Gillingham (0) 1 Jackson 25 (pen)
Lincoln City (0) 2 Horsfield 52, N'Guessan 90
Att. 4,525
Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 45/4,808
Match Report
Gillingham fell back to earth with an almighty bump at Priestfield when they lost their proud unbeaten home record to Lincoln City. It was way back in August, 12 games ago, that Gillingham last suffered defeat at home when Luton went away with the points. Last night they were perhaps victims of naivety or over-ambition as they chased a winner and left the back door open to a last minute mugging.At half time it was all going swimmingly, a goal up through a Simeon Jackson penalty after Adam Miller had been felled, they had comfortably controlled the game and looked destined to avenge an October defeat at a freezing Sincil Bank.
But something happened during the break that saw two different sides emerge from the tunnel in the second half. After eight minutes of the half, The Horse (Geoff Horsfield), showed his quality when he curled in an absolute screamer from 25 yards to equalise, later reports have indicated that he might have been offside, but it takes nothing away from a superb strike.
This seemed the catalyst for the wheels coming off Gillingham’s game. Passes that had been precise in the first half were suddenly going astray with alarming regularity, it appeared that confidence had drained away like water down a plughole. Miller continued to probe and drive the Gills on by example and made chances for Jackson and Nicky Southall who was denied by a superb Rob Burch save.
As the clock ticked on and Gillingham threw bodies forward in search of a winner, they had the first warning of what might happen should they continue to throw caution to the wind. Simon Royce was forced to chase a long way from his goal and just about managed to make a clearance under severe pressure, but the writing was on the wall.
The injury time board had just been raised to show three extra minutes when Adam Miller made another storming run to the edge of the Lincoln box. At this point opinion will be divided as to Miller’s guilt in the ultimate outcome. He had a pass available to the right hand side, but chose to take on one more defender, he was robbed of the ball and a punt clear saw Royce having to chase from his goal once more, this time unsuccessfully. Danny N’Guessan rounded the keeper and slotted into a empty goal under a bit of pressure from the one remaining Gillingham defender. Was it Miller’s fault, after all he was 80 yards from his own goal when his lost the ball, should Royce have stayed at home, you pay your money you take your choice. My opinion is stated in the first paragraph, Gillingham were guilty of naivety and got completely mugged for their ambition.
The promotion challenge is now taken into two away games and one hopes that the confidence that had been slowly built over the last couple of months does not desert them after just 45 minutes when their game did not go to plan.
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