AFC Bournemouth 1 Gillingham 1

Match 05/08/689 - Saturday, 9th August 2008 - League Two

AFC Bournemouth (1) 1 Anderton 42
Gillingham (0) 1 Mulligan 90
Att. 5,377

Entrance: £16
Programme: Too Late
Mileage: 290/475

Match Report

When Gary Mulligan entered the fray three minutes from the end of time the pessimist inside me said that if this is our last throw of the dice, there is only one hope and wasn’t even Bob Hope. Our much maligned striker (for want of a better word) promptly reinforced the opinion when he dragged a shot hopelessly wide. But a couple of minutes later, the ball fell on the edge of the box, Mullers met it first time and it whistled into the top of the net. Salvation had been found from the debris of a truly awful away day.

The traffic problems en-route were an absolute nightmare. Twenty minutes into our journey and we are stationery on the M25,once cleared we make a couple of junctions and once again come to a halt as Radio Five are only reporting the hold up we have left behind. Just get clear of the M25, the world’s biggest car park, and we will be OK we thought. But no sooner we enter the M3 so we are ground to a halt yet again. By this time the sat nav is telling us, you will miss the kick off. Even on the A road leading to Bournemouth we are once again at a standstill and we look across at another car with a Gills fan head-in-hands, the only consolation being no reports of any goals at Dean Court.

Finally at 3.15 we arrive, my brother drops us off as he goes to park the car, we leg it to the ticket office and wait while a youth argues the toss about his season ticket and then to be told that this year it is pay at the turnstile, this day is going from bad to worse.

Despite being in desperate need for a wee(!), we go straight to our seats in time to see Simeon Jackson fire a shot tantalisingly close but wide of the target. He’s already missed a sitter we are told.

We have all read remarks that make excuses for substitutes when they miss a chance stating that they have not attuned to the pace of the game and we found it strange trying to get fully focused following our travel problems. No such problems for the Gills as their sweet passing game was frankly leaving their hosts chasing shadows (if they had been visible on a dull, wet day) for much of the time. But that old failing of not taking chances came back to haunt them just prior to half time. Darren Anderton, showed Jackson and Mark McCammon just how to finish after the Gills pair had had further chances to grab the lead. Anderton’s finish was clinical, once behind Fuller he shrugged aside King and stroked it past Simon Royce with consummate ease. Class is permanent.

At half-time a King’s Ferry coach load of Gills fans finally arrived to make our effort appear to be an early arrival. I particularly felt sorry for another car load that eventually made it at 4.15, I think I would have turned around and given it up.

The pattern of play in the second half followed the first, all Gillingham. Shooting chances came, shooting chances went wide, high and one McCammon effort went off for a throw-in. Despite this, the little and large combination worked well and the number of efforts was rising well into double figures.

As Adam Miller’s number was lifted and Gary Mulligan appeared on the touchline, I couldn’t help myself with a sarcastic comment: “Here comes our secret weapon”. Just a few minutes later I’m screaming, “it’s the secret weapon, the secret weapon”.
This point was less than Gillingham deserved, they held the whip hand for long periods and I would like to think that given the amount of chances Jackson and McCammon fashioned on another day they would have had a couple each. But on and off the pitch it wasn’t quite our day, but then . . .

the ball drops to Mulligan, first time hit . . . “It’s our secret weapon, our secret weapon”!