in a position where we can substitute Dominic Samuel and keep Dominic Samuel rested for the matches we have got coming up in October.
Both teams then came out on to the pitch for The Start Of The Second Half, And Blackpool and Gillingham have both opted to stick to The Starting Line Up’s Named At The Start Of The Match, The Good News at least means that Scott Robertson is OK to continue playing for Gillingham, But like Dominic Samuel, Scott Robertson is perhaps a player Gillingham need to pay close attention to, and should Gillingham double there advantage and go 2-0 up, then Steve Evans has the luxury to substitute both players, hopefully, Gillingham can pick up three vital points against Blackpool with a important Second Half Display - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!!!
SECOND HALF (HIGHLIGHTS)
The first noteworthy moment of The Second Half see’s Blackpool look to score the equaliser straight away, But Gillingham looked liked they were in the ascendancy, Because Jordan Graham was running forwards in possession of the ball down the left side of the pitch, But Grant Ward has bundled Jordan Graham down to the deck and no foul for Gillingham was given, and play continue’s Because Grant Ward has possession of the ball in Blackpool’s Own Final Third, and Grant Ward takes a few touches in possession of the ball before passing the ball inside to Ethan Robson in a more central position on the pitch, And Ethan Robson takes a touch to control the ball and another touch to kick a diagonal cross-field cross pass towards Demetri Mitchell, And Demetri Mitchell does brilliantly to header the ball down the line, and Bez Lubala manages to get to the ball ahead of Ryan Jackson and retain possession of the ball and Bez Lubala tries to play a reverse pass down the line towards Demetri Mitchell, But Demetri Mitchell doesn’t react to the pass and the ball runs all the way through to Jack Tucker, And Jack Tucker really should kick this ball long down-field, But Jack Tucker kicks the ball straight into Demetri Mitchell and the ball loops up into the air and ricochets towards Jerry Yates, And Jerry Yates gets the ball under control with a excellent first touch, And Jerry Yates threads the ball through to CJ Hamilton with his second touch with a threaded through-ball, And Connor Ogilvie has not done exceptionally well to come across and clear the ball away from danger, But CJ Hamilton was also penalised for a foul on Connor Ogilvie and Gillingham have been awarded a defensive free kick.
But that was poor from Jack Tucker, really poor, and Connor Ogilvie did brilliant to come across and clear Gillingham’s Defensive Lines, I think it is important to note that Jack Tucker is still young and still very inexperienced, But despite that inexperience, Jack Tucker has played more senior first team matches then Zech Medley, Last Season, Jack Tucker had Barry Fuller and Max Ehmer to learn off because both players were pivotal to Gillingham’s Defensive Record throughout The 2019 / 2020 Season, and whilst Ryan Jackson does provide experience at Right Back, This is Zech Medley’s First Experience of playing competitive first team football and both centre back’s are going to have to learn and learn very quickly as the season progresses.
But despite that let off from Vadaine Oliver’s ricochet not hitting the back of the net, Gillingham do in-fact double there lead after fifty minutes of the match, Zech Medley manages to turn away from CJ Hamilton inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area - A Bit Risky I Know - And Zech Medley kicks the ball long down-field and Grant Ward wins the initial aerial challenge and Ollie Turton wins the fifty / fifty challenge with Jacob Mellis to knock the ball down the right side of the pitch - Gillingham’s Left - And Jordan Graham manages to keep the ball in play before passing the ball back towards Connor Ogilvie, And Connor Ogilvie kicks the ball long down-field first time and Marvin Ekpiteta wins the initial aerial challenge, and the second ball drops kindly to Vadaine Oliver, who nutmegs Michael Nottingham and despite Marvin Ekpiteta closing down Vadaine Oliver, Vadaine Oliver manages to retain possession of the ball before passing the ball square to Dominic Samuel in A Right / Central Area Of The Pitch just outside Blackpool’s Penalty Area, And Dominic Samuel gets the ball under control, takes on Demetri Mitchell, And Dominic Samuel has fired a low accurate effort towards the far left corner of the net and there is absolutely nothing that Chris Maxwell can do about that, and Gillingham have doubled there lead to 2-0 - GILLINGHAM 2-0 BLACKPOOL.
If the first goal from Dominic Samuel was a goal poachers finish, then the second goal is a goal of genuine quality, and Dominic Samuel firing the ball across the face of goal into the bottom left corner of the net is a sensational goal, credit must go to Vadaine Oliver, who played a pivotal role for Dominic Samuel’s second goal of the game, I said at half time that at 2-0, Gillingham would be in a strong position to pick up all three points, But Gillingham are also in a position where we can perhaps start to think about substituting Scott Robertson and Dominic Samuel, perhaps not straight away, but later on in the match, Now if Gillingham were to get a third goal, then we are defiantly in a situation where Gillingham can start to think about substituting players who need to come off, Because Gillingham put in a lot of effort against Stoke City in our League Cup Third Round Tie On Wednesday Night.
Fifty Eight Minutes Into The Match, And Gillingham had the chance to go 3-0 up, Marvin Ekpiteta plays a horrendous pass towards Ethan Robson, And Jacob Mellis plays a first time pass forwards to Vadaine Oliver, Who is clattered to the floor by James Husband, and no foul is awarded in Gillingham’s Favour, And Jacob Mellis gets to the loose ball first and Jacob Mellis see’s his driven effort towards goal blocked by James Husband, And Dominic Samuel and Demetri Mitchell compete for the fifty / fifty ball, and Demetri Mitchell and James Husband are both penalised for there challenge on Jacob Mellis, And Gillingham have been awarded a free kick, And whilst Jacob Mellis is OK to continue playing, there are concerns regarding Vadaine Oliver, who was clattered down to the deck, and Vadaine Oliver does get back up to his feat eventually and Vadaine Oliver needs to limp over to the sidelines to continue getting treatment, John Akinde and Trae Coyle are both on the substitutes bench, Should Gillingham need to make a change in attack, but whilst the treatment is on-going, Gillingham can still extend the score-line to 3-0 from this free kick.
And from the resulting free kick, Jordan Graham curls a low cross into the heart of Blackpool’s Penalty Area, And Jerry Yates has headed the ball behind and out of play for A Gillingham Corner Kick, I have to say that I am surprised that Jordan Graham did not whip this free kick goal-wards and try and get on the score-sheet himself, at least Gillingham have won themselves a corner kick, so the free kick isn’t entirely wasted, But I did think Jordan Graham should have gone for goal from that close range, and from the resulting corner kick, Gillingham came close to scoring and 3-0 to The Gills would make it very difficult for Blackpool to get anything out of this match, Scott Robertson whips in a dangerous in-swinging cross from the corner kick and Marvin Ekpiteta manages to header the ball partially clear and away from danger towards the edge of Blackpool’s Penalty Area, And Jordan Graham plays a first time volleyed pass sideways towards Jacob Mellis, who manages to get the ball under control, and Jacob Mellis passes the ball out-wide to Scott Robertson down The Gordon Road Stand Side Of The Pitch, And Scott Robertson gets the ball under control before whipping in a dangerous in-swinging cross and James Husband’s looping header inadvertently tee’s up Vadaine Oliver at the back-stick, And Vadaine Oliver’s Header was directed goal-wards and Chris Maxwell has to make a very important save to keep Blackpool in this match.
Whether Vadaine Oliver was looking to header the ball downwards towards Dominic Samuel, or header the ball into the back of the net himself, I am not entirely sure, but the good news at least is the fact that Vadaine Oliver is back on the pitch and still playing for Gillingham, But that’s now three players in Scott Robertson, Dominic Samuel and Vadaine Oliver that Gillingham need to monitor throughout the rest of this match, all three players have picked up knocks and this is also Dominic Samuel’s first starting appearance for The Gills, So I am anticipating Dominic Samuel being substituted for Gillingham very soon, With one of John Akinde or Trae Coyle likely to come on in Dominic Samuel’s Place.
Sullay Kaikai is then booked for his challenge on Ryan Jackson In The Seventy Fourth Minute Of The Match, But In The Seventy Fifth Minute, Blackpool created a very good goal-scoring opportunity to try and half the deficit to 2-1, Grant Ward has possession of the ball for Blackpool on the halfway line, And Grant Ward passes the ball back towards Marvin Ekpiteta, And Marvin Ekpiteta takes a touch to control the ball before passing a short pass forwards to Ethan Robson, and Ethan Robson is looking around for passing options before clipping a long ball down-field towards Gary Madine and Zech Medley is in the right place at the right time to kick the ball clear and away from danger and Ollie Turton headers the ball down the line towards CJ Hamilton, And CJ Hamilton manages to retain possession of the ball before passing the ball back towards Ethan Robson, And Ethan Robson takes a touch to control the ball before managing to pick out Demetri Mitchell with a cross-field cross pass down Blackpool’s Left Side Of The Pitch - Gillingham’s Right - And Demetri Mitchell manages to take on Ryan Jackson before passing the ball centrally towards Sullay Kaikai right on the edge of Gillingham’s Penalty Area, And Sullay Kaikai takes one touch to control the ball, and another touch to curl the ball goal-wards with a decent low strike towards goal and Jack Bonham manages to parry the ball wide and away from goal, and the follow up effort from CJ Hamilton is blocked and the ball is deflected out of play for A Blackpool Corner Kick.
Already, Sullay Kaikai has come on and caused Gillingham problems defensively, and that was a decent save from Jack Bonham, Because Jack Bonham was slightly unsighted because Gary Madine had ran into Jack Bonham’s eye sight line and his view was also blocked slightly by Jack Tucker, and Connor Ogilvie put in a fantastic block to prevent CJ Hamilton from scoring the re-bound, and from the resulting corner kick, Ethan Robson’s in-swinging cross towards the back-stick is over-hit and the ball runs out of play for A Gillingham Goal-Kick.
Gillingham have a momentarily attacking opportunity when Jordan Graham’s cross is over-hit, and the ball runs out of play for A Blackpool Goal-Kick, However, In The Eighty Sixth Minute, And Ryan Jackson is penalised for his foul on Demetri Mitchell, and from the resulting free kick, Blackpool came close to scoring, as James Husband is in possession of the ball for Blackpool and James Husband clips a long diagonal cross-field cross into the heart of Gillingham’s Penalty Area, And Zech Medley manages to header the ball clear and away from danger, But Ollie Turton wins the aerial battle up against Jordan Graham and CJ Hamilton is on to the loose ball on the edge of Gillingham’s Penalty Area, And CJ Hamilton works his way out-wide, and despite being double marked by Jordan Graham and Connor Ogilvie, CJ Hamilton manages to dig out a dangerous in-swinging cross and Josh Eccles glancing header can only header the ball partially clear and away from danger and Dominic Samuel had fouled Demetri Mitchell on the edge of Gillingham’s Penalty Area, But play continue’s as Ethan Robson hits a first time curling effort towards goal and Jack Bonham saves and then gathers the loose ball at the second attempt.
