Gillingham 0 Charlton Athletic 5

Match 03/07/620 - Saturday, 28th July 2007 - Pre-season Friendly

Gillingham (0) 0
Charlton (3) 5 Ambrose 14, 28 Todorov 39 King (o.g.) 47,
Thomas (pen) 69
Att. 3,315

Entrance: £15
Programme: None published (free teamsheet)
Mileage 45/216

Match Report

If you are going to get stuffed 5-0 at sometime during a season, pre-season is easily the best time for it to happen. Little can read into this game, hopefully Gillingham will not meet the like of Charlton, fresh out of the Premiership, during the league season and whilst Charlton certainly look the part for a quick return to the top level, they will know that there are sterner tests to come.

Considering the 3,000 crowd at Dover last week, another 300 on the gate to see this match is disappointing. I’ve always maintained that Mr Scally overprices these friendlies and at £15 many chose to give it a miss and given the result who can say they were misguided. As the Gordon Road Stand was not being used, I chose to sit on the Rainham End looking out on a beautifully manicured pitch that played really well given the amount of rain we have suffered this summer.

The game was pretty much a procession of Charlton’s superiority and the only talking point worthy of mention was a sending off for Gillingham’s £200K centre half, Simon King. Nobody can dispute that in the course of a fully competitive game, King would have been sent off for the professional foul he committed. But given the nature of the game, the referee could have shown a modicum of common sense and booked the player, even ask the manager to remove him, but with the sending off now comes a suspension that will be served at the start of the regular season, it hardly seems a just punishment.

I also have a good deal of sympathy for a triallist, listed only as M. Hamilton on the team sheet. To come on seven minutes from the end with your side already 5-0 down really doesn’t give you the greatest chance to impress. Gills manager Ronnie Jepson said in a Radio Kent interview following the game that he has to see these triallists in real situations to make a judgement, well Ronnie I hope his seven minutes gave you that insight.