Gillingham 1 Brentford 1

Match 33/08/717 - Saturday, 20th December 2008 - League Two

Gillingham (0) 1 Jackson 60
Brentford (1) 1 McDonald 28
Att. 5,521

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 45/3,752

Match Report

Gillingham extended their unbeaten home sequence to 10 games with a stirring second half performance to earn a well-deserved point.

Brentford went into the break a goal to the good following a defensive nightmare for the Gillingham central defensive pairing. First a poor backward header from Garry Richards saw Simon Royce charging from his goal but failing to get to the ball before it was put across the face of the goal. Simon King appeared to be in a position to clear the ball, but he somehow could not adjust his feet and the ball rolled to Charlie McDonald who had the easiest of tap ins. To be fair, despite the nature of the goal, Brentford were good value for their lead. The Gillingham faithful had to endure rather than enjoy a first half in which they were second best and by quite some margin.

A very different Gillingham emerged from the dressing room for the second half. Attacking the Rainham End a couple of chances were forged for Simeon Jackson before the top scorer got onto the score sheet with a stooping header following a Mark Bentley flick on. The home side were now very much the dominant side and Andy Barcham was inches wide when a ball rebounded off him.

Brentford were reduced to ten men with 20 minutes to go after a mass brawl erupted, which from a distance was seemingly out of nothing. A couple of players seem to tangle on the ground and within seconds it was all kicking off. Nathan Elder was eventually shown the red card, but in the melee the referee did well to pick out a perpetrator, or did he guess?

With the man advantage Gillingham took the game to their visitors, who then had their keeper Ben Hamer to thank for safeguarding their point with a couple of excellent saves.

Late in the game Gillingham skipper Barry Fuller was also red carded for an innocuous challenge that he had no real reason to make. Perhaps the red mist was still down from the brawl in which he picked up a yellow card. Whatever the reason it was a foul that has cost him a suspension ruling him out of the Aston Villa cup tie.

Whilst the FA Cup game is money-making and prestigious, this Christmas period could be pivotal in the quest for promotion. Today was the first of three games against opposition in a similar or better position than ourselves, I hope that the players’ focus is going to be on the game in front of them, not one in the future.