Rotherham United (1) 2 Clarke 25, Green 81
Gillingham (0) 0
Att. 2,757
Entrance: £20
Programme: £2.50
Mileage: 480/5,369
New Ground: 229
Match Report
Just a few yards down the road from the Don Valley Stadium, Dwayne Chambers was completing a 60 metre sprint in 6.64 seconds, a world’s best for the season. In not exactly that precise six seconds, at Sheffield’s outdoor athletics venue, Gillingham’s promotion chase faltered under the weight of two heavy, albeit unpunished challenges.Gillingham had, for most of the 80 minutes played, dominated the possession but trailed by a goal and, to be fair, not looked like scoring. But as we all know, no team is out of a game with a one goal deficit. A fairly aimless pass headed towards the Gillingham box, Barry Fuller, who had a good return to the side, safely cleared the ball to the sidelines only to be felled by what appeared to be a late challenge. As eyes went to Fuller, Simon King was similarly taken out by another late tackle that was to end his afternoon’s shift.
As reported in the first paragraph these tackles went unpunished, but because the referee failed to see them doesn’t make them fair. After a long injury break, with the Rotherham physio treating King, Fuller was able to continue but probably only because all three subs had been used including King’s substitution.
A minute later, a long cross field pass found Rotherham full back Jamie Green in so much space he looked to have half the pitch all to himself. He powered into the Gillingham box and sweetly struck past Simon Royce to end all hopes of a Gillingham recovery. Taking nothing away from Green, he carried the ball a long way and finished well, but the visitors defence had gone completely AWOL and had Fuller not been labouring, I’m sure he would not have been given that space.
This was always going to be a difficult fixture, had Rotherham not had the points deduction they would have been a mere three points behind the Gills at the start of play. The surrounding hills were snow covered and there was the remnants of the white stuff in small, melting piles around the edge of pitch. Manager Stimson had shuffled to pack following last week’s defeat and alongside Fuller, Curtis Weston and Nicky Southall were recalled to the side.
After a start in which both defences comfortably controlled proceedings, Rotherham opened the scoring after 16 minutes, A close range shot was well saved by Simon Royce, but his parry fell kindly for Crystal Palace loanee, Jamie Clarke who finished easily.
Andy Barcham was looking far more effective than of late, but Simeon Jackson was unfortunately the complete opposite. Barcham had several good runs creating a couple of decent chances but there was nobody on the end of his endeavours. As the half time whistle sounded the scoreline was undeserved on behalf of the Gills.
Twenty minutes of the second half passed as a non-event until Dennis Oli and Gary Mulligan were introduced as substitutes for Jackson and Stuart Lewis. Oli immediately enlivened the affair with his surging runs and a effort finally brought a meaningful save from the seemingly pensionable Andy Warrington.
The Chambers six seconds ensued and the 269 Gillingham fans that had travelled knew it was to be a long, pointless drive home.
The Don Valley Stadium, once the scene of Jan Zelezny throwing the javelin the equivalent of one goal line to the other (before goal posts were introduced to the stadium, of course!), was built as an athletics stadium and subsequently the viewing is far from ideal for football. With all the spectators on one side of the pitch it makes for a strange atmosphere (or no atmosphere at all). The away support was stationed into a corner just behind the goal line and from here to the far goal it was a dickens of a way.
Personally, despite the viewing difficulties I didn’t mind the DVS. Something that was futuristic in 1992 has now taken on a bit of character in comparison to today’s new build boxes and my brother will tell the tale that I was positively orgasmic (perhaps not quite the right word on Valentines Day!) over the floodlights. They are reminiscent of those fine old pylons that are seen at the vast open bowls of Eastern European grounds, but quite unique on these shores.
Three home games on the spin now and maximum points are almost a must to pitch Gillingham back into the mix for the automatics.
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