Colchester United 2 Gillingham 1

Match 23/15/1228 - Saturday, 19th September 2015 - League One

Colchester United (2) 2 Massey 4, Harriott 28
Gillingham (1) 1 Norris 7
Attendance: 4,694

Entrance: £17 Senior
Programme: £3
Mileage: 140/1,260

Match Report

It had to happen sometime, Gillingham's upbeaten run in League One wasn't going to last forever and as this was my first away game of the season it leaves a few jinx fingers pointing in my direction.

Whether Gillingham have faced a team away from home this season that played with two out-and-out wingers I don't know but in the first half they had no answer to the pace and width of Gavin Massey and Callum Harriott, with Massey, in particular, giving Brennan Dickenson a torrid time.

Gillingham could not have started better and just 90 seconds had elapsed when Cody McDonald fastened onto a Luke Norris header only to see his shot from around the penalty spot strike a post.

But it was the wing play of the Colchester duo that combined after three minutes to create the opening goal. Harriott was sent clear down the left hand side and as Gillingham's back line stretched to counteract the width, Massey was left on his own on the opposite side of the pitch. When the ball reached him, he picked his spot to shoot past Stuart Nelson to stun the 1,171 visiting fans assembled behind that goal.

It was not long before those fans were celebrating an equaliser. Norris and McDonald combined to open up a one-on-one shooting opportunity for Norris, which he gleefully struck past Colchester's Jamie Jones.

The game became very open as Gillingham struggled to combat Colchester's width, but equally capitalised on the space offered by playing such a game, and the chances continue to fall to both sides.

In the frentic pace of the game, referee Breakspear started to take centre stage and by the 25th minute had two players from each side in his book.

After 28 minutes, the home side restored their lead. Gillingham had opportunities to launch the ball to safety but persistence on the bye-line allowed a cut back to Harriott who drilled a well struck shot into the far corner.

Gillingham were offered the chance of another quick response after 34 minutes when Frankie Kent was judged to have handled the ball in the penalty area. McDonald, a striker in need of a goal, stepped foward but his firmly hit shot straight down the middle was saved as the ball cannoned off the chest of Jones, for this second penalty save in a week.

The second half was not as open as the manager's made tactical adjustments during the break. Dickenson, on a booking, was withdrawn as Justin Edinburgh replaced him with a natural full back in Bradley Garmston.

Despite the merits of the wingers, it was Jones who eventually took the honour of the man of the match with further saves to deny a one-on-one with Jordan Houghton and smothering the follow-up from McDonald.

In a final assault on the home goal, Rory Donnelly shot wide and Norris saw his goalbound shot blocked as Jones and his defence just about held firm.

Gillingham slipped to third in the table, but realistically are still ahead of where most expected them to be after eight games.

Colchester United 1 Gillingham 2

Match 50/14/1159 - Boxing Day, 26th December 2014 - League One

Colchester United (0) 1 Szmodics 51
Gillingham (2) 2 Martin 25, Dack 34
Att. 4,544

Entrance: £16 Senior
Programme: £3
Mileage: 162/3,726

Match Report

Somewhere in the bowels of your digital television menu an obscure movie channel will be showing The Great Escape. Steve McQueen will, once again, clear the fence on a motor cycle and Dickie Attenborough will be there masterminding the plot. Gillingham enacted their own version of the storyline on Boxing Day at the Weston Homes Community Stadium with Stuart Nelson cast in the role of hero with the unlikely compatriot of the linesman who carried the red and orange flag.

Having rode their luck in the opening minutes, Gillingham grew into the game and by half-time had established a two goal lead before being pegged back early in the second period, but going on to survive an onslaught on their goal that resembled that of another feature film, The Alamo.

Christmas has brought with it a blast of winter and a bitter wind that cut through however many layers of clothing with which you chose to protect yourself.

Colchester United’s out-of-town stadium retains the irritatingly expensive problem of parking, of which £6 for a space with a 15 minute walk has to be considered excessive. The parking fee was at least offset with a senior ticket £6 below the match price for adults and the welcome sight of a hot cup of tea for a princely quid!

Just five minutes had elapsed when Gavin Massey skipped past the challenge of John Egan, thankfully restored to the centre of the defence, before unleashing a shot the came back off the underside of the bar before being hoofed to safety.

After 25 minutes in which the visitors had been principally on the back foot, Gillingham fashioned an opening goal. Cody McDonald was set free down the right to cross in the general direction of the centre of the goal. Colchester’s Kasper Gorkss’ header did nothing more than loop the ball into the path of an unmarked Joe Martin whose clinical volley found the bottom corner. Quite how the Gillingham full back found so much space will be a matter of much consternation to the United management team.

One became two ten minutes later with once again McDonald the provider. A combination of passes between McDonald and Bradley opened the Colchester defence and although McDonald lost his footing after the first pass he got back up to dink a cross to the near post for Dack to convert.

