Accrington Stanley 7 Gillingham 4

Match 22/10/840 - Saturday, 2nd October 2010 - League Two

Accrington Stanley (3) 7 McConvillle 13, Parkinson 34, Barnett 43, Edwards 58,62 (pens), Gornell 73, Ryan 90
Gillingham (2) 4 Bentley 29,31, McDonald 55, Akinfenwa 79 (pen)
Att. 1,923

Entrance: £13
Programme: £3
Mileage: 592/3,565

Match Report

Read the scoreline above and you might think that I've been watching a game at Under-8's level. I wasn't, but the defending on both sides, but Gillingham in particular, was more appropriate to that age group. It's a funny old game . . . No, this was just plain crazy.

BBC Radio reported that there were only 13 shots on target in the whole game and 11 of them were goals, I presume they are correct and it only serves to illustrate the dire nature of the defending from both sides. Our own after match inquest certainly pointed figures at Josh Gowling, who is going to rival Brendan Plaice as one of the poorest centre backs to wear a Gillingham shirt and Chris Palmer, who is just not a full back and should never be picked in that position again. But television viewing has added Lance Cronin into the dock as three of the goals looked “saveable”.

An unwanted record equalling 28 league games away from home without a win, 32 in total is the sorry statistic that follows this latest embarrassing episode and to think that I left home with a certain confidence that was founded on absolutely nothing but gut feeling, but when Mark Bentley scored his second goal in a couple of minutes my belief that the drought was over was absolute.

But such was performance of Gillingham’s rear guard that at the time of Cody McDonald’s excellent equalising goal at 3-3, I had none of the sense that we were about to go on to win this match. Referring back to the Bury game, somebody behind me said he could see this game ending 5-4 again, my reply was that 10-9 was just as likely.

Bentley had returned to the side in place of Bruce Inkango in Andy Hessenthaler’s only change from the side that had gained a point from the uninspiring draw against Southend.

The visitors started brightly enough, a Spiller free kick was just over and, in a foretaste of the goalkeeping that was to follow, Ian Dunbavin directed the resultant goal kick straight to Adebayo Akinfenwa who was not quick enough to capitalise on error.

Accrington took the lead on 13 minutes when Terry Gornell was allowed to run into space and feed Sean McConville to steer the ball into the bottom right had corner.

Gillingham recovered from the set back with McDonald and Bentley going close before the latter headed on a long throw from Jack Payne to level the scores after 29 minutes.

Two minutes later, Akinfenwa set up Bentley to firmly shoot past Dunbavin to set up my moment of belief. Shame that it was to last only three minutes as Andy Parkinson was allowed to cut in from the right wing to drill a shot across Cronin and into the far corner.

Charlie Barnett showed the type of footwork that is required to win a round of Strictly Come Dancing as the leaden footed Gillingham defence allowed him to waltz into a shooting position and coolly curl a shot into the far corner to give Stanley a half time advantage.

Cody McDonald showed that would be no slouch on the dance floor with a wonderful individual goal to gain the visitors parity after 55 minutes only for referee Iain Williamson to take centre stage and two penalty decisions in the space of a couple of minutes put the game out of the visitors reach. Williamson harshly adjudged that Bentley had pushed Andy Proctor for the first and that Gowling had tripped Gornell for the second. Phil Edwards converted both to give the home side breathing space for the first time.

The game was over as a contest on 73 minutes when Gornell was given the freedom of the right side of the penalty area to stroke the ball past Cronin. There was still plenty of time for the comical defending to continue as crazy keeping from Dunbavin ended with the keeper hauling McDonald to the ground after dropping the ball at the striker’s feet. Akinfenwa calmly struck home the resulting penalty, 6-4 if you are keeping count.

The game descended from comedy to farce in the closing minutes when an otherwise impressive Jim Ryan kicked out at Danny Spiller to spark a brawl with the benches and both teams wading in. Stanley’s assistant manager Jimmy Bell was clearly seen to throw a punch and was sent to the stand, sitting himself no more than five yards from his touchline position. Mark Bentley lifted his hands, but didn’t appear to make much contact to receive a second yellow.