Gills just need to prevent Blackpool from scoring to stops the visitor’s from setting up a grand-stand finish, But Blackpool are on the offensive and Robbie McKenzie is penalised for his challenge on Sullay Kaikai in The Eighty Ninth Minute, But the next passage of play see’s Blackpool create one of there better goal-scoring opportunities, Marvin Ekpiteta has possession of the ball just in Gillingham’s Half Of The Pitch, And Marvin Ekpiteta manages to pick out Gary Madine with a clipped pass down the left side of the pitch inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area - Gillingham’s Right - And Gary Madine is twisting and turning and working his way out-side towards the byline, and Gary Madine has whipped in a fantastic in-swinging cross and Connor Ogilvie just about does enough to prevent Ollie Turton from getting on the end of that cross at the back-stick, but the ball drops to Sullay Kaikai inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area, And Sullay Kaikai’s snapshot volleyed effort flashes just wide of the far left post with Jack Bonham well and truly beaten - AND THAT WAS THE CHANCE FOR BLACKPOOL TO SCORE!!!!!! - Because if that effort from Sullay Kaikai was on target, then Blackpool would have scored for certain.
And after that effort on goal from Sullay Kaikai, Gillingham make there third and final substitution in The Ninetieth Minute, Because Alex MacDonald comes on to replace Dominic Samuel, and even then, The Fourth Official messed up Gillingham’s Final Substitution and got it wrong again, I applauded Dominic Samuel for that brace in his second debut for Gillingham Football Club, And Alex MacDonald comes on to give Gillingham additional defensive cover, as Gillingham look to protect this two goal lead.
But what is even more surprising is the fact that there are - EIGHT ADDITIONAL MINUTES OF ADDED TIME!!!!!!! - Where on earth has The Fourth Official found eight additional minutes, and just as we approach added time, Connor Ogilvie is penalised for fouling CJ Hamilton and Blackpool have been awarded a free kick twenty five yards out from goal, and from the resulting free kick, Blackpool came close to scoring again, Demetri Mitchell’s curling effort towards goal clears Gillingham’s Wall and Demetri Mitchell almost manages to pick out the bottom right corner of the net with that free kick and Jack Bonham makes a remarkable save, and Jack Bonham is quick to get up and react to Gary Madine’s follow up effort, and Jack Bonham has made a second save in quick succession and Connor Ogilvie boots the ball into the back of The Brian Moore Stand at the expense of conceding a corner kick, and from the resulting corner kick, Grant Ward whips in a dangerous in-swinging cross and Jack Bonham is off his goal-line to make a excellent catch which relieves the pressure building on to Gillingham’s Goal - Great to have Jack Bonham back in-between the sticks - although, it has to be mentioned that Joe Walsh is more then capable as Gillingham’s Back Up Goalkeeper.
OTHER MATCH INCIDENTS WHICH WERE NOT SHOWN ON EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS
SECOND HALF
Forty Eight Minutes Into The Match, And Gillingham had a half chance to double there lead, And had this chance gone in for The Gills then Gillingham would have doubled there lead in very fortuitous circumstances, Vadaine Oliver was chasing after a long kick down-field which was running through to Blackpool Goalkeeper Chris Maxwell, and Marvin Ekpiteta has passed the ball short back to Chris Maxwell, who’s attempted clearance down-field ricochets off Vadaine Oliver and the ball goes out of play for A Blackpool Goal-Kick, Good work ethic from Vadaine Oliver, who would have fully deserved his goal had the ball ricocheted into the back of the net, But what on earth are Blackpool doing defensively ???
Blackpool are then penalised for a foul, As Jerry Yates was penalised for his challenge on Jack Tucker, And In The Fifty Second Minute Of The Match, Blackpool make there first substitution of the game, As James Husband comes on to replace Michael Nottingham, Who has put in a dreadful display for Blackpool against Gillingham, Conceded the corner kick which eventually lead to Dominic Samuel opening the scoring in The Fourth Minute, And Michael Nottingham did not exactly cover himself in glory with his defending for the second goal either.
And that all important second goal from Dominic Samuel has given Gillingham a much needed confidence boost, Because Jordan Graham see’s his dangerous in-swinging cross take a huge deflection off Ollie Turton, and the ball diverts out of play for A Gillingham Corner Kick, And From The Resulting Corner Kick, Jordan Graham’s dangerous in-swinging cross is whipped in towards the back-stick and Jack Tucker almost manages to get on the end of that corner kick from Jordan Graham, Blackpool manage to momentarily clear there lines and Josh Eccles passes the ball out-wide to Zech Medley, And Zech Medley’s diagonal cross-field cross pass is aimed towards Dominic Samuel, But Demetri Mitchell manages to header the ball out of play for A Gillingham Throw On, And From The Resulting Throw, Connor Ogilvie was lining up a long throw, but Connor Ogilvie throws the ball short to Jordan Graham, And Jordan Graham manages to pass the ball out-wide towards Connor Ogilvie, who works his way towards the byline and Connor Ogilvie whips in a dangerous in-swinging cross towards the near post which is routinely saved by Chris Maxwell in The Blackpool Goal.
Fifty Five Minutes Into The Match, And Gillingham win themselves a throw on in Blackpool’s Final Third Down The Gordon Road Stand / Rainham End Side Of The Pitch, And From The Resulting Throw On, Ryan Jackson hurls in a long dangerous throw towards Vadaine Oliver and Vadaine Oliver is penalised for a foul on James Husband, And Blackpool have been awarded a free kick in there own defensive final third, And In The Fifty Seventh Minute Of The Match, Blackpool had a half chance to try and get a consolation goal which would bring the visitor’s back into this match, However, Ollie Turton’s cross towards Jerry Yates and Bez Lubala is over-hit, And Dominic Samuel has possession of the ball in Gillingham’s Final Third, And Dominic Samuel wins Gillingham a defensive throw on by kicking the ball against Bez Lubala which just prevents any momentum gained for Blackpool to cause Gillingham problems defensively - Dominic Samuel is playing on the right side of Gillingham’s Front Three, So Dominic Samuel needs to put in the defensive work to help out Ryan Jackson at Right Back.
Sixty Three Minutes Into The Match, And Blackpool make there second substitution of the game, As Sullay Kaikai comes on to replace Bez Lubala, And I have got to say that Sullay Kaikai is a quality player and someone who is pacey, tricky and skilful, and Sullay Kaikai has only started twice for Blackpool this season, with this sub appearance being Sullay Kaikai’s first substitute appearance of the season, whether Sullay Kaikai was injured for Blackpool in pre-season, I cannot say for sure, But Sullay Kaikai will cause Gillingham problems defensively, and he is a player that Gillingham need to keep a close eye on throughout the remaining minutes in this match.
The next passage of play after Blackpool’s Second Substitution Of The Match, see’s Ethan Robson escape punishment for a foul on Josh Eccles, And I personally thought that Gillingham should have been awarded a free kick for that challenge from Ethan Robson, And In The Sixty Fifth Minute Of The Match, Scott Robertson kicks a long ball down the right flank and pressure from Vadaine Oliver forces Demetri Mitchell to kick the ball out of play for A Gillingham Throw On Down The Rainham End / Gordon Road Stand Side Of The Pitch, Now should the 2-0 score-line remain the same at full time, Then Dominic Samuel probably is going to win Gillingham’s Man Of The Match Award, But Vadaine Oliver should be praised for his own individual performance throughout this match against Blackpool, Because Vadaine Oliver has been superb up-front for Gillingham, and the only thing missing from Vadaine Oliver’s own performance against Blackpool is a goal for himself, And From The Resulting Throw On, Ryan Jackson hurls in a long dangerous throw and Chris Maxwell in goal for Blackpool was able to gather the ball with ease.
But we went from Vadaine Oliver putting pressure on Demetri Mitchell and Ryan Jackson’s long throw being saved by Chris Maxwell, In The Sixty Fifth Minute, To Gillingham almost conceding a sloppy consolation goal a minute later, Because Josh Eccles pass back to Jack Bonham was woefully under-hit, And Jack Bonham had to get to the loose ball ahead of Jerry Yates and kick the ball clear and out of play for A Blackpool Throw On, Now despite The 2-0 score-line to Gillingham, Blackpool are still a decent side and they are going to create chances, there is no need for Gillingham to create goal-scoring opportunities for the opposition - And with Sixty Six Minutes On The Clock, I am looking at the bench and I can see Trae Coyle or John Akinde coming on for Dominic Samuel, who has scored two goals for Gillingham on his second debut, and I think it is important to substitute Dominic Samuel and ensure that he is ready for the matches that Gillingham have got coming up in October.
Sixty Seven Minutes Into The Match, And Blackpool Defender Demetri Mitchell has possession of the ball down Blackpool’s Left Side Of The Pitch In Gillingham’s Final Third, And Demetri Mitchell has fired in a low cross across the face of goal and Sullay Kaikai almost gets on to the end of that low cross from Demetri Mitchell, but the chance was still there for the visitor’s to create another goal-scoring opportunity, But Jordan Graham does really well to kick the ball against Ollie Turton, and win Gillingham A Goal-Kick, which just relieves some of the pressure building on to Gillingham’s Goal.
Sixty Nine Minutes Into The Match, And Josh Eccles is penalised for his challenge on Keshi Anderson, And From The Resulting Free Kick, Ethan Robson whips in a dangerous in-swinging cross and Connor Ogilvie headers the ball partially clear and away from danger, And Ollie Turton manages to get on the loose ball down the right side of the pitch in Gillingham’s Final Third, And Ollie Turton whips in a dangerous in-swinging cross and Vadaine Oliver manages to header the ball clear and away from goal and CJ Hamilton is penalised for his challenge on Jordan Graham, And Gillingham have been awarded a free kick in there own defensive final third - It is going to have to be backs against the wall defending from Gillingham - As Blackpool are looking to score the goal they need to get themselves back into this match, 2-1 with twenty minutes to go gives Blackpool a chance to score the equaliser for 2-2, But all the while the score-line is 2-0, It gives Gillingham a more greater chance of picking up all three points.
Vadaine Oliver is then penalised for a foul on James Husband, and from the resulting free kick, James Husband kicks the ball long down-field from the halfway line towards the edge of Gillingham’s Penalty Area and Ethan Robson is penalised for a foul on Josh Eccles and Gillingham are awarded a free kick in there own half, and the fouls, free kicks and stoppages in play are suiting Gillingham down to the ground, Because this does not give Blackpool any opportunity to gain momentum, Blackpool However make there third and final substitution of the match, As Gary Madine comes on to replace Keshi Anderson In The Seventy Second Minute, Gary Madine just gives Blackpool more of a attacking option in the final third, And I am surprised that Gary Madine did not come on for Blackpool much earlier then The Seventy Second Minute to be honest.
Seventy Seven Minutes Into The Match, And Gary Madine manages to get in and behind Gillingham’s Back Line, and Gary Madine see’s his low cross across the face of goal blocked and deflected out of play for A Blackpool Corner Kick, With Zech Medley making the all important interception, But before the resulting corner kick could be taken, Scott Robertson is down injured with cramp, and unlike the injury in the first half, Scott Robertson was not going to get up and recover from this injury, and you just wonder if Steve Evans should have substituted Scott Robertson earlier, especially as Gillingham have already picked up a few injuries in midfield with Stuart O’Keefe, Matty Willock and Kyle Dempsey out injured on the sidelines, And after getting some treatment, Scott Robertson was unable to continue playing, And Robbie McKenzie comes on to replace Scott Robertson to try and help Gillingham see out the rest of this match, with the score-line still 2-0 in Gillingham’s Favour.