It would be amiss to mention that, having slightly criticised Dack following the last home game, the youngster showed was Gillingham are missing with his usual energetic display.
Massey, who was the livewire of the home attack, brought a good save from Nelson, turning over the bar a well hit shot just prior to the break.

Gillingham were forced into a half-time substitution when Dack made way for Amine Linganzi and with it any control in the midfield was lost.

Linganzi proved to be particularly ineffective in the second half and I hope, for the lad’s sake that he is one of the players that Peter Taylor has earmarked to be moved out of Priestfield in the January transfer window. A combination of injury and poor form has not allowed Gillingham fans to see any of the expected potential and in this 45 minutes where he just tracked the ball without getting anywhere near it, his confidence looks absolutely shot.

Colchester quickly halved the deficit when ex-Gill Sean Clohessy crossed to the near post where a combination of Gillingham debutant Harry Lennon and the home side’s Sammie Szmodics forced the ball over the line setting up a siege that few of the 680 travelling fans would believe could be fought off.

Freddie Sears had the ball in the Gillingham net within 10 minutes, but the celebration was cut short with the sight of the red and yellow flag before the ever-dangerous Massey brought another good save from Nelson.

In the midst of the second half one-way traffic, McDonald appeared to have restored Gillingham’s two goal cushion but Trevor Kettle ruled out the goal for what could only have been the lightest of a push by the striker.

Nelson produced a blinding low, diving save to deny Sears before the game entered into the four minutes of added time. With less than one of those minutes remaining, Sears managed to steer a header over the line for what appeared to be a heart breaking equaliser before attention was,once again drawn to the red and yellow flag raised high to the joy of the travelling support.

The Great Escape was complete. League leaders Bristol City are next up in Sunday’s Priestfield fixture, now somewhere I should be able to find Mission Impossible.

Colchester United 3 Gillingham 0

Match 50/13/1077 - Saturday, 11th January 2014 - League One

Colchester United (0) 3 Watt 49, Morrison 80, Sears 90+5
Gillingham (0) 0
Att. 3,818

Entrance: £13 Senior
Programme: £3
Mileage: 190/5,393

Match Report

Pretty in pink at Tranmere Rovers; pretty damn shocking at Colchester United. The travelling Gillingham support, which numbered close to a thousand, gave their own verdict on the second half capitulation of their team with an loud ironic cheer for Myles Weston’s speculative shot into the arms of Sam Walker for a comfortable save in the time added on. Those that cheered were those that stayed and, to be honest, at that point I was also heading for the exit.

The confidence that was borne out of the good win against Wolves last time out appeared to have been carried forward as Craig Fagan sent a cross onto the roof the net and Cody McDonald brought about a block from a goalbound shot in the opening couple of minutes but that was that. From that second minute effort to Weston’s 92nd minute attempt the shots on target amounted to precisely none.

Colchester United have proved a real bogey side in recent years. Gillingham have failed to beat them anywhere since 2005 and haven’t won at either of the Essex side’s headquarters since 1994.

A dull first half was only punctuated with good stops from Stuart Nelson who pushed aside shots from Craig Eastmond and Luke Garbutt, the latter of which was a parry back into the path of Eastmond who wastefully shot over.

The pitch was a pudding, it came as something of a surprise to find out later that it had been subject to an inspection, but it was the Gillingham midfield that were making heavy weather of it. Steven Gregory, whose performance against the Wolves might have gone a long way to winning over his critics, took a step backwards, but he was only one part of a midfield that surrendered two-thirds of the possession. A rather worrying statistic is that in the game against Wolves and the first half against Walsall, possession figures of just 35% were also recorded; if you haven’t the ball you cannot hurt the opposition.

Less than five minutes into the second half and Gillingham’s problems in midfield were fully exposed. Gregory lost possession in the centre circle, the ball was fed wide right to Brian Wilson who cross was despatched from close range by Sanchez Watt. Gillingham contested that the ball had passed through the legs of Marcus Bean and was thus interfering with play, but the Mr Drysdale was having none of it.

Colchester’s confidence from the opening goal visibly rose, in fairness they had been little better than their visitors in the first half, and as they mounted a period of pressure, Gillingham wilted. Nelson was asked to, almost single-handedly keep them in the game but all the time the deficit remained at one, there was a chance. Danny Kedwell might have done better when he headed over a Jake Hessenthaler corner but forays into opposition territory were as rare as rocking horse poo.

The match was finally put to bed with ten minutes remaining when a free kick from Garbutt was headed clear to the edge of the box from where Watt angled a drive towards the bottom right hand corner through a congested six yard box with Clinton Morrison getting the final touch. For some of the visiting supporters enough was enough and who could really blame them. It was a cold afternoon and there had been absolutely nothing on show to distract attention from the fact that the extremities were being bitten.

