Gillingham 1 Swansea City 2

Match 63/07/680 - Saturday, 12th April 2008 - League One

Gillingham (1) 1 Oli 22
Swansea City (2) 2 Bouza 44, 45
Att. 8,520

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 45/5,559

Match Report

The problem with doing this blog on a Saturday night is that tomorrow morning watching the highlights on the Championship you can be made to look a complete prat.

A goal up against the champions-elect and quite comfortable, two very dubious refereeing decisions left Gillingham 2-1 down at half time, a deficit they were unable to overturn in the second half despite dominating.

When those highlights are viewed it might well be that referee Clive Penton actually got it right and the blame lies squarely with Derek Stillie. For the first goal, a not particularly hard hit shot was spilt by the keeper who was then very slow to recover the ball. He appeared to have both hands on the ball when Guillem Bauza bundled the ball home for a 44th minute equaliser. Just a minute later, Stillie once again failed to hold onto a tame effort that fell to Bauza, who controlled the ball with his hand before slotting home with the home side standing still, appealing. Tonight, two very poor refereeing decisions, tomorrow, just plain, bad goalkeeping, we’ll see.

Before those two mad, soul destroying minutes, Gillingham had been at ease with their high-flying opponents. They had taken a 22nd minute lead through Dennis Oli and wasted a couple of good chances to postpone Swansea’s promotion party for another week. The prolific Jason Scotland cut a peripheral figure being well marshalled by Simon King and Danny Cullip and at the back, keeper De Vries had a couple of shaky moments.

But as it is always said in football, teams at the bottom do not get decisions from referees and the two in the final minutes of the first half will probably consign Gillingham to relegation this season. Clive Penton cannot shoulder the blame for what had gone previously over 42 games, Gillingham are where they are because for the most part they simply have not been good enough. But they came into today’s game on the back of a three game run that had produced five valuable points towards safety and played with a determination that belied the difference in league position between the sides.

The second half was a huff and puff performance with Mark Stimson throwing forwards into the fray as substitutes to recover a point, but with the exception of a couple of half chances they never quite recreated the momentum of the first half.

On the final whistle (referee Penton even managed to turn four extra minutes into three), Gillingham fans trailed away in the knowledge that Crewe and Millwall had both won, leaving their counterparts from Wales to celebrate their promotion into the English second tier. Good luck to them, when they raise their glasses to Roberto Martinez and Guillem Bauza tonight, they may wish to toast Clive Penton, let’s see the highlights.