Gillingham (0) 0
Colchester United (0) 1 Bond 89
Att. 6,792
Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 45/499
Match Report
Gillingham will be fine; they won’t pull up any trees and may well have to settle for the rather sterile season of consolidation with a mid-table finish, probably lower mid-table I would guess, say 15th. I am very concerned at the thinness of the squad, the back four is exactly that, four plus one in reserve and should they suffer injuries or when the suspensions inevitably kick in then, unless this area is strengthened before the end of August, they are going to be struggling. There seems to be a similar lack of numbers in midfield and, during pre-season, this was an area in which performances have been less than impressive. There is an abundance of talent to choose from upfront, but without the service it doesn’t matter who you play.
I have a wish for the season and that is, with the higher grade, will come a better quality of football and I hope that Gillingham make their contribution towards this and not too much time is spent admiring the opposition.
Martin Allen’s first team selection of the season brought a surprise in the inclusion of transfer-listed Charlie Lee, whose departure had been expected during the summer, especially with the interest of Southend to the fore. The chosen strike pairing was Danny Kedwell and Cody McDonald.
It is to be hoped that these postings do not become a series of what-might-have-been and tales of misfortune, but on this opening day, Gillingham can justifiably look back and feel that a certain amount of injustice was administered. Throughout the game, Colchester played the more attractive football on the eye, but for the large part of the game, it was Gillingham’s more direct style that produced the actual chances.
The first misfortune to inflict the home side was the worry that I expressed at the outset, when Matt Fish went down after just three minutes and Stephen Butcher was introduced for his debut. The youngster endured some difficult moments in the first half with Freddie Sears often getting goal-side of him, but as the home side picked up the tempo in the second period his performance showed a marked improvement.
Danny Kedwell blasted a shot across the face of goal before seeing a 30 yard effort touched against the angle of bar and post by the visiting keeper, Sam Walker. The striker, celebrating his 30th birthday, was Gillingham’s foremost attacking player and his knock-down offered another opportunity which Adam Barrett lashed into the side netting. The half ended with Lee bringing the best out of Walker at the near post.
That is not to say that the visitors had not had chances of their own and Nelson was also called to action making good saves from Jabo Ibhere and Craig Eastmond.
An early second half chance fell to McDonald following an error from ex-Gillingham loanee, David Wright, but the striker delayed his shot and was stopped in his tracks by Colchester’s skipper Brian Wilson.
Gillingham made substitutions, Myles Weston and Adebayo Akinfenwa entering the fray at the expense of McDonald and Lee and the game began to open up with chances at both ends. Nelson made a good save to deny Marcus Bean and comfortably collected a header from Alex Gilbey whilst Walker saved from Amine Linganzi and was relieved to see a 20 yard drive from Joe Martin narrowly clear the crossbar.
Gillingham were denied the point they deserved when in the final minute of normal time, Chris Whelpdale was caught in possession and the resultant pass sent Drey Wright clear to cross from the left and substitute Andrew Bond scored from the centre of the goal with what might well have been his first touch of the game.
This was a performance from Gillingham that would have won nine out of ten matches in the division below last season and, bearing mind that Colchester are considered one of the favourites for relegation, that is the measure of the difference in class they face. I stand by my prediction; I saw enough this afternoon to suggest Gillingham will be okay but the lack of choice on the team sheet is something that will need to be addressed.
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