Gillingham (1) 1 McCombe (o.g.) 30
Port Vale (0) 0
Att. 4,986
Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 45/1,987
Match Report
After a torrid couple of weeks on the road which has yielded no points and nothing in the way of good fortune, Gillingham returned to home, sweet home with a scrappy win over Port Vale.The glorious autumn sunshine was clearly cricket weather but sadly whilst our county side were surrendering their championship status down the road at Canterbury, Kent’s football league club were labouring their way to a welcome three points. I, along with more than a few others, of that I’m sure, muttered the words walking along Gordon Road, a win is a win. But in truth this was a poor performance in a lousy game of football.
It is somewhat fitting that a match that was littered with both sides failing to string together more than a couple of accurate passes in any one move, that a own goal would be ultimately prove to be the decider. A free kick from John Nutter travelled a long way towards the far post without any intervention until defender John McCombe turned a header into his own net. It was a lead the home side barely deserved.
Andrew Barcham, the latest Gillingham loanee from Tottenham’s stiffs made a man-of-the-match debut and impressed with his running into the channels and good link-up play. This was the reputation he arrived with, his goals per game ratio obviously not his greatest strength. Very similar in height to Simeon Jackson, my first thoughts are that this might not be a partnership that is going to be profitable away from Priestfield where the front two a forced to play with their backs to the goal for longer periods. But at home, where in theory we should be playing the ball out of defence to wingers who are going to take on defenders and get in crosses, the speed and mobility of Barcham and Jackson could be a fruitful combination.
A ten minute cameo performance from fellow debutant Albert Jarrett, whose whipped-in crosses had caught the eye in the reserve team, showed that he can provide the necessary service to the front two. Jarrett’s appearance lifted the crowd after a previously subdued 80 minutes.
Port Vale arrived at Gillingham managerless having ended Lee Sinnott’s relatively short tenure at Vale Park. There had been a similarity with our own Mark Stimson with Sinnott having served a successful non league apprenticeship at Farsley Celtic, but subsequently failing to keep his club in League One. While Stimson plundered his non league roots for players, Sinnott blooded youngsters from Port Vale’s very successful youth side. Sadly a ordinary start to the new season was not enough to satisfy a board that from the outside would appear to be a little trigger happy.
Having been down on our luck for the last couple of weeks, lets draw on the positives, a couple of good debuts, a clean sheet and as they say, a win is a win.
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