And From The Resulting Corner Kick, Grant Ward whips in a dangerous in-swinging cross and Robbie McKenzie manages to partially clear the ball away from danger in his first involvement in this match, And Dominic Samuel is fouled by Ethan Robson and Gillingham have been awarded a free kick which relieves pressure building on to our own goal, Dominic Samuel shows his experience winning that free kick, And In The Eighty First Minute, Ethan Robson is booked for a reckless challenge on Josh Eccles, and Gillingham have been awarded another free kick, and these stoppages in play are preventing Blackpool from gaining any momentum, but these are stoppages in play because of Blackpool’s own doing here.
Connor Ogilvie was then in the right place at the right time to make two important clearances for Gillingham, the second clearance was booted out of play for A Blackpool Throw On, And In The Eighty Third Minute Of The Match, Marvin Ekpiteta was booked for his challenge on Jacob Mellis on the halfway line and Gillingham have been awarded a free kick, personally, I thought play on should have been awarded because Vadaine Oliver had possession of the ball from Jacob Mellis’s Pass and Gillingham have been awarded a free kick, which unfortunately see’s Vadaine Oliver flagged for offside from Jack Tucker’s clipped pass down the line.
And after that offside decision, Gillingham make there second substitution of the match, With John Akinde coming on for Vadaine Oliver, And I applauded Vadaine Oliver’s Performance, brilliant assist for Dominic Samuel’s Second Goal Of The Game, And the only thing missing from Vadaine Oliver’s own individual performance was a goal for himself, It has to be mentioned that The Linesman had put up Dominic Samuel’s Number up before correcting his error and then putting up Vadaine Oliver’s Number Up On The Board Instead.
Eighty Five Minutes Into The Match, And Jordan Graham is penalised for his foul on Oliver Turton, And Blackpool have been awarded a free kick, and from the resulting free kick, Ethan Robson clips in a dangerous in-swinging cross and the ball ricochets off Ryan Jackson inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area and Zech Medley and Connor Ogilvie between the two of them manage to clear the ball away from danger and Gillingham survive, A goal now for Blackpool will bring Blackpool back into this match and it’s important for Gillingham to preserve there two goal lead.
Gillingham are busy defensively to try and see this game out in the closing stages, Jack Bonham is in the right place at the right time, As James Husband tries to pick out one of Jerry Yates or Gary Madine with a long kick down-field which runs all the way through to Jack Bonham In The Gillingham Goal, And In the Ninety Fifth Minute, Grant Ward manages to pick out Gary Madine with a clipped ball inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area, And Gary Madine has managed to get in and behind Gillingham’s Back Four, and Gary Madine has managed to stick the ball into the back of the net with a excellent finish, thankfully, From A Gillingham point of view, Gary Madine was flagged for offside.
And the final noteworthy moment of the match see’s Grant Ward being put under pressure from Alex MacDonald and running away from goal down The Medway Stand Side Of the Pitch, And Grant Ward passes the ball back towards Marvin Ekpiteta, And Referee Lee Swabey blows his whistle for full time - there was either five or six minutes played of stoppage time, and not the eight minutes we saw shown in the top left corner of the screen on I Follow - And Gillingham have managed to win 2-0 against Blackpool and pick up three very valuable points, and this is a superb win for The Gills - FULL TIME: GILLINGHAM 2-0 BLACKPOOL.
POST MATCH THOUGHTS
I wrote the following status update on to Twitter after the full time whistle had been blown,,,,,,,,,, FT: GILLINGHAM 2-0 BLACKPOOL - A Brace from Dominic Samuel see's Gillingham win there first home league game of The 20/21 Season against a very good Blackpool Side, Jack Bonham has earned that clean sheet for Gills today, especially with that double save at the end of the match. Back to back league wins against Wigan Athletic and Blackpool see Gillingham pick up six points out of a possible nine from our opening three league games, and keeping a clean sheet after conceding twice against Hull and Wigan gives our defence a much needed confidence boost. Hopefully, Scott Robertson's Injury isn't a bad one, especially as Matty Willock Kyle Dempsey and Stuart O'Keefe are all out injured and four midfielders out injured leaves Gillingham lacking central midfielders for a hectic fixture list in October. Great Win For The Gills Today.
I had re-tweeted status updates from Jordan Graham, Ryan Jackson, Vadaine Oliver, Josh Eccles, Kyle Dempsey, Zech Medley, and Jack Tucker, Faversham Town had drawn 0-0 against Hastings United, Folkestone Invicta won 4-1 against Wingate & Finchley, With Former Gillingham Defender Aaron Simpson getting himself on the score-sheet for Folkestone Invicta, Gillingham Town won 5-2 against Swanage Town & Herston, And I also re-tweeted stats from The Gillingham V Blackpool Game regarding Zech Medley from Arsenal Loan Watch.
Now, back to my thoughts on Gillingham’s 2-0 win against Blackpool, I thought this was Gillingham’s most professional league performance of the season, Hull City fully deserved there 2-0 win against Gillingham on the opening day of the season, And Gillingham’s 3-2 win against Wigan Athletic was a very end to end game, But Gillingham put in a very professional performance against Blackpool, Dominic Samuel scored two excellent goals, and whilst Gillingham were on the back-foot for the vast majority of the second half and Jack Bonham had to make quite a few saves to preserve The 2-0 score-line, Blackpool failed to score and Gillingham keeping a clean sheet will give our defenders a much needed confidence boost, I think had Blackpool scored and they scored early enough in The Second Half, That would have given the visitor’s a chance to level the game up at 2-2, then we could be talking about a completely different match entirely, But Gillingham were excellent defensively, and you have got to praise Jack Tucker and Zech Medley, both young centre back’s were superb, along with Ryan Jackson and Connor Ogilvie at full back, this was a much better defensive performance from The Gills.
That win for Gillingham moves Gillingham up to Seventh In The League One Table, and what is perhaps more important about this 2-0 win against Blackpool is the fact that Gillingham now go into a one week break off the back of a hard fought 2-0 win against a decent Blackpool Side, and make no mistake, not only was the three points needed, but the break is especially needed, Because Gillingham have got eight matches in October and those matches are as follows,,,,, Shrewsbury Town Away, Ipswich Town Away, (Football League Trophy), Oxford United Home, MK Dons Away, Portsmouth Home, Fleetwood Town Home, Ipswich Town Away and Sunderland Home, The two away games against Ipswich Town and the home game against Portsmouth are being played on A Tuesday Night, and Fleetwood Town, Portsmouth and Oxford United all reached The League One Playoffs Last Season, Ipswich Town and Sunderland you expect to see as contenders for promotion this season, and MK Dons and Shrewsbury Town Away are not guaranteed wins to say the least, I think it was vital to go into this week’s break with that win against Blackpool, especially with the matches coming up for Gillingham in October.
I have got to praise Vadaine Oliver for his fourth assist of the season already for The Gills and Vadaine Oliver’s overall performance for Gillingham was exceptional and the only thing missing from Vadaine Oliver was a goal for himself against Blackpool, Dominic Samuel will no doubt be Gillingham’s Man Of the Match for scoring a brace against Blackpool, But other players also deserve there plaudits, especially Jack Bonham, Ryan Jackson,Jack Tucker, Zech Medley and Connor Ogilvie for keeping Gillingham’s first clean sheet in League One - Great to see Jack Bonham available for selection after missing The Stoke City Match with a back strain - Scott Robertson and Josh Eccles were superb in central midfield, and I just hope that Scott Robertson being substituted was because of precautionary measures, and Jacob Melliis put in a very impressive display in the advanced midfielder role for The Gills as well.
I had re-tweeted quite a few tweets from Gillingham’s Twitter Account, The photo gallery and clips of the goals from Kent Pro Images, and I mentioned the following to Gabriel,,,, Out of the three league games played this season, The 2-0 win against Blackpool was probably our most professional win of the season to date so far. Dominic Samuel scoring a brace on his second debut for The Gills, another assist for Vadaine Oliver, Great win for The Gills Today, If there was one negative about this performance and result against Blackpool is the fact that we as supporters could not be inside Priestfield Stadium to enjoy The 2-0 win, yes, it was windy and it would have been cold inside the ground, and watching football matches on I Follow is a great alternative and better then nothing, But you want to be inside Priestfield Stadium to celebrate wins like this one against Blackpool.
One thing that every Gillingham Supporter noticed after the full time whistle was some of the pathetic comments from “Some Blackpool Supporters” Comments like,,,,, Frustrating to say the least. Gillingham players going down like Bolton doesn't make for a flowing game and our final ball was non existent. Still plenty of positives and we will learn from this. Feel sorry for Gills fans that have to watch that shite this season. and comments about how Blackpool had 69% possession and how Gillingham offered no real attacking threat and how Gillingham play pathetic defensive football, These comments were sour grapes and do not take into consideration that at 2-0, Gillingham do not need to attack and score more goals, the onus is on the opposition to score, and Blackpool created plenty of goal-scoring opportunities, but they did not stick the ball into the back of the net, and that is the only stat that matters the most.
However, there were comments from “More Sensible Blackpool Supporters” who mentioned that Blackpool have had 69% possession against Gillingham and 63% possession against Plymouth Argyle, and in both matches, Blackpool have lost without scoring a goal, and there are concerns from Blackpool Supporters that Neil Critchley will need to find another way to play besides just dominating possession, Because other clubs in League One will notice this trend from the two results against Gillingham and Plymouth Argyle and realise that if you stick men behind the ball, Blackpool struggle to break teams down and Blackpool need to find a way to win these type of matches, also, Blackpool need to find a way to win away from home, Because Blackpool have got a very disappointing away form, which means that Blackpool will put pressure on every home league game at Bloomfield Road - Something, that we as Gillingham Supporters recognise all too well, Because Gillingham went the entire 2009 / 2010 Season without picking up a away win, and that was the season Gillingham were relegated into League Two, So Blackpool dominating possession and not scoring in two away games is something to be concerned about.
I also noticed that the comments from “The More Sensible Blackpool Supporters’ Mentioned Michael Nottingham’s errors for both goals, Why didn’t Kaikai and Madine come on much earlier for Blackpool, and there was transfer talk and Blackpool needing to sign a few players to strengthen the squad, as well as having Plan B and Plan C in the locker, should Blackpool’s preferred way of playing doesn’t see Blackpool pick up any points, or, score more goals.
All in all, this was a important win for Gillingham, first home league win of the season, first clean sheet in the league for this season, Dominic Samuel scores a brace on his debut, And Gillingham have picked up six points out of a possible nine already, and all three matches against Hull City, Wigan Athletic and Blackpool were tough and very competitive matches, six points out of nine just gives Gillingham something to build on heading into eight very difficult matches in October, and this week’s break will just re-charge Gillingham’s Batteries for the tough tests that are yet to come around the corner, great performance, great result, great to see Jack Bonham back in goal and great to see Dominic Samuel score twice on his second debut, now it would be great to see Gillingham build on this win against Blackpool by picking up all three points in our next League One Fixture against Shrewsbury Town - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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FOM BLOG: GILLINGHAM 0 - 0 COVENTRY CITY
My Thoughts on Gillingham V Coventry City……………..
