Gillingham 2 AFC Bournemouth 1

Match 56/07/673 - Saturday, 22nd March 2008 - League One

Gillingham (2) 2 Crofts 9 Jackson 27
AFC Bournemouth (1) 1 Kuffour 28
Att. 6,540

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 45/4,413

Match Report

Three crucial points were won at the end of a week that saw Gillingham portrayed as the most dysfunctional family in a very bad soap opera. Such was the fall-out from last week’s pathetic display against Crewe Alexandra that it emerged that after the game rocks had been thrown at chairman Paul Scally’s car. Scally outraged not only by the incident but also by the abuse that he had taken in the ground said that it had been “disgusting, disappointing, disenchanting and disgraceful. Some of the insults were disgraceful and I had my three year old daughter with me. They weren’t kids either, they were men. Some of the abuse I got was disgusting from some scumbags. It’s not acceptable and nobody deserves it.”

Scally launched into another attack on the fans that had called for him to leave the club claiming that the bank had placed their faith in him personally and that if he walked away the club would collapse. He also stated that he might have walked away on Saturday night if it hadn’t been for the support of the bank, staff and others.

Later in the week it was Mark Stimson’s turn to serve a few volleys. In a Radio Kent interview he told of four players that had missed training sessions with limp excuses. Stimson said: "It is unthinkable. Players have been told how important these sessions are, and have then missed them." No names were mentioned but it wasn’t too hard to guess who a couple of them might be and given that he said that the four would probably not play for the club again the team sheet against Bournemouth would provide a few answers.

It had been a week when the always fractious relationship between Scally and an element of Gillingham fans had been seemingly irretrievably broken and that within the club there were dangerous cracks in the relationships between player and manager.

Such was the backdrop that I had commented on a message board that the chairman’s programme notes could be worth the £3 cover price on its own. After the usual welcome to the visitors, just three lines: “Based on the events over the past seven days, I am completely lost for words on a number of issues and I feel it best that I make no further comment at this time. Enjoy the game and thank you all for attending.” Mr Scally lost for words? There’s a first.

So it was that an unexpected, larger than usual crowd of 6,540 (probably enhanced by the quid for a kid offer) braved the arctic chill that had blessed this Easter Saturday. Firstly the team sheet showed six changes that offered the clue that the guilty four may have been Adam Bygrave, Gary Mulligan, Delroy Facey and one other who were not included in the 16. Simon Royce was also missing but this had been due to an injury picked up in training.

Replacing Facey and Mulligan upfront were Simeon Jackson, whose 15 minute cameo last week had been the one positive feature and Dennis Oli. These two looked lively (not hard when comparing with the bone-idle Facey) and Gillingham started brightly and took only nine minutes to take the lead following a swerving shot from Andrew Crofts that left the Bournemouth keeper flat footed. After a couple of decent efforts, Jackson finally opened his account for the Gills with a well-taken goal after 27 minutes. Never a club to make things easy for themselves, Gillingham immediately conceded to leave the nerves still on the edge.

The second half was largely Bournemouth’s and when the vistors were awarded a soft penalty it looked as if Gillingham had lost their opportunity for a morale boosting victory. Stand-in keeper Derek Stille produced a brilliant save to deny Max-Alain Gradel in what might be the moment that turns a season.

A fighting, rather than convincing, Gillingham performance had nipped in the bud any protests that had been threatened, but I suspect that the repercussions of the past week will be felt for the rest of the season.