That was enough for this reporter and an early getaway to avoid the traffic generated by a crowd of less than 2,000 was deemed preferable to the final embarrassment of a seventh goal that we heard from the road outside.

Although the penalties were the defining moments of the game, Gillingham cannot hide behind the poor officiating as their dreadful defending was the main contributor to this humiliation.

Since my first visit to the Crown Ground two years ago, very little has changed. The toilets are still a disgrace, but for a club that has a small support their choir behind the goal is one of the best. I’ve never heard Twist and Shout sang before and have no idea what it has to do with football, but it was very well done!

Health and Safety also had its moment as the legendary Binman’s flag was confiscated because it did not carry a Fire Certificate! Crazy? Not half as mad as the football.

Accrington Stanley 0 Gillingham 2

Match 49/08/733 - Saturday, 6th March 2009 - League Two

Accrington Stanley (0) 0
Gillingham (1) 2 Jackson 18, Oli 65
Att. 1,308

Entrance: £13
Programme: £3
Mileage: 606/6,545
New Ground: 230

Match Report

As the season enters its business end, points are gold dust and performances without points are worthless. Remembering back to scrappy 1-0 wins recently at Morecambe, Chester and Macclesfield, another win of the same nature would have been happily accepted. Thankfully, without having to reach a performance of quality against a poor Accrington side, a couple of scrappy goals were more than enough to earn a sixth away win of the season. When Gillingham were taking those early season hammerings at Shrewsbury and Exeter who would have predicted that they would have six wins on the road at this stage?

On a mild but damp afternoon at the Fraser Eagle Stadium, Gillingham dominated the possession but the best early chance fell to Paul Mullin who managed to lob the ball over the bar after an uncharacteristic mix up between Simon King and Barry Fuller.

King was instrumental in Gillingham taking an 18th minute lead. A corner had been earned by Dennis Oli, whose shot had been deflected away and from the corner, the ball fell to King whose shot appeared to be going wide before being turned in from close range by a predatory Simeon Jackson.

Gillingham were now comfortably in charge of the game and a further couple of chances for Jackson were off-the-mark before Accrington began to get a foothold in the final 10 minutes of the half. Simon Royce and Fuller combined to deny Proctor and then Craig Lindfield was truly wasteful when he blazed over in the final minute of the first half.

The momentum that Stanley had managed to gain at the end of the half was not replicated at the beginning of the second as the Gills regained the upper hand and the main threat, Paul Mullin, always a handful, was being successfully marshalled by King and Mark Bentley. Another goal was going to put the game beyond the home side and it duly arrived 20 minutes into the half. Adam Miller won a challenge and carried the ball across the edge of the box before setting up Dennis Oli, who fired home with the aid of a huge deflection that wrong-footed Kenny Arthur.

With the game safe, it would now be satisfying to gain a fourth successive open-play clean sheet following the defensive debacle against Aldershot. Ultimately this was achieved, but not before a Nicky Southall’s own goal-bound header brought a fine save from Royce.

Accrington were a very poor side and a rapid improvement is going to be needed for them to avoid a relegation scrap back to the Conference. I hope they make it. The sparcity of attendance was compensated by the friendly nature of their supporters. A couple took time out to ask if we had a good journey up to Lancashire and another wished us a safe journey home. The bad news this week that Fraser Eagle, their main sponsors, had entered administration is concerning those supporters who fear that there will be no return to the Football League should they drop this season. If Stanley were to follow their sponsors into administration the 10 point deduction would make their position very precarious.

The new ground factor was evident as a healthy Gillingham contingent bolstered the tiny 1,308 total. My guess would be that at least the 308 had travelled to support the Gills. As for the new ground they came to see, to be kind it is nothing more than a non-league stadium and I’ve seen a good deal better in those lower reaches. The Gillingham support were housed on an open terrace and we can be grateful that only a light drizzle had to be endured. Two uniform low stands housed the home support with the behind the goal contingent standing. One length of the ground I can only imagine is condemned with nobody inhabiting the shack-like structure that cannot be considered as a covered enclosure. The toilets were awful and the dressing rooms for the players were no bigger than you would see on the average park ground. So, it was no oil painting, but the traditionalist in me hopes that this grand old name of football, Accrington Stanley (it has such a ring to it) survives to fight another day.