I left My House at 1PM and I made sure I had the following things on me,,,(Money, Keys, My Samsung Galaxy S2, Spare Battery, My Gillingham Season Ticket, My Fleece-Jacket, Spare Lids, My Gillingham Bag with Pads and Pens, My Gillingham Scarf, A Packet Of Polo’s, and A 500ML Bottle of Coca Cola), I had double checked I had everything I wanted on me and because there were engineering works (again!!!!!) it meant that there are no trains running and I think that every home game between now and the end of the season will see engineering works on the main line, this meant getting a taxi from my house to Priestfield Stadium - which cost me over £9.
I arrived at Priestfield Stadium at 1.15PM and went into The Club Shop to buy A Match Day Programme for £3 and Diane, Robin, Brian and Dave were all there and we spoke about Easter Monday’s win against Bury - although it was really difficult to avoid saying Last Saturday instead of Monday as it did feel like The Bury Match was played on A Saturday - Diane mentioned that she would be driving up to Sheffield United and we can arrange the travel times during the week, after checking the times that both Kings Ferry and The Supporters Coach will be leaving.
I queued up at The Ticket Office to get My Ticket for Sheffield United Away and I paid £20 for My Ticket - it was only when I got home that I realised that I already had one ticket for Sheffield United, so I now have a spare ticket - but there was no record on my system that I had brought a ticket for Sheffield United and Diane forgot that she had brought me a ticket, but the queue at Gillingham’s Ticket Office was getting longer and longer, and it’s a good thing that we arrive so early at Priestfield Stadium, because by the time I made my way inside the ground, the queue was up to the entrance for The Medway Stand.
Lisa caught up with Me and Diane and Lisa spoke about her disappointment regarding unreserved seating at Southend United, because Lisa sat towards the left side of the goal, and there were a few blokes who stood behind her and Kasey in the away end at Roots Hall who arrived at 2.55PM and wanted to stand together, I mentioned that near us we had a lot of supporters standing in the isle as there wasn’t enough seats, now I prefer unreserved seating as those who want to stand together at the back can stand together at the back, and those who want to sit together can sit towards the front.
But Southend United’s Away End is dreadful and Me and Diane pointed out that people who moan about Priestfield Stadium clearly haven’t been to Roots Hall before, The Over-Hanging Roof, The Supporting Pillar’s and Speakers all restrict your view of the playing surface, the seats are bolted on to terracing, there is no leg-room so you have to stand - not that we were going to sit down where we were, otherwise we couldn’t see past everyone who was standing - and if you sit in the front few rows then you are underneath the football pitch, it is clear that the away end at Roots Hall doesn’t hold 2,000 supporters, as the isle’s were full and Lisa mentioned she won’t be going to Southend United again - and I can understand why, because when Gillingham equalised, the crowd surge meant that Diane’s friends Alan and Irene were crushed, quite a few people had fallen over and this is very dangerous - Southend United is the worst stadium I have been to this season and they will get the title of worst stadium this season.
Sharon, Peter, Charlie and Carol caught up with us, and Peter had his Chips With Curry Sauce, I am sure Peter can go into Gillingham Fish Bar and say “The Usual”, or maybe phone in advance so that by the time Peter gets to Gillingham Fish Bar, his order is ready straight away, I spoke about Monday’s performance and how Gillingham scrapped the result against Bury and how bad Max Ehmer’s nose looked after the game, despite the fact that Oliver Langford gave a foul against Max Ehmer even though he had a forearm smashed into his face, and Bury were getting away with these type of challenges a lot during the game.
Stephen caught up with us and he showed me his ticket for Coventry City which was clipped in one corner, I thought that the reason why Stephen’s Ticket was clipped was so that he couldn’t sell the ticket on, Carol pointed out that the ticket is clipped so that supporters cannot get another ticket for Millwall, as you get one ticket for Coventry City and one ticket for The Millwall Game, I mentioned that I could see a lot of people buying tickets for The Coventry City and Millwall Matches, but those who didn’t want to watch The Coventry City Game will look to sell the tickets, not bother going, and maybe some of those will go to the game as they have brought tickets for both matches.
As Peter, Sharon, Charlie and Carol made there way inside Priestfield Stadium, Gary caught up with us, and I mentioned that with The A1 Shut on Monday, a diversion through Doncaster added forty minutes on to our travel time and we left at 6.45AM for Bury and arrived at Gigg Lane at 12.30PM, what was disappointing was the lack of food and drink outlets around the stadium, we basically had to rely on a small kebab chip shop which sold, A Portion Of Chips, A Cheese-Burger and A Drink for £3, but there wasn’t any salt and vinegar, cutlery or sauce, typically we found a really nice Chip Shop on our way back home again.
Gary mentioned that he was linking match threads for previous fixtures against the same club and it is interesting that just fourteen months a go, Gillingham had no Manager, we were battling to retain our League One Status as Gillingham were in The League One Relegation Zone at the time and Mark Patterson, Darren Hare, Andy Hessenthaler and Steve Lovell were in-charge of Gillingham at the time, and in just over a year Gillingham have gone from retaining our League One Status to pushing for promotion into The Championship and this has been an remarkable turnaround, a playoff place is looking increasingly likely as Gillingham have recovered from that sticky spell where Gillingham lost 2-1 against Oldham Athletic, Chesterfield and Fleetwood Town, since those three defeats - which coincided with Gillingham losing Bradley Dack, John Egan and Doug Loft to injury - now with key players coming back from injury and with Gillingham picking up eight points out of twelve from the previous four league games (which has seen Gillingham earn three clean sheets in those matches), then we can be very optimistic for the final run in.
Especially as three of those four league games have been played away from home, and with five home matches at Priestfield Stadium and three away league games remaining this season, then there is every chance that Gillingham can end third or fourth in League One, which means that Gillingham will have The Second Leg of the playoffs at Priestfield Stadium, Gary however, still believes that Gillingham can catch Burton Albion, as Burton Albion have got some very difficult fixtures coming up and Gillingham - HAVE TO WIN - Away at Burton Albion to stand any chance of securing automatic promotion, and we need to beat Walsall when Gillingham have that game in hand as well.
Burton Albion are just starting to have there blip now towards the business end of the season, a 0-0 draw at home to Oldham Athletic and a 2-0 defeat away at Millwall means that Burton Albion haven’t scored in the last two fixtures and have only picked up one point out of six, I just think that nine points is too big a gap to bridge with eight matches remaining, there is still a slim possibility for automatic promotion, but it would require Gillingham winning three matches on the spin, which isn’t going to be easy, as Gillingham still have to play Sheffield United, Walsall, Burton Albion and Millwall in the final eight league matches of the season, these four matches are tough matches, but playing against teams battling to retain there League One Status is just as difficult, and you can make a case that playing against teams battling to stay up are more difficult than playing against teams who are challenging for promotion - because teams down the bottom have to win to stay up as the number of games and points remaining decreases every week.
I mentioned to Gary that his stats regarding Luke Norris kept those who were criticising Luke Norris quiet as I had responded that Luke Norris had scored three and assisted one goal in his previous five games and Cody McDonald is the only player in the current squad who has scored more goals away from home then Luke Norris, Gary pointed out that he doesn’t like some of the stats regarding player assist’s as Bradley Dack’s fourth goal against Sheffield United has an assist despite the fact that Bradley Dack created that goal all by himself, and normally it is the player who plays in the final ball who is credited with the assist, but Gary pointed out that Luke Norris holding the ball up allows Gillingham to get into those positions in the first place, and Luke Norris probably has a lot of hockey assist’s, where Luke Norris assist’s the player who creates the assist for the goal.
Some of our supporters also are forgetting that Luke Norris is twenty two, he isn’t the finished article yet by any stretch of the imagination and The Seven Goals Luke Norris scored last season has already been equalled this season with seven / eight league games to go, and on current form Luke Norris could score ten goals for Gillingham this season, I do still believe that Gillingham are lacking a traditional target-man - John Marquis is scoring goals for fun for Northampton Town and it is amazing how players settle at one club but cannot settle elsewhere - a shame we couldn’t sign John Marquis permanently, because none of Ben Williamson, Rory Donnelly or Dominic Samuel have been brought in to replace John Marquis, whether Justin Edinburgh will look to sign a more physical striker in the summer we have to wait and see.
Stephen mentioned Adebayo Akinfenwa, who has only scored five goals this season and at the age of thirty three, I am sure that a move to The MLS is a possibility as I cannot see Akinfenwa staying at AFC Wimbledon beyond this summer, I wouldn’t mind him coming back to Gillingham for a third spell, but we may well opt for a younger and more mobile target-man, talking about Adebayo Akinfenwa made me think about all of The Gillingham Players who have had more than one spell at the club, Josh Wright, Andrew Crofts, Adedeji Oshilaja, Adam Chicksen, Harry Lennon, Max Ehmer, Cody McDonald and Bradley Garmston, have all had more than one spell at the club, in Max Ehmer and Bradley Garmston’s cases there loan spells were made into permanent signings during the summer, while Adedeji Oshilaja has returned to Gillingham for a second loan spell, Gary had to make his way into the press area, while Me and Stephen stood outside the ground.
Stephen mentioned that am I participating in A FIFA Tournament ??? and I had been taking notes on the players I wanted in my first pick’s, I had My 4.2.2.2 system written down and players who I wanted to bring in like Wilfried Bony, who just fits into my system perfectly, and ever since picking him when I played a defensive formation in my first tournament, he has been a player I have always chosen in my sides - oddly enough this tournament failed to materialise late on - but it would of been an individual team tournament and not a double team tournament - which was the case last time round.
Eventually we saw Gillingham’s Team News on Twitter and Gillingham Lined Up As Follows,,,,,,, Stuart Nelson, Adedeji Oshilaja, Adam El-Abd, Max Ehmer, Ryan Jackson, Aaron Morris, Josh Wright, Brennan Dickenson, Andrew Crofts, Luke Norris, Dominic Samuel SUBS: Glenn Morris, John Egan, Bradley Garmston, Jake Hessenthaler, George Williams, Rory Donnelly and Cody McDonald - the most surprising news was seeing John Egan being included among the substitutes bench as we weren’t expecting him to be in the squad against Coventry City, and with John Egan and Cody McDonald returning from injury, there is no space in the eighteen man match day squad for Emmanuel Osadebe or Jermaine McGlashan, and there is going to be some very good players not making the starting line up or the match day squad for Gillingham in the coming weeks.
Stephen went across to his usual seat in Block C and I mentioned that I will meet up after the game, My Gillingham Bag was searched before going through the turnstiles and I paid £1 for One fifty / fifty Match Day Lottery Ticket, and I paid £1 for one Mars Bar, as I needed to get something to eat, and I spoke with Andrew and Charlotte about the game against Bury on Easter Monday and how it took us nearly six hours to get to Bury because of the problems on The A1, and Max Ehmer had a broken nose which explained the eight minutes of added time - Charlotte pointed out that Max Ehmer was wearing a face mask and Andrew mentioned that Gillingham’s Match against Bury was the final result to come through on Final Score - typically that is always the way when your supporting your team from afar.
I mentioned that I was at Coventry City for the match at The Ricoh Arena and Coventry City won 4-1 that day and they could of scored another 4-5 goals that day as well - I have no idea why Coventry City are not in contention for promotion as they went top of League One after there win against us - I am sure that Coventry City Supporters will have a better understanding of why they haven’t achieved what they want to achieve this season and whether Tony Mowbray is given the chance to make wholesale changes to the squad over the summer and go again will depend on those above him at boardroom level.
