Fleetwood Town (1) 2 Matt 33, 69
Gillingham (2) 2 Kedwell 3, Allen 43
Att. 3,033
Entrance: £12.50
Programme: £3.00
Mileage: 616/5,217
New Ground: 254
Match Report
Every season as we enter April there is a day when I would wish to be at two places at once, this was the day this time around.I had no problem with being at Fleetwood Town. A nice Easter weekend away with my brother and our wives taking in the scenery further up-country at the Lakes in a very pleasant hotel with good food and a few drinks is certainly not to be sniffed at. Added to this was the attraction of a new ground, and of course, Gillingham’s onward pursuit of promotion, and dare I say it, the League Two championship.
But 80 miles further north there was the possibility of real history in the making. The two goal lead obtained by Tunbridge Wells last week in the mud of Culverden Stadium needed to be defended to reach a FA Vase Final for the very first time and 50% of me wanted to be at Shildon Town. The mobile phone was going to be both my source of information and a distraction at the same time.
A walk along Fleetwood’s front suggested this was a coastal town that Easter forgot. The biting wind that had a chill factor into minus figures left the uninviting beach empty bar a few hardy fishermen, whilst the prom was only being walked by a few dog owners and their reluctant pets.
On entry into the Highbury, named after the Avenue behind which it sits, rather than anything to do with Arsenal, the blandness of three sides of prefabrication is broken by an arched roof main stand that houses a viewing gallery that was quite unusual. Another quirk of the stadium is that stand on the other long side has been built directly in front of the old stand which remains undemolished.
The pitch was firm and dry, nothing like the mud baths that have been witnessed in recent weeks. It did, in fact, play like a spring pitch with plenty of bounce in the ball.
Martin Allen selected a side that had the hint of keeping a couple of players back for Monday’s encounter with Rotherham. Adam Birchall partnered Danny Kedwell in attack whilst Callum Davies was given a rare start in the centre of midfield.
At kick-off it was a case of synchronise watches and with the mobile displaying Tunbridge Wells’ Facebook page awaiting updates. Before I had even glanced at the phone, Gillingham were a goal to the good after just three minutes. Birchall picked up a loose clearance and with a deft backheel set up Kedwell to curl a shot into the top right corner from the edge of the box.
Fleetwood, to their credit, were not to be intimidated by the league leader's fine start and Stuart Nelson needed to be at his best to save at the feet of Gareth Evans. By now several glances had been made at the phone and the latest brought the bad news that Shildon had also taken the lead after 10 minutes. Ten minutes later and the news from the north-east was even worse with Shildon having levelled the aggregate score, this was going to be a long afternoon.
Back to the matter in front of my eyes and just after the half-hour Fleetwood got a deserved equaliser. Junior Brown was given far too much space and his cross from the right was headed against the underside of the crossbar by Evans with the rebound bundled home by Jamille Matt.
An entertaining encounter ensued with both sides having chances before a couple of minutes from the break, Birchall sent Joe Martin away down the left hand side from where he delivered a pin-point cross to the welcoming head of Charlie Allen to restore the visitors' advantage.
The little bit of news coming through from Shlldon during the break didn't make great reading as it appeared that Tunbridge Wells were being given a bit of a chasing. The opening to the second half at Fleetwood saw Gillingham continue their momentum. Davies intercepted a pass in the centre circle and charged through the middle of the field, a glance to his right would have seen a better placed Gillingham player, but he chose to shoot weakly at the goalkeeper.
Just after the hour mark, things went from bad to worse at Shildon as the quality player on view at Culverden a week previous, Sam Garvie, put the home side three-up and ahead on aggregate and to compound the woe within five minutes, following an unusual muddle in the Gillingham penalty area in which chances to clear the ball were spurned, Matt was able to poke home a equaliser for the home side.
Fleetwood were now in the ascendancy and with Gillingham clinging on for their point, the mobile was becoming a bit of a distraction, but with eight minutes to go at Shildon, there was good news at last with Andy Irvine scoring to level up the aggregate score. Now confusion reigned as to whether away goals counted or not (they didn't).
As the clock ticked on, and being ready to accept the result at both venues, a cross from Allen was met firmly with the head of Kedwell and it took a brilliant diving save from Scott Davies to deny the striker the winning goal.
The final whistle blew at Fleetwood with a result I would have taken at the beginning but now my concern was one of a different nature, the mobile's battery was beginning to die and extra time was being played at Shildon!
So, it was necessary to conserve the battery but switching the phone completely off and turn it back on again, each time five minutes had past. The excitement must have been getting to the Facebook contributor as the updates also dried up after half-time with the scores still level.
Then, with five minutes remaining, the seemingly impossible happened, from Twitter it read GOOOAAALLLL!!!!! Perry Spackman had scored with a header from a corner and the Wells had one foot in the Wembley dressing room. There was obviously a further alarm if you were at the game when the home side had a goal disallowed. But a Twitter post saying: Goal Disallowed for Shildon doesn't present the same palpitations.Tunbridge Wells at Wembley, I don't believe I've just typed that said the Facebook contributor and I don't think many of us, watching from afar, could quite believe it either.
Back at the hotel, the conversation was on promotion, but never far away was the words Wembley and Tunbridge Wells, never before uttered in the same sentence and the strangest of bed fellows, but stranger things have happened . . . sorry but they haven't!
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