RUFC Calais (0) 0
Gillingham (0) 0
Att. 300-ish
Entrance: 3 Euros
Programme: None
Mileage: 103/265
New Ground: 232 (34th abroad)
Match Report
Gillingham and RUFC Calais failed to serve up much in the way of va-va voom in this rather disappointing Pre-Season Friendly.
In the shade of the Ouest Stand in the colourful Stade J. Denis, the warm French sunshine became cool whereas on the pitch the players toiled laboriously in what ultimately turned out to be a feisty affair.
Calais made all of the chances in a first half in which Simon Royce made three good stops to keep the game goalless at half time. A pass inside John Nutter left the French sides’ winger with time and space to pull back a pass, but a clear shooting opportunity was directed straight at Royce. The Gills keeper made a more impressive save soon after saving low to his right after another pass that had exposed the visitors left flank.
Dennis Oli was forced to limp away from the action before Calais once again forced Royce into a fine stop beating away a well hit shot. Gillingham were making very little impression on the hosts goal until a move led to an opportunity for Mark McCammon who failed to test the Calais keeper. Rashid Yussuff then managed to at least test the white-shirted keeper, but not with a shot that as going to dirty the jersey.
Mark Bentley was introduced for the second half replacing Yussuff and Gillingham became a more potent force by virtue of the change but not before Calais struck a post following a corner. Calais continued to have the better of the chances, Royce was required to once again beat away a shot and then was well positioned to safely gather another effort from outside the box.
In a rare Gillingham attack McCammon headed wide from a Chris Palmer free kick, who was beginning to enjoy a bit of space down the right hand side.
A game that had meandered its way for the best part of 70 minutes strangely turned ill-tempered following a foul and a yellow card for Barry Fuller. As if in retaliation, moments later Palmer was scythed down which resulted in a yellow for a home side player. The pushing and shoving following the tackle ended with a yellow for Kevin Maher and another Frenchman. Josh Gowling was then booked for a tackle as the referee became card happy before he brought the proceedings to an end.
The new Calais Stadium is only a couple of kilometres out of the centre of town, from our point of view in the right direction, heading back towards the port or tunnel. It is a colourful sight bedecked in seating in the club colours of yellow and red. Its facilities did appear a little sparse with just one food outlet serving little other than beer. Whilst it is on the compact side, 10,000 seats we estimated, it is presumably more than big enough for their needs in the French lower Division. Plenty of free parking surrounding the stadium, whether this remained free in regular season, perhaps not.
No programmes were issued, which is more often the case in this type of game abroad, so this is the reason why I can only refer to the home side’s players as the Frenchman! Always good to take the opportunity of seeing Gillingham on foreign soil, but on this occasion their performance was a little disappointing and the injury to Dennis Oli will be a further headache for manager Mark Stimson.
And a couple of snaps to prove there is more to Calais than a port
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