Joe Cole was named among the substitutes bench for the visitor’s, along with Adam Armstrong, Marc Antoine-Fortune and Stephen Hunt, so Tony Mowbray has plenty of attacking options to call upon, Gael Bigirimana, John Fleck, Jacob Murphy and Former Gillingham Midfielder Romain Vincelot were also in the starting line up, I was expecting a cagey game and a match where both teams will get themselves on the score-sheet.
Both teams came out of the tunnel ready for Kick Off and thankfully Referee Chris Sarginson didn’t switch ends meaning that Gillingham will be kicking towards The Brian Moore Stand in the first half and Coventry City will be kicking towards The Rainham End, this means that both teams will be kicking towards there own supporters in the second half – there was also an excellent reception for Andrew Crofts, who was making his first appearance back at Priestfield Stadium in A Gillingham Shirt since 2009.
FIRST HALF
Gillingham made an fast and frantic start to the opening stages of the first half as The Gills won the first corner kick of the match just two minutes into the game as Coventry City Defender Jack Stephens is forced to header Brennan Dickenson’s dangerous in-swinging cross behind for a corner kick, Brennan Dickenson goes across to take the resulting corner kick, and Brennan Dickenson’s in-swinging corner kick into the heart of Coventry City’s Penalty Area is headed up and under by Jack Stephens and Aaron Martin wins the second header on the edge of Coventry City’s Penalty Area, Josh Wright picks up possession of the ball in Coventry City’s Final Third and plays the ball out-wide to Adedeji Oshilaja, who plays the ball down the line to Ryan Jackson, who has whipped in a sensational cross to the far post to Brennan Dickenson, but Brennan Dickenson’s snap-shot effort fails to hit the target and goes over Reice Charles-Cook’s Crossbar.
A Minute later and Aaron Morris is side-swiped by Sam Ricketts as Dominic Samuel plays a horrendous pass back to Aaron Morris, who had to be prepared to take a knock for the team to win Gillingham a free kick, and it is from this free kick where Gillingham almost took the lead – Brennan Dickenson and Andrew Crofts both stand over the resulting free kick and Andrew Crofts makes a run down the right flank to give Brennan Dickenson a passing option for a short free kick, But Brennan Dickenson whips in an dangerous in-swinging free kick towards the far post and Max Ehmer peals off at the far post to header the ball back across the face of goal, and Aaron Martin headers the ball clear and away from goal and Gael Bigirimana helps the ball further away from goal by winning the second header, but Gael Bigirimana’s defensive clearance only goes as far to Josh Wright, who’s first touch controls the ball dead and with his second touch Josh Wright peals the ball out-wide to Andrew Crofts on the right side of Coventry City’s Penalty Area, Andrew Crofts first time cross appears to strike Romain Vincelot on the arm and there was a big penalty shout waved away by Referee Chris Sarginson, but Andrew Crofts tries to fire the ball across Coventry City’s Goal on the half volley and John Fleck kicks the ball out of play for a throw on.
And that throw on suits Gillingham just fine as Ryan Jackson goes across to take the resulting throw on, and Ryan Jackson’s long throw on is headed goal-wards by Max Ehmer who did extremely well to header the ball on target, as Max Ehmer had his back towards goal and I am sure that his sight is being affected slightly with that face mask on, but Reice Charles-Cook was able to make a comfortable save from Max Ehmer’s headed effort on goal.
One thing I noticed early on was Gillingham’s Three Man Centre Back Set Up with Adedeji Oshilaja playing at right centre back, Adam El-Abd playing in the middle and Max Ehmer playing at left centre back, considering that Adedeji Oshilaja is the better ball playing centre back out of the three of them, then it would make sense to play Adedeji Oshilaja in the middle, I know why Justin Edinburgh has played Adam El-Abd in the centre, he is the most experienced centre back out of the three of them, when John Egan is back to full fitness then I can see either Max Ehmer or Adam El-Abd being one of the unlucky defenders dropped to the substitutes bench, as a back three of John Egan, Adedeji Oshilaja and one of Max Ehmer and Adam El-Abd would be a much stronger back three.
Ryan Jackson has also been Gillingham’s most attacking out-let as his pace is causing Sam Ricketts a lot of problems and Josh Wright and Andrew Crofts keep trying to pick out Ryan Jackson with some excellent cross-field passes, Brennan Dickenson isn’t quite as advanced for Gillingham as Me and Colin thought that one of Jack Stephens and Andy Rose was playing on the wing, it was only later on during the game that I realised that Jodi Jones was playing on the left wing for Coventry City, and even more unusual was the fact that Coventry City had signed Jodi Jones on loan from Dagenham & Redbridge, and this loan deal can be turned into a permanent deal in the summer.
Ten Minutes into the match and Gillingham had another half chance to take the lead, Luke Norris cuts the ball back to Dominic Samuel inside Coventry City’s Penalty Area and Dominic Samuel slips at the crucial moment – a few players had slipped and fallen over in the opening ten minutes and I think a few of our players need to put on some longer studs – a minute later and Coventry City create there first goal-scoring opportunity of the match as Jodi Jones looks very dangerous for Coventry City down the right wing – no wonder Brennan Dickenson isn’t as far forward as Ryan Jackson – and Jodi Jones plays the ball through to Marcus Tudgay, who tee’s himself up by chesting the ball and on the half turn, Marcus Tudgay’s shot is blocked by Max Ehmer and Gillingham get the ball clear and away from danger.
But twelve minutes into the match and Gillingham are forced into an early substitution as Rory Donnelly comes on for Dominic Samuel, who is unable to continue, and the only thing I can think of is that Dominic Samuel had done some serious damage when he slipped as Luke Norris tries to pick Dominic Samuel out with a cut back pass – such a shame to see Dominic Samuel substituted through injury, as the young striker on loan from Reading looked liked he was going to give Aaron Martin and Jack Stephens a lot of problems defensively.
Both teams create one goal-scoring opportunity a piece fifteen and seventeen minutes into the match respectively, and it is Gillingham who created the goal-scoring opportunity in the fifteenth minute as Reice Charles-Cook’s long kick down-field from the resulting goal-kick is headed up into the air by Adedeji Oshilaja, who wins the aerial challenge with Marcus Tudgay, Andrew Crofts wins the second aerial challenge up against John Fleck and Andrew Crofts flicks the ball into Rory Donnelly’s path, and Rory Donnelly plays the ball back to Josh Wright, who squares the ball to Brennan Dickenson and Brennan Dickenson wins the foot-race with Jodi Jones, and Brennan Dickenson decides against taking on Aaron Phillips as Brennan Dickenson whips in a dangerous low cross to the edge of Coventry City’s Penalty Area, and Luke Norris plays a one touch layoff back into Andrew Crofts path and Andrew Crofts driven shot on target is blocked by Aaron Martin, and the ball ricochets into Aaron Phillips path, and The Coventry City Right Back prevents the corner kick and clips the ball down the line into Jodi Jones Path and Max Ehmer does well to come across and just kick the ball down-field as Brennan Dickenson was out of position.
Max Ehmer’s defensive clearance turns into a decent pass as Andrew Crofts plays a one touch pass back to Josh Wright who scoop’s the ball forward to try and pick out Luke Norris, but Aaron Martin headers the ball back to Reice Charles Cook, and it is from this position where Coventry City created there decent attacking opportunity, Reice Charles-Cook picks the ball up and rolls the ball out to Jack Stephens, who is being closed down by Rory Donnelly, Jack Stephens kicks the ball long down-field and Brennan Dickenson wins the aerial challenge up against Jodi Jones and Andrew Crofts flicks the ball on to try and pick out Aaron Morris, but Gael Bigirimana wins the fifty / fifty challenge with Aaron Morris and Gael Bigirimana’s pass forward is cut out by Adam El-Abd, Gael Bigirimana picks up possession of the ball just in Coventry City’s Half Of The Pitch, and Gael Bigirimana plays a short pass to John Fleck, who skilfully skips past Josh Wright’s challenge and plays the ball forward to Romain Vincelot, and Romain Vincelot drives forward in possession of the ball. and with no-one closing down The Former Gillingham Loanee, Romain Vincelot tries his luck from distance and Romain Vincelot���s driven effort on goal only just goes wide of Stuart Nelson’s right hand post.
That wasn’t the best of defending from Gillingham there as Romain Vincelot found space to run into and he managed to get in-between Gillingham’s Three Man Central Midfield of Andrew Crofts, Josh Wright and Aaron Morris, and Adam El-Abd stood off Romain Vincelot for far too long, since Dominic Samuel being forced off through injury and Rory Donnelly coming on in his place, Gillingham haven’t been great as Coventry City look the better of the two teams and Gillingham have started the match very well, but the substitution has taken some of that urgency out of our game.
Gillingham win two corner kicks in quick succession as Andrew Crofts and Rory Donnelly have both forced Sam Ricketts to deflect the ball out of play for a corner kick, unfortunately for Gillingham, Brennan Dickenson’s in-swinging corner kick was gathered by Reice Charles-Cook for the second corner and although the delivery was decent, Brennan Dickenson’s in-swinging corner kick was too close to The Coventry City Goalkeeper.
Coventry City are piling on the pressure on Gillingham’s Goal as Aaron Martin clips the ball out-wide to Aaron Phillips, who runs forward in possession of the ball before laying the ball off to Jodi Jones, who cuts inside and the gap in-front of him opens up and Jodi Jones shot on target from distance is blocked by Max Ehmer, but Max Ehmer’s block diverted into Marcus Tudgay’s path who had Adam El-Abd, Max Ehmer and Aaron Morris all tightly marking him, and Aaron Morris intercept’s the ball and plays a pass forward to Brennan Dickenson, who smashes the ball down-field and Aaron Martin was always going to win the aerial battle up against Luke Norris, Aaron Martin headed the ball towards John Fleck, who played the ball across the pitch sideways to Jack Stephens, who plays the ball inside to Gael Bigirimana, who takes a touch and clips the ball out-wide to Aaron Phillips – who looked liked he had controlled the ball with his arm – but play continued and Aaron Phillips runs forward in possession of the ball before playing the ball forward to Jodi Jones, who is being double marked by Brennan Dickenson and Aaron Morris and Jodi Jones checks the ball back to Aaron Phillips, who tries to pick out Gael Bigirimana with a threaded through-ball, but The Coventry City Midfielder slipped and this allowed Brennan Dickenson to clear the ball down the line.
Rory Donnelly was chasing Brennan Dickenson’s long clearance down but Aaron Martin flicked the ball over The Gillingham Striker’s Head to John Fleck, who was lucky to retain possession of the ball before squaring the ball wide Sam Ricketts, and The Coventry City Right Back – who is playing at Left Back against Gillingham - plays a first time through-ball which is kicked long down-field by Adedeji Oshilaja and Jack Stephen’s wins the aerial challenge and John Fleck was very hesitate with the loose ball and the slightest of touches from John Fleck prevented Josh Wright from getting to the ball – Referee Chris Sarginson had also waved play on – and Romain Vincelot’s excellent cross-field pass picked out Jodi Jones, but The Coventry City Winger was flagged for offside when he looked onside, I am surprised that play wasn’t pulled back for A Coventry City Free Kick as Josh Wright had fouled John Fleck on the centre circle.
