Gillingham 0 Birmingham City 2

Match 03/08/687 - Saturday, 26th July 2008 - Pre-Season Friendly

Gillingham (0) 0
Birmingham City (2) 2 Jerome 14 Taylor 20
Att. 1,742

Entrance: £10
Programme: £1
Mileage: 45/159

Match Report

The new season can only be days away, no need to look at the calendar, just wipe the sweat from your brow. A previously tepid summer turned into a heat wave as Gillingham and Birmingham fought 30degC temperatures as much as each other in this pre-season game.

Gillingham’s form pre-season has been less than convincing and another goalless afternoon heightens the concern that there is not enough firepower in this squad. Simeon Jackson, who still convinces me that he will supply his share of the goals, had an afternoon of a I’ll shoot and you’ll save contest with Maik Taylor, who came out the winner.

Mark McCammon once again failed to make an appearance so we are none the wiser as to whether his partnership with Jackson is going to be fruitful. We can, however, make the judgement that somebody of McCammon’s size is going to be necessary to allow Jackson the space in which to flourish.

Gillingham began this game badly with two defensive mistakes, the first a shocker of a under hit back pass from John Nutter, giving Championship side Birmingham a two goal lead in the first 20 minutes. But from that poor start Gillingham went on to have the better of the possession and making Taylor much the busier of the two keepers.

Two triallists from Bolton made way at half time for Luis Cumbers and Dennis Oli, the latter of which made a significant contribution as Gills more than matched the Brummies. Defensively, Simon King and Gary Richards looked assured against a quality strike force of Bent, McSheffrey and Camerone Jerome, who profited from Nutter’s gaffe. In the middle of the park, Mark Bentley showed why he cannot be wasted in central defence.

So an encouraging performance, albeit with the goalscoring reservations. A promotion winning side needs two strikers that are going to contribute 20 goals apiece and without a prolific partner in tandem, you get the feeling that Jackson is going to have to score 30-plus for Gillingham to make an impression at the top of the Division.

Following last week’s piss-take by Grays in charging £13, at least the £10 entrance fee was a reasonable price for a decent game of football.