Gillingham (1) 2 McDonald 26,87 (pen)
Peterborough United (1) 1 Taylor 45
Att. 4,819
Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.00
Mileage: 52/1,786
Match Report
Peterborough United came to Priestfield, second in the table, with an expensively assembled side. They have acquired a wonderful knack over recent years in unearthing diamonds from the lower leagues and selling them on for phenomenal sums of money. This time around they were parading Marcus Maddison, an attacking midfielder from Gateshead for whom they paid a reported £600,000. Also on show was a livewire winger, Jon Taylor who has arrived from Shrewsbury Town and captaining the side on the night was Jack Payne, who as we all know, learnt his trade at Gillingham and has developed into an even better player under the tutelage of Darren Ferguson.
The match started in a helter-skelter fashion; Jermaine McGlashan’s pace stretched the legs of the visitor’s defence whilst Taylor was doing a similar job going in the opposite direction.
Peterborough dominated the early stages and Kortney Hause and John Egan were posed questions to which they found answers in both the first 20 minutes and the following 70 thereafter. Both were superb in the centre of defence and it was a mystery to me how both of them were overlooked by the sponsors when making their man of the match judgement.
As Gillingham found a foothold in the game, they were rewarded with the opening goal in the 26th minute. Bradley Dack shot from the edge of the box bringing a parrying save from the Posh keeper, Ben Alnwick. Jake Hessenthaler retrieved the ball and his cross was met with a close range header from Cody McDonald.
Alnwick might have done better with the direction of his parry and the goal appeared to rattle his confidence. A mix-up between him and Christian Burgess almost offered McDonald a second.
As half-time approached with Gillingham comfortably holding onto their single goal lead they were dealt a dispiriting blow as a misplaced cross from the right by Taylor looped over the head of Stephen Bywater to nestle into the far corner of the goal. It was a complete fluke.
The second half was proving an equal affair making for a thoroughly entertaining game of football. Joe Newell striking a shot against a post for the visitors being the closest either side came to scoring. After 70 minutes Taylor went down injured after what appeared from the side lines to be a fairly innocuous challenge from Jake Hessenthaler. However, the referee saw it differently and the young midfielder saw yellow for the challenge. Taylor was unable to continue and a major threat for the Posh had been inadvertently removed.
An unnecessary handball, six minutes from time, by Burgess allowed Gillingham the opportunity to restore their lead. McDonald scored from the spot for his 50th Gillingham goal and an unexpected victory was there for the taking.
Gillingham’s 100% home record remains intact, for them as for me; home is where the heart is.
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