Twenty Five Minutes into the match and Coventry City are awarded a very soft free kick, Sam Ricketts takes a throw on for Coventry City in Coventry City’s final third and Sam Ricketts long throw down the line is won in the air by Ryan Jackson and Andrew Crofts control’s the loose ball but he is crowded out by John Fleck and Marcus Tudgay, and Marcus Tudgay plays the ball back to Sam Ricketts, who kicks the ball towards the centre circle and Gael Bigirimana wins the midfield battle with Aaron Morris and Gael Bigirimana plays the ball out-wide to Aaron Phillips, who runs forward in possession of the ball and plays the ball out-wide to Jodi Jones, who uses his pace and skill to try and go past Brennan Dickenson and Brennan Dickenson went to ground and timed his sliding tackle to perfection – and he had to as well, otherwise Brennan Dickenson would have conceded a penalty – Jodi Jones keeps the ball in play and plays the ball back to Gael Bigirimana, who’s first time cross to the far post is headed clear by Adedeji Oshilaja, and Ryan Jackson and Sam Ricketts both compete for the loose ball and I am disappointed that Referee Chris Sarginson has awarded a free kick to Coventry City.
This free kick had the perfect angle for a right footed player to try and curl an effort into the top left corner of the net, thankfully the resulting free kick is wasted as Gael Bigirimana’s driven free kick strikes Gillingham’s Wall and on the re-bound, Gael Bigirimana slices his effort on goal well wide of the target and into the back of The Rainham End – what a waste - because I thought Gael Bigirimana was going to tee up Sam Ricketts or John Fleck, as both players were well positioned to try there luck from distance with a one touch layoff.
Three Minutes later and in The Twenty Eighth Minute and Coventry City came even closer to scoring, Sam Ricketts has possession of the ball and clips a high ball through to Marcus Tudgay, but The Coventry City Striker loses out to Josh Wright in the air and Andrew Crofts gets to the loose ball first but the ball ricochets off John Fleck and Marcus Tudgay and The Coventry City Striker gets possession of the ball back before squaring the ball to Gael Bigirimana, who plays the ball back across to John Fleck who runs forward in possession of the ball and John Fleck plays a through-ball to Marcus Tudgay, who plays a one touch layoff back to John Fleck, who plays the ball back to Gael Bigirimana, and The Coventry City Midfielder play’s the ball out-wide to Aaron Phillips, who plays the ball down the line to Jodi Jones, and The Coventry City Winger checks inside and whips in a dangerous cross which would of picked out Romain Vincelot, but Adam El-Abd comes across and makes a goal-saving challenge by heading in the ball out of play, at the expense of a corner kick.
That was a fantastic interception from Adam El-Abd, but you can tell from that attacking move that Coventry City’s passing is more crisp, very precise and the movement off the ball is making a real difference, Gillingham have lose the pace and movement that Dominic Samuel would of provided Gillingham in attack and the service to the front two since that excellent fast start has been lacking.
Romain Vincelot came very close to opening the scoring from the resulting corner kick as John Fleck’s dangerous in-swinging corner kick see’s Romain Vincelot’s glancing header go across the face of goal and just wide of Stuart Nelson’s right hand post, that was a big goal-scoring opportunity from the visitor’s, and Gillingham need to do something to try and pile the pressure back on Coventry City’s Goal again, because it is one way traffic at the moment.
Just past the half an hour mark and Gillingham create a goal-scoring opportunity that lifts the home crowd, as we haven’t had a lot to shout about since Dominic Samuel’s substitution in The Twelfth Minute, Josh Wright picks out Ryan Jackson, who again provides Gillingham with an out-ball as Ryan Jackson uses his pace to run down the right flank and Ryan Jackson’s cross appears to strike Sam Ricketts on the hand and there was a massive Handball shout from The Gillingham Supporters in Block’s A,B and C in The Medway Stand, the fact that Sam Ricketts quickly kicked the ball away suggests that he knew he had got away with a handball offence there, but Sam Ricketts defensive clearance goes straight to Andrew Crofts, who’s cushioned header out-wide to Ryan Jackson allows Gillingham to keep piling on the pressure, and Ryan Jackson plays the ball through to Adedeji Oshilaja, who’s first time cross is cleared out of play by Aaron Martin, who almost diverted the ball into the back of his own net and Gillingham have won a corner kick.
So disappointing that Gillingham didn’t put more pressure on Coventry City’s goal as Brennan Dickenson’s in-swinging corner kick see’s Josh Wright penalised for a foul on Sam Ricketts, and Coventry City look very likely to score in The Thirty Sixth Minute and once again Jodi Jones is causing Gillingham all sorts of problems and Brennan Dickenson is struggle to deal with the pace and trickery from The Coventry City Winger, Jodi Jones and Aaron Phillips combine nicely down the right for Coventry City and Jodi Jones picks out Marcus Tudgay, who managed to get in and behind Gillingham’s Defence and get to the by-line, and Marcus Tudgay’s attempted pull-back is deflected out of play for A Coventry City Corner Kick by Max Ehmer – who had made a fantastic block - Jodi Jones goes across to take the resulting corner kick and Jodi Jones dangerous in-swinging cross is headed over the crossbar by Aaron Martin, who put plenty of power into that header but thankfully couldn't header the ball on target – but it did look like that the final touch came off either Max Ehmer or Adam El-Abd and Coventry City were protesting that they should of had a corner kick, Romain Vincelot was especially vocal that Coventry should of had a corner kick but Referee Chris Sarginson was very lenient and just warned The Coventry City Midfielder of his future conduct.
There have been a few dives in this match as Romain Vincelot went to the deck underneath Adam El-Abd’s challenge, but the theatrical dive that annoyed me the most was Jack Stephens falling to the floor when Ryan Jackson had stepped back and allowed the ball to go out of play for A Gillingham Throw On, that was really pathetic and deserved to be a bookable offence.
Gillingham are resorting to long balls at the moment to get the ball down-field and Rory Donnelly and Luke Norris have been second best against Aaron Martin and Jack Stephens, sometimes the long ball has paid off, when one of the centre back’s have mis-judged a header and Gillingham get a throw on in Coventry City’s final third, but the ball needs to be on the deck with 1-2 touch pass and move type moves, as Gillingham are better when the ball is on the deck.
In The Forty Second Minute and Coventry City felt that they should have had a free kick, Reice Charles-Cook throws the ball out-wide to Aaron Phillips and this puts The Coventry City Right Back under un-necessary pressure as Aaron Morris is charging the loose ball down and Aaron Phillips gets lucky and retains possession of the ball before playing kicking the ball long down-field and Adam El-Abd wins the first header, but his second header goes straight to John Fleck, who plays a short pass forward to Marcus Tudgay, who plays the ball out-wide to Aaron Phillips, who passes the ball forward to Jodi Jones, and The Coventry City Winger skips past Andrew Crofts challenge and looked liked he was going past Brennan Dickenson but Brennan Dickenson runs across The Coventry City Winger’s path and blocked his run, preventing him getting to the loose ball and I was surprised no foul was given – Colin felt that Jodi Jones must have a reputation among Referee’s as a diver, hence why that decision wasn’t awarded in The Visitor’s Favour, but Jodi Jones has been the stand-out player of the first half.
Gillingham created a very good attacking opportunity a minute later as Josh Wright intercepted the ball from John Fleck and played the ball through to Andrew Crofts, who passed the ball out-wide to Rory Donnelly on the left side of Coventry City’s Penalty Area, and Rory Donnelly’s cross across the face of goal to Ryan Jackson was slightly over-hit and the ball goes out of play and the chance had gone – really what should have happened was Andrew Crofts pick out Ryan Jackson who fires in a low cross towards Rory Donnelly.
Gillingham almost set up Coventry City for the perfect counter attack in The Forty Fourth Minute as Adedeji Oshilaja’s cross-field pass was almost kept in play by Brennan Dickenson and good thing Brennan Dickenson couldn’t keep the ball in play, otherwise he would of set up Jodi Jones to have a free run on the Gillingham Goal, Gillingham had the last chance of the first time as the one additional minute of added time was shown by The Fourth Official as Ryan Jackson picks out Aaron Morris at the far post and Aaron Morris volleys the ball well over the crossbar and probably not the player we want to see on the end of rare goal-scoring opportunities, but that was the final noteworthy moment of a very cagey and unforgettable first half.
HALF TIME: GILLINGHAM 0 – 0 COVENTRY CITY
I wrote down the chances created on goal for both teams throughout the first half – there weren’t many to write about – how Gillingham had made a fast and frantic start to the first half, Coventry City then created plenty of decent goal-scoring opportunities and Gillingham came back stronger towards the end of the first half – hopefully Dominic Samuel’s injury isn’t serious because his substitution also coincided with Gillingham’s poor spell in The First Half.
Adam El-Abd made a fantastic defensive clearance to deny Romain Vincelot from getting a clear header on goal from Jodi Jones cross – a player who stood out for Coventry City in the first half – clearly Adam El-Abd is playing as the central centre back so that he can provide an experienced voice for both Max Ehmer and Adedeji Oshilaja, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Adedeji Oshilaja playing as the central centre back, as Oshilaja is the best ball playing centre back out of the three.
Max Ehmer headed Ryan Jackson’s long throw straight at Reice Charles-Cook, in what I think was the only save throughout the entire first forty five minutes, that stat alone reflects on how limited the goal-scoring opportunities have been in what has been a very cagey and lacklustre first half performance, Ryan Jackson has been Gillingham’s main attacking outlet, as Brennan Dickenson has had to contend with Aaron Phillips and Jodi Jones down the left side of the pitch.
With Dominic Samuel substituted through injury, I would held off on using our second substitute at this stage as we may need to make a double substitution late on, had Dominic Samuel remained on the pitch then one of Andrew Crofts, Josh Wright and Aaron Morris could be substituted for either Bradley Garmston – which would mean that Bradley Garmston and Brennan Dickenson can double up on Jodi Jones – George Williams on in the central attacking midfielder role in place of one of the midfield three, or maybe Cody McDonald can come on for a forty five minute runout.
As for score predictions I stuck with my cagey 1-0 Gillingham Win I predicted at the start of the match, this was going to be a cagey match where the performance will be unforgettable, but we’re at the stage of the season where points mean more then performances, so if Gillingham can grind out another 1-0 win by upping our performance levels in The Second Half, than that would be fantastic.
SECOND HALF
And right at the start of The Second Half, Justin Edinburgh makes Gillingham’s Second Substitution of the match as George Williams comes on for Aaron Morris, I thought George Williams may have come on around the hour mark, but Justin Edinburgh has decided to make this substitution now and leave the final substitution for as long as possible, Colin felt that George Williams would come on for one of the midfield three as Gillingham haven’t been creative enough in the final third, but neither of us were expecting this substitution to happen now.
