Gillingham (1) 3 Akinfenwa 30, Weston 57, Dack 83
Rotherham United (1) 4 Agard 1, Hitchcock 69,85,90+3
Att. 6,027
Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.00
Mileage: 45/6,814
Match Report
Let’s get it straight from the outset. Evans is a manager that requires a club with ambition and a surplus of cash in relation to the division in which his plies his trade. Give him both and you have a damn good manager on your hands who is going to bring you a dividend on your investment.
What he also brings is an abrasive nature that must lend itself to every Rotherham away game being contested in a cauldron of hate and acrimony. Personally, I cannot believe that Gillingham and their fans are the only club that has an issue with the man.
The shame is that the distraction masks the performances of a really good Rotherham United side. Many people would, and certainly should, have walked away from Priestfield disappointed that they had seen their team lose a fiercely contested match, but also being magnanimous in their praise of their opponents. But, unfortunately, the conversation ends back with the touchline behaviour of Mr Evans and his later involvement with the police following the claims of racist chanting.
Is Steve Evans really that thin-skinned? If you dish it, take it, but perhaps that’s an out-dated virtue.
Amongst a game that produced an absolute thriller it was appropriate that a player called Hitchcock took centre stage.
Rotherham arrived in Kent on a run of 15 games without defeat and without a Gillingham player touching the ball they were in front after just 13 seconds. A long ball forward was headed into the path of Nicky Adams whose low, driven cross was turned into the net by Kieran Agard for his 21st goal of the season. It was a stunning blow for the home side and one that took 20 minutes or so to recover from before beginning to get a foothold in the game. In the meantime, Lee Frecklington was brought down in the box for what looked suspiciously like a penalty, sparking a first rant from our good friend on the touchline.
When Gillingham failed to return the ball following an injury, Mr Evans was once more to his feet this time confronting Gillingham’s manager, Peter Taylor.
If this match exposed a flaw that might deny the Millers a promotion place it would be in the shape of some poor defending, not that that was limited to the visitors.
After half-an-hour a flighted free-kick to the far post from Bradley Dack was headed back across the face of the goal and into the net by Adebayo Akinfenwa, a simple goal for which questions would have to be asked.
Gillingham turned the game on its head 12 minutes into the second half when a long ball forward from Elliott Hewitt saw Myles Weston outpace his marker and shoot past Adam Collin with a good finish. Weston again tested Collin five minutes later but this time the goalkeeper was equal to the task.
Rotherham benefited from a stroke of good fortune after 68 minutes when a speculative shot from Richard Smallwood turned into the perfect pass and Tom Hitchcock, a 60th minute substitute, coolly placed his shot beyond the hands of Stuart Nelson.
The game took on the mantle of a basketball match as each side took turns at attacking each other and Gillingham’s turn on 83 minutes appeared to have sealed an epic victory. Kari Arnasen dithered on the ball on the edge of his box and was robbed by Dack, who, with Collin advancing, exquisitely executed a lob over the keeper and into the net. It was a goal worthy of winning the match, but Hitchcock’s involvement in this thriller was far from over.
Within two minutes, a ball aimlessly headed forward got tangled under the feet of Adam Barratt and whilst he decided which foot was which, the ball was presented to Hitchcock for an easy finish.
Six minutes of added time were met with a collective groan as Priestfield sensed what was about to happen next, and so it did. Rotherham piled forward in search of the winner and with three of the minutes having elapsed, an overhead kick into the box fell at the feet of Hitchcock and with a sublime collection of the ball he deftly lobbed Nelson to produce heartbreak for Gillingham but absolute ecstasy for the 400 Millers’ supporters behind the goal.
A wonderfully entertaining game had brought a couple of horrendous pieces of defending and two finishes that were a fantastic advertisement for League One football. It is such a shame that, once more, the fixture is about Steve Evans and not the fine football teams that he puts on the park.
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