Notts County (0) 0
Gillingham (0) 1 Jackson 58
Att. 3,189
Entrance: £20
Programme: £2.50
Mileage: 384/7,019
Match Report
A friend’s new fangled iPhone displayed the evidence as the car sped its way out of Nottingham last night, Gillingham sat proudly in second place in League Two. They are becoming the past masters of the rather scruffy 1-0 away victory, but if it was good enough for Tony Pulis’ side to exit this lower Division back in 1996 then it is good enough for Mark Stimson’s version.On a surprisingly chilly evening after a fine Spring day the first relief of the evening was to see both Simon King and Andy Barcham warming up following successful fitness tests leaving Stimson able to start with the same side that were held by Shrewsbury at the weekend.
This was to prove all-important over the 90 minutes as King produced an imperious display alongside his central defensive partner, Mark Bentley and Barcham set up Simeon Jackson for a second half winning goal.
The pitch at Meadow Lane suffers from its double use with Nottingham Rugby Club sharing the facility. Evidently they have a big semi-final here on Sunday against Leeds, I must confess to not knowing that they shared with County. The pitch played reasonably well, but it did look a bit bobbly and player’s first touch on both sides was somewhat unsure.
Meadow Lane is one of the best stadiums at this level having been revamped for their spell in the top tier back in the early 1990s. The away support is now based in the Jimmy Sirrell Stand having been evicted from the Kop after a vote by the home fans, who do their best to create a good atmosphere from relatively small numbers. The viewing is unobstructed, leg room a bit tight for a six footer, but ok for most. Sadly, a 20,000 capacity stadium is far too big for a club presently averaging 4,500 a game, with an attendance of only 3,189 on the night.
Mark McCammon wasted an early chance fashioned by John Nutter when he blazed over after just four minutes and to be quite honest that was about as good as it got in a very dull first 45 minutes. Our old favourite (err . . .!) Delroy Facey had a shot that deflected off McCammon for a corner, but all in all it was an instantly forgettable half.
Both sides seemed intent on taking a more positive attitude in the early stages of the second half and the smallish crowd responded accordingly. Gillingham’s perfectly respectable following, 239 on a Tuesday night being another good effort.
A first chance fell to Simeon Jackson as Bentley made a stirring run from deep in his own half, to feed the striker who fired over a disappointing effort, failing to work the keeper. The club’s leading scorer was to quickly make amends when he fired in from a tight angle after good work along the bye-line from Andy Barcham in the 58th minute.
The following 30 minutes became a largely rearguard action from the visitors as County pressed forward looking for some reward from their night’s shift. But with the sterling work being put in from King and the rest of his back line, the chances were kept to a bare minimum. Simon Royce was called on just the once to make a decent save from Matt Hamshaw and Barry Fuller kicked off the line following a corner.
As the game entered its final throes and with County going for broke, Gillingham opened them up a couple of times but both Barcham and Jackson failed to put the game beyond doubt.
Yes, it wasn’t the prettiest, but when you turn on the teletext and see our name tucked in behind the leaders Brentford (surprising losers last night) then who cares. Performances of character rather than style have been produced at Macclesfield, Morecambe, Chester and now Notts County all with the same 1-0 scoreline, if they can sing a song about the Arsenal with that score then 1-0 to the Gillingham will do for me.
The programme front cover picture featured our old friend Tommy Johnson.
Savour the moment, shall we?
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