Gillingham create the first goal-scoring opportunity in The Second Half in The Fiftieth Minute as Sam Ricketts fouls Josh Wright and Gillingham have a free kick just inside Coventry City’s Half and Brennan Dickenson goes across to take the resulting free kick, and Brennan Dickenson’s in-swinging cross picks out Max Ehmer at the far post - who peals away from the back post - and Max Ehmer plays a one touch layoff into Andrew Crofts path, and Andrew Crofts snap shot effort fails to hit the target, a few fouls have broken up the pace and tempo of The Second Half, but Gillingham have made a good start to The Second Half and that effort on goal from Andrew Crofts is something to build on.
Interesting that Joe Cole was applauded by Gillingham Supporters as he warmed up on the sidelines, normally former players are applauded or booed, but Joe Cole has no connection to Gillingham and there hasn’t been many players who have got a reception from home supporters like Joe Cole did, Jamal Campbell-Ryce was one player who was applauded by Gillingham Supporters when he was substituted because he put in a fantastic performance against us while playing for Notts County, Joe Cole wasn’t the only high profile player on Coventry City’s Substitutes bench as Top Goal-Scorer Adam Armstrong, Stephen Hunt and Marc Antoine-Fortune were also on the bench foe the visitor’s.
Two Minutes later and Gillingham have a free kick in a similar situation as Gael Bigirimana is penalised for his challenge on Luke Norris, again Brennan Dickenson goes across to take the resulting free kick, but Brennan Dickenson’s free kick hits the wall and Coventry City had the perfect opportunity to break and hit Gillingham on the counter attack, but Brennan Dickenson redeemed himself with an excellent interception as Brennan Dickenson timed his challenge on Jodi Jones to perfection - terrible free kick from Brennan Dickenson, but well done for atoning for the error and preventing Coventry City from hitting Gillingham on the counter attack.
A minute later and Gillingham go from defending at one end of the pitch to creating a decent goal-scoring opportunity at the other, after Brennan Dickenson’s interception, Aaron Phillips goes across to take the throw on and Aaron Phillips throws the ball to Marcus Tudgay, who takes a touch before hitting a cross-field pass towards Jacob Murphy, but Adedeji Oshilaja wins the aerial challenge but the ball still falls to Jacob Murphy’s feat, but The Coventry City Winger can only hook the ball over Ryan Jackson’s shoulder and it is more by luck then judgement that the ball lands to John Fleck’s feat, and The Coventry City Midfielder takes a touch before clipping the ball with the outside of his right foot towards the far side of Gillingham’s Penalty Area, but Brennan Dickenson headers the ball clear and Josh Wright helps the ball on it’s way further away from Gillingham’s Goal.
But still Coventry City can pile on the pressure as Sam Ricketts headers the ball towards Jodi Jones who brings the ball down but cannot shield the ball from Max Ehmer, who intercepts the ball and Max Ehmer clips the ball forward leaving a foot-race between Jack Stephens and Rory Donnelly and Jack Stephens just gets the faintest of touches on the ball, but Reice Charles-Cook still has to come rushing off his goal-line to make a crucial clearance and that could of been a complete mix up at the back for Coventry City, Reice Charles-Cook could of missed the ball and take Rory Donnelly out, he could of missed the ball and Rory Donnelly would of scored a open goal, or Jack Stephens touch could of been too heavy and took the ball past his own goalkeeper and Jack Stephens could of scored a dreadful own goal - well dreadful from Coventry City’s point of view, a much needed opening goal from our own point of view.
Fifty Six Minutes into the match and Adedeji Oshilaja is penalised for his challenge on Jacob Murphy and Coventry City are going to shoot from this free kick as this free kick is in shooting territory, Gael Bigirimana tee’s up Marcus Tudgay to try his luck from distance and Marcus Tudgay’s free kick is driven wide and crashes into the advertisement board, Stuart Nelson was confidant that Marcus Tudgay’s effort was going wide of his right hand post, but Coventry City’s shoot on sight and take a pot-shot approach is going to work eventually, as one of these efforts on goal will hit the back of the net.
And from the resulting goal-kick, Coventry City could of scored again as the visitor’s are starting to show there quality and class, Stuart Nelson’s long kick down-field from the resulting goal-kick is flicked on by Luke Norris and George Williams loses out to Aaron Phillips, who has the strength to retain possession of the ball before playing the ball down the line, but Aaron Phillips pass is cut out by Adedeji Oshilaja, but John Fleck gets to the loose ball first and squares the ball to Gael Bigirimana, who plays the ball out-wide to Jodi Jones, who was looking to go on another run down the left wing, but Brennan Dickenson and Rory Donnelly had doubled up on The Coventry City Winger so Jodi Jones plays the ball back inside to Gael Bigirimana, who squares the ball to John Fleck and John Fleck plays the ball out-wide to Sam Ricketts as Coventry City move the ball from right to left to try and open Gillingham up.
Sam Ricketts plays a short pass to John Fleck and with The Coventry City Midfielder being pressurised from George Williams, Sam Ricketts was given the return pass, and The Coventry City Right Back - who was playing at left back - plays a short pass inside to Gael Bigirimana, who plays a short pass to Aaron Martin, and the towering centre back was allowed to run forward in possession of the ball un-challenged before playing a short pass back to Jacob Murphy, who passes the ball down the line before Andrew Crofts can intercept the ball, and Jacob Murphy’s pass goes to Aaron Phillips, who is essentially playing as a right winger such is Coventry City’s dominance in possession of the ball, and Aaron Phillips plays the ball down the line to Jacob Murphy - who ran forward immediately after passing the ball - and Jacob Murphy fires in a dangerous low cross which goes through a crowded penalty area and Romain Vincelot couldn’t divert the ball goal-wards and maybe that is because Adedeji Oshilaja had put Romain Vincelot off - Justin Edinburgh needs to do something to try and get Gillingham back into this match as Coventry City are looking increasingly more likely, the team who are going to score the opening goal.
Fifty Nine Minutes into the match and Gillingham had the chance to score the opening goal of the game - and it looks like one goal will decide who is going to win this match - Andrew Crofts plays a pass back to Adam El-Abd, who plays the ball wide to Max Ehmer, and Max Ehmer plays the ball down the line to Brennan Dickenson, who whips in a early cross to the far post and Luke Norris had lost Jack Stephens as he pealed away from The Coventry City Central Defender, but Brennan Dickenson’s cross was just too high for Luke Norris to direct goal-wards - excellent early cross from Brennan Dickenson - and more crosses like that one will eventually create a better goal-scoring opportunity for either Luke Norris or Rory Donnelly to get on the end of.
Tony Mowbray makes his intentions clear as Adam Armstrong comes on for Jodi Jones past the hour mark and Adam Armstrong has scored nineteen goals in thirty four appearances for Coventry City this season, but two of those goals have come in the last eight appearances, but Adam Armstrong stood out for Coventry City when we were at The Ricoh Arena earlier in the season, and he is a player that Gillingham’s Defence needs to keep quiet, looking at our substitute bench, and Cody McDonald on for Luke Norris or maybe take off one of the centre backs appears to be a likely option, should Justin Edinburgh want to push for the winner.
The Attendance was announced as 7,200 with 678 Coventry City Supporters in The Brian Moore Stand, I didn’t think the attendance was that high, quite a few blocks in The Gordon Road Stand looked empty or not at full capacity, there were a few empty seats where I was sitting, and the attendance just sounded higher then what it really was, Gillingham are one of very few clubs to actually announce the away attendance during the game though and Coventry City’s support was commendable, considering that they have little to play for this season, I have no idea why they aren’t in contention for automatic promotion or at the very least a playoff place this season, because Coventry City tore us apart at The Ricoh Arena, and since then Coventry have dropped like a stone.
Sixty Nine Minutes into the match and Brennan Dickenson is the most relieved man inside Priestfield Stadium as Coventry City almost scored from a rare mistake from the young left sided player, Coventry City have a throw on down the left side of there pitch and Sam Ricketts throws the ball to Jack Stephens, who takes a touch and pings a cross-field pass which should of been cut out by Brennan Dickenson, but Brennan Dickenson is caught underneath the ball and his header backwards falls to Jacob Murphy’s feat, and Jacob Murphy has plenty of space to run into as Coventry City can create another decent attacking move, Jacob Murphy runs from the halfway line to the edge of Gillingham’s Penalty Area before cutting the ball back to Gael Bigirimana, and Gael Bigirimana’s first time curling effort only just flew wide of Stuart Nelson’s right hand post, and I thought for a moment that Gael Bigirimana had curled that effort into the top left corner of the net, fantastic effort on goal from Gael Bigirimana, but Brennan Dickenson could blow a huge sigh of relief as Coventry City almost scored from his defensive error.
Seventy One Minutes into the match and Gillingham make there third and final substitution of the game and it is an enforced substitution as Ryan Jackson can no longer carry on and Bradley Garmston comes on in his place, it looks like Gillingham will change to a flat 4.4.2 formation with Adedeji Oshilaja at right back, Max Ehmer and Adam El-Abd at centre back, Bradley Garmston at left back, George Williams on the right, Andrew Crofts and Josh Wright in the middle with Brennan Dickenson on the left and Rory Donnelly playing alongside Luke Norris in attack - this enforced substitution means that Cody McDonald wouldn’t get a runout - had Ryan Jackson been able to play the full ninety minutes, then Cody McDonald would of been given a chance to play for 15 - 20 minutes.
Seventy Five Minutes into the match and Coventry City smash the crossbar as the visitor’s look the more likely side who are going to score the one goal which will decide this match now - whoever scores will win this game, and I was hoping that Gillingham could nick it - Coventry City have a throw on in Gillingham’s Half of the pitch by the dugouts and Aaron Phillips throws the ball to Gael Bigirimana, who plays the ball back to Aaron Phillips, who again plays the ball back to Gael Bigirimana, and Gael Bigirimana plays the ball back to Aaron Martin who squares the ball to Jack Stephens - there isn’t any pressure on The Coventry City Centre Backs which clearly must be a tactical decision from Justin Edinburgh so that Gillingham are not pulled out of position - Jack Stephens has the time and space to just to keep possession of the ball before playing the ball out-wide to Aaron Martin, who takes a few touches on the ball before threading the ball through to Marcus Tudgay, who has dropped deep to receive possession of the ball.
Marcus Tudgay turns and threads through a accurate pass to Romain Vincelot, who is being closely marked by Adam El-Abd, but Romain Vincelot’s cheeky back-heal tee’s up Jacob Murphy and Jacob Murphy’s curling effort on target is tipped on to the top of the crossbar by Stuart Nelson, who has made a fantastic save to preserve parity, Coventry City Supporters and players have every right with there protestations and outburst’s to the official’s, because the visitor’s should have been awarded a corner kick - goal-scoring opportunities have been few and far between in this match, but Coventry City have created the vast majority of them - and attacking moves are in short supply for The Gills.
Fouls by Andrew Crofts on Gael Bigirimana and Gael Bigirimana on Brennan Dickenson combined with several offside decisions have broken the pace and the tempo of the game up and Gael Bigirimana’s challenge on Brennan Dickenson was a bookable offence, with Ryan Jackson substituted there is no long throw option and Luke Norris and Rory Donnelly are struggling to get any support or service, which suggest’s how well Coventry City are playing in The Second Half, but Gillingham managed to grind out a result against Bury on Easter Monday, and there is still time remaining for Gillingham to nick a winner.
