Gillingham 1 Sunderland 2

Match 44/21/1909 - Saturday, 16th October 2021 - League One

Gilingham (1) 1 Lloyd (pen) 20
Sunderland (1) 2 O'Brien 45 Flanagan 49
Attendance: TBC

Admission: £21 Senior
Programme: £2
Mileage: 46/2,496

Right or wrongs, the atmosphere at Gillingham is pretty toxic at the moment. Perhaps the people that organised the plane fly-over trailing a Scally Out banner thought that high-flying Sunderland would roll over Gillingham with ease further fuelling their argument. Trouble is that Gillingham didn’t play ball, or rather they did!

Without sitting on the fence, I think Scally’s time is done, but the supporters who feel that the protesters should get behind their team for 90 minutes also have a point and today the team eventually won them over with their battling qualities.

The chanting was evident as soon as you entered the ground from the concourse and into the Rainham End, but the banners seen last week at Wycombe were not in evidence perhaps through fear of confiscation.

The plane duly arrived and circled for 20 minutes or so before departing, apart from being a distraction I’m not sure of its effectiveness of getting its point over although of course the pictures were quickly on the local news media.

But Gillingham were drawing the attention on themselves as they dominated the early proceedings with the impressive Jack Tucker bringing a fine save from the Sunderland goalkeeper, Thorben Hoffmann.

But after 20 minutes, Gillingham had the ball in the net but the referee was already pointing to the spot following a foul on Stuart O’Keefe. Danny Lloyd stepped up, sent Hoffmann the wrong way as the drove the ball down the middle.

For a team sitting in fourth position, Sunderland were pretty poor in the first period and Gillingham had chances to increase their lead but were dealt a cruel blow in the third minute of added time at the end of the half. Dan Neil was offered too much time to send in a cross that Aiden O’Brien finished from close range.

More protests led to the Police being called to the concourse during half-time and when Sunderland took an early lead in the second half through a Tom Flanagan header, trouble flared up in a corner of the Rainham End as the two factions confronted each other.

When Elliot Embleton saw a straight red card for a dreadful tackle on Tucker the fans found it within themselves to put their differences aside as the Gills desperately searched for an equaliser.

They hit the bar twice; Hoffmann made a great save to touch one onto the bar and when John Akinde was brought down it looked a clear penalty but the referee thought differently.

If Gillingham can replicate this performance and this spirit they will carry themselves clear of relegation and one can only hope that by whatever outcome with regards to the chairman, unity can be brought back to the club.