A couple of minutes from the end of the five minutes added time we also made our way to the exit. As we headed out we were able to witness Weston’s shot and the ironic cheers brought a smile for the first time that afternoon but we were well down the road towards the car when the roar from the crowd signified that Freddie Sears had driven home a third. I make no apologies for the early exit; there is only so much you can be expected to endure. From the distance of the road, despite the cheers of the home crowd, the derision of the Gillingham support could clearly be heard.

Before the end of the game, Peter Taylor took the wrath of the support with his touchline demeanour coming in for criticism, never venturing to the front of the technical area, standing motionless with arms folded. It didn’t cut a positive look, but he had every right to appear as fed up as the rest of us actually were.

Colchester’s move to an out-of-town site has furnished them with a stadium that cannot be compared with the derelict Layer Road. Even my penchant for old stadiums with character didn’t stretch to a love for that old tip! But I have an issue with the parking arrangements at the Community Stadium. An overspill car park that quickly fills is extortionately expensive at £8 and evidently can be a half-hour wait to get out of. A brisk 15 minute walk from the ground, parking spaces at the industrial units are charged at £6. Someone is making a real killing out of the visiting punters, because the home supporters are either taking the buses back into the city or they have family and friends waiting for them with the engine running on roads with parking restrictions.

After the pleasant surprise that was Wolves comes another low, such is the glorious inconsistency of this season. Swindon next up, now that is a time to put the smile back on people’s faces.

Colchester United 2 Gillingham 1

Match 10/09/762 - Tuesday, 18th August 2009 - League One

Colchester United (1) 2 Vernon 38, Lisbie 65
Gillingham (1) 1 Weston 11
Att. 4,849

Entrance: £18
Programme: £3
Mileage: 190/1,766
New Ground: 234

Match Report

Gillingham fell to a second successive away defeat after having this game by the throat for 38 minutes. At that point a defensive howler from Josh Gowling allowed Colchester United to level the scores and loosen the visitors grip on the game.

In the new out-of-town Community Stadium (I don’t like sponsored name stadiums, so won’t use the name) a sizeable Gillingham contingent was assembled. The game began brightly and Andy Barcham gave a taste of what was to come when he tested his full back with his pace and left him for dead. In this early period Alan Julian’s hesitancy was tested and a shot at goal needed a goal line clearance.

By the time the first goal arrived on 11 minutes, Barcham (pictured) had his marker on toast and a superb piece of interplay between Nutter and himself ended with Nutter sliding the ball across the face of the goal for Curtis Weston to side foot home with ease. 1-0 and cue Weston ditty!

Gillingham were now bossing the game, the passing as sweet as at Tranmere on Saturday and they were feeding Barcham who was causing all sorts of problems. Two great chances were cut out to increase the lead, Gowling heading over and on 28 minutes a carbon copy move of the opening goal saw Adam Miller blaze over with the goal at his mercy.

The turning point in the game arrived with Gillingham overplaying along the line in front of Gowling which culminated in a hurried pass back to the central defender. Gowling made a complete pigs ear of controlling the ball, was robbed by Lisbie who slid a pass for Scott Vernon to shoot past Julian. We wasn’t to know it at the time, but the game slipped away from the visitors at that moment.

Joe Dunne, ex-Gillingham favourite and the man in the Colchester hot seat with Paul Lambert having departed to Norwich earlier in the day, gave his first half time team talk and the second half saw the distribution to Barcham restricted and when the winger did receive the ball the defensive cover was doubled and Gillingham’s potency diminished.

From a free kick a good chance was made for Gary Richards to head narrowly wide before Colchester took the lead on 65 minutes. Vernon and Lisbie combined to create a chance for the ex-Gillingham striker, who opened his body and shot past Julian with an angled drive.

From a Gillingham respect the game rather petered out in the last 25 minutes. Colchester made a couple more chances and looked far more likely to extend their lead than the visitors clawing back an equaliser. Jakob Erskine was introduced for Mark Bentley to beef up the front line but had only 5 minutes or so to produce something, which was too little, too late.

So another away defeat that has been caused by individual mistakes, IF, that huge word, Miller had scored the second goal when Gillingham were so on top, if Gowling hadn’t made that howler and just booted the ball into Row Z, then I’m convinced the outcome would have been much different, but they are ifs and by the final whistle the home side deserved the points.

The Community Stadium created a good atmosphere from a crowd of less than 5,000. As said it is out of town, surrounded by open fields that are obviously ear marked for further development of the business park. A parking place at one of the business premises leaves a 10-15 minute walk. The stadium itself is obviously a modern structure lacking in character, but let’s face it just about anything would be an improvement on the dump that was Layer Road.

Words like must win on Saturday were muttered as we filed out, I don’t think we are quite at that point three games in, but the slide needs arresting and the individual errors need cutting out. I can visualise a couple of changes for Saturday.