Seventy Eight Minutes into the match and both teams are pushing for the winner as Gillingham have a throw on deep in Coventry City’s Final Third, Bradley Garmston throws the ball down the line to Brennan Dickenson, who tries to retain possession of the ball but is crowded out by Aaron Phillips and Jacob Murphy, and Aaron Phillips squares the ball to John Fleck, who takes a touch before threading the ball through to Romain Vincelot, who plays a first time pass out-wide to Sam Ricketts, who just gets to the ball ahead of Adedeji Oshilaja and Sam Ricketts plays a long ball forward which is being chased down by Adam Armstrong, but Stuart Nelson is quickly off his goal-line to kick the ball down-field before Adam Armstrong can get on the end off Sam Ricketts attempted through-ball.
And Stuart Nelson’s long kick down-field is flicked on by Brennan Dickenson and Luke Norris slips underneath Aaron Martin’s challenge, a few supporters felt that Luke Norris was fouled by The Coventry City Centre Back, but I felt that Luke Norris had slipped, as quite a few players have slipped and fallen over throughout the game –Dominic Samuel had to be substituted as he slipped and done some damage to his knee, which I hope isn’t serious.
Eighty Two Minutes into the match and Coventry City create another decent goal-scoring opportunity, Coventry City build this goal-scoring opportunity from the back as Reice Charles-Cook plays a short goal-kick to Jack Stephens, who plays a short pass sideways to Gael Bigirimana, who plays a short pass forwards to Marcus Tudgay, who plays a one touch layoff into John Fleck’s path, and The Coventry City Midfielder goes on a driving run forwards before threading the ball through to Adam Armstrong, and Adedeji Oshilaja, Max Ehmer and Adam El-Abd had all dropped deep to closely mark Coventry City’s Top Goal-Scorer, Adam Armstrong quickly shifts the ball onto his right foot and Adam Armstrong’s curling effort on goal fails to hit the target – good defending from Max Ehmer, Adam El-Abd and Adedeji Oshilaja to prevent Adam Armstrong from having the option to run in and behind, which would of created a more clear cut goal-scoring opportunity.
Five Minutes Later and in The Eighty Seventh Minute, Coventry City had another opportunity to score what now will surely be the winning goal, as whoever scores next is going to win this match by a goal to nil, Max Ehmer was harshly penalised for his challenge on Marcus Tudgay and it is from this free kick more then twenty five yards out that Coventry City were able to get another shot off on target, John Fleck stands over the resulting free kick and curls a decent effort on target which was comfortable for Stuart Nelson to gather, I knew exactly where John Fleck was trying to place that free kick as John Fleck was trying to pick out the top right corner, but neither the power or placement was accurate enough for John Fleck to bother Stuart Nelson between the sticks.
In The Eighty Ninth Minute however, Coventry City should of won the match with a late strike from Marcus Tudgay, Reice Charles-Cook kicks the ball long down-field and Marcus Tudgay holds the ball up and Gael Bigirimana retains possession of the ball despite persistence from George Williams, and Gael Bigirimana plays the ball back to John Fleck, who passes the ball out-wide to Sam Ricketts, who tries to go past Adedeji Oshilaja but Adedeji Oshilaja has the pace to keep up with Sam Ricketts, nick the ball off the experienced right back and play the ball inside to Rory Donnelly, and Rory Donnelly's attempted clearance is charged down by Sam Ricketts and that ricochet falls into Marcus Tudgay's path, and Marcus Tudgay's effort on goal smashes against the underside of the crossbar and stays out (just) and Stuart Nelson can gather the loose ball, and every Gillingham Supporter inside Priestfield Stadium can breath a huge sigh of relief.
If Stuart Nelson had managed to tip that effort on to the crossbar from Marcus Tudgay, then what a magnificent save from Stuart Nelson, but my initial thought at the time was that Marcus Tudgay has smashed his effort on goal against the under-side of the crossbar and Gillingham were fortuitous that Coventry City didn't score the goal which would of earned them all three points right at the very end of the game, Stuart Nelson imminently kicked the ball long down-field leaving a foot-race between Brennan Dickenson and Aaron Martin, and Aaron Martin managed to kick the ball out of play and Gillingham have a throw on in Coventry City’s final third, and you could hear the huge roar from everyone inside Priestfield Stadium - a shame that Ryan Jackson wasn't on the pitch to take the throw on for Gillingham.
In The Ninetieth Minute and Gillingham have a free kick in a promising position on the pitch as George Williams was fouled by Gael Bigirimana and The Coventry City Midfielder was shown the first yellow card of the game by Referee Chris Sarginson, who has been very lenient and it is not often that we can say that by officials, but Andrew Crofts delivery from the resulting free kick was very poor and Coventry City had the opportunity to hit Gillingham on the counter attack and Jacob Murphy had the pace to go on a driving run forwards and Jacob Murphy’s cross / shot was blocked by Adam El-Abd and Coventry City were awarded a corner kick, Stuart Nelson was booked for holding on to the ball and not allowing Coventry City from taking a quick corner kick, although why Stuart Nelson was booked for preventing a short corner kick when players are taking there time with throw on's is baffling.
Even more baffling is the fact that there was only two additional minutes of stoppage time where there has been three substitutes and a lot of stoppages for free kicks, throw on's and corner kicks, four minutes sounded about right to me, from the resulting corner kick, John Fleck has whipped in a dangerous in-swinging corner kick to the far post which would of picked out Aaron Martin had Stuart Nelson not clawed the ball away from danger and out of play - how Gillingham got a goal-kick I have no idea because Stuart Nelson clearly got the final touch on the ball - and that was the last meaningful action of the game and Gillingham V Coventry City ended goal-less.
FULL TIME: GILLINGHAM 0 - 0 COVENTRY CITY
Not a match that will live long in the memory, not a classic or an interesting game for the supporters to watch, but this is another point that Gillingham have added to our points tally, this 0-0 draw means that Gillingham have kept four clean sheets in our last five league games and nine points picked up out of a possible fifteen is a decent points tally, OK it isn't the win we all wanted and the performance wasn't the best, but points and not performances is what Gillingham need between now and the end of the season, and all the while we're difficult to beat defensively, then we stand a very good chance of adding to our points tally - John Egan, Bradley Dack and Cody McDonald have come back at the right time, but Colin feels that they have come back to help Gillingham secure promotion via the playoff route, automatic promotion looks very unlikely as Burton Albion and Wigan Athletic are too far ahead of us.
Considering how this match went and with Marcus Tudgay hitting the crossbar in The Eighty Ninth Minute then I am pleased with the point, I know some may well consider this to be two points dropped, but this is a very good Coventry City Side, with exceptional talented individuals and this is a team who should be challenging for promotion, why Coventry City aren't in promotion contention I have no idea, I am sure that Coventry City Supporters have a good idea why there team isn't in the top six this season, and whether Tony Mowbray will be in-charge in the summer will be a decision that the board have to make at the end of the season.
I made sure I had everything on me before leaving Priestfield Stadium and I met up with Stephen and Gary after the game, and Gary mentioned the results that Coventry City have picked up since beating Gillingham 4 - 1 at The Ricoh Arena and this stat doesn't make for good reading for Coventry City Supporters P22 W4 D8 L10 - that run over the entire season would mean that Coventry City would have forty points from forty four league games which is relegation form, one goal from the last four league games is also a stat that stands out, especially as Coventry City have got Adam Armstrong, Jacob Murphy, Marcus Tudgay, Marc Antoine-Fortune, Joe Cole, John Fleck, Gael Bigirimana and Darius Henderson on there books, one goal in the last four league games with that fire-power was something we couldn't understand, as Coventry City tore Gillingham apart at The Ricoh Arena earlier in the season.
Diane joined us and we were all pleased with the point and slightly disappointed with the draw, but considering that Marcus Tudgay could of won it right at the very end of the game then another point and another clean sheet cannot be considered a disappointing result, that is five unbeaten for The Gills and during this run Gillingham have kept four clean sheets and we have scored five goals in those five games as well, the goals are drying up at one end of the pitch, but Gillingham’s defending has been resolute, and we just need to find a way of adding attacking flair without sacrificing defensive stability.
A lot of supporters were hanging around the players entrance more then usual, as a lot of supporters wanted to get pictures taken with Joe Cole and get his autograph, Gary mentioned that things must be that bad behind the scenes at Aston Villa for Joe Cole to make a permanent move to Coventry City in League One, I know Joe Cole wants to play as much competitive first team football between now and the end of his footballing career, but I also think that things were so bad at Aston Villa that Joe Cole was looking for a way out, and I can see a mass exodus happening at Aston Villa over the summer, as many players will leave following Aston Villa’s relegation into The Championship - it is hard to believe that six year’s a go, Aston Villa won 2-1 against Gillingham and were pushing for Champions League Football under Martin O’Neill’s management, you look at Aston Villa now and there is every possibility that Aston Villa V Gillingham will be A Championship League Fixture Next Season.
Gary headed off and Diane had to do the same as Ethan was getting in-patient and Diane mentioned that she would message me during the week about the departure time for Sheffield United Away - Stephen mentioned that he would of loved to have gone to Bramall Lane, but he is traveling to Burton Albion Away Instead - We said C Ya to Gary and Diane as Me and Stephen stayed behind and spoke about the game more and how there were limited goal-scoring opportunities and how we are pleased with the point, as Marcus Tudgay could of scored the winner late on for Coventry City.
I couldn’t stay behind for too long though, The FIFA Tournament failed to materialise, and Dad had phoned up mentioning that Mum wanted A FishCake with A Small Portion Of Chips, I mentioned that I will make my way to the train station and get a train to Rainham, only after getting to Rainham Train Station did I realise that the next train was a hour a way and I wasn’t going to wait for that train, this meant ringing up Dad and asking him to pick me up from ALDI, and we went to Peter’s Chip Shop instead, where I brought A Small Portion Of Chips for Mum, and A Small Portion Of Chips and Two Jumbo Plain Sausages for myself.
I also spoke to A Coventry City Supporter after the game who suggested that he hoped Tony Mobray stayed on and was given the chance to re-build the squad and have a good clear-out over the summer, The Coventry City Supporter also told me how difficult League One is and how Coventry City needed experienced players who know what it takes to scrap there way out of the division, I wished him all the best for the season, and likewise, The Coventry City Supporter wished Gillingham all the best in the playoffs.
A 0-0 Draw against Coventry City and up next is a trip to Bramall Lane for a match against Sheffield United, both clubs have a slim chance of reaching the playoffs this season, both clubs have the resources and finances to end first and second in League One, although it does sound like Coventry City are looking for a steady progress and looking to re-build and go again in the summer, Sheffield United appear to be going through the managerial merry go round to try and get back into The Championship, Nigel Clough left in the summer, Nigel Adkins Managerial Future is on the line and if a managerial change does happen, then the next manager will have to secure promotion into The Championship - something that both Burton Albion and Gillingham can both achieve this season on a modest playing budget, and Walsall also need to be included in the promotion conversation as well - just goes to show that you don’t have to throw money at players and recruiting wisely can see teams with smaller budgets challenge for promotion.
Seven League Matches Remain, and Gillingham will need to prepare themselves for seven tough league games, but at least we’re in contention for promotion and it is exciting to be challenging for promotion into The Championship, I am looking forward to going to Bramall Lane and hoping that Gillingham can get a result against Sheffield United - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!
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