Colchester United (1) 2 Vernon 38, Lisbie 65
Gillingham (1) 1 Weston 11
Att. 4,849
Entrance: £18
Programme: £3
Mileage: 190/1,766
New Ground: 234
Match Report
Gillingham fell to a second successive away defeat after having this game by the throat for 38 minutes. At that point a defensive howler from Josh Gowling allowed Colchester United to level the scores and loosen the visitors grip on the game.In the new out-of-town Community Stadium (I don’t like sponsored name stadiums, so won’t use the name) a sizeable Gillingham contingent was assembled. The game began brightly and Andy Barcham gave a taste of what was to come when he tested his full back with his pace and left him for dead. In this early period Alan Julian’s hesitancy was tested and a shot at goal needed a goal line clearance.
By the time the first goal arrived on 11 minutes, Barcham (pictured) had his marker on toast and a superb piece of interplay between Nutter and himself ended with Nutter sliding the ball across the face of the goal for Curtis Weston to side foot home with ease. 1-0 and cue Weston ditty!Gillingham were now bossing the game, the passing as sweet as at Tranmere on Saturday and they were feeding Barcham who was causing all sorts of problems. Two great chances were cut out to increase the lead, Gowling heading over and on 28 minutes a carbon copy move of the opening goal saw Adam Miller blaze over with the goal at his mercy.
The turning point in the game arrived with Gillingham overplaying along the line in front of Gowling which culminated in a hurried pass back to the central defender. Gowling made a complete pigs ear of controlling the ball, was robbed by Lisbie who slid a pass for Scott Vernon to shoot past Julian. We wasn’t to know it at the time, but the game slipped away from the visitors at that moment.Joe Dunne, ex-Gillingham favourite and the man in the Colchester hot seat with Paul Lambert having departed to Norwich earlier in the day, gave his first half time team talk and the second half saw the distribution to Barcham restricted and when the winger did receive the ball the defensive cover was doubled and Gillingham’s potency diminished.
From a free kick a good chance was made for Gary Richards to head narrowly wide before Colchester took the lead on 65 minutes. Vernon and Lisbie combined to create a chance for the ex-Gillingham striker, who opened his body and shot past Julian with an angled drive.
From a Gillingham respect the game rather petered out in the last 25 minutes. Colchester made a couple more chances and looked far more likely to extend their lead than the visitors clawing back an equaliser. Jakob Erskine was introduced for Mark Bentley to beef up the front line but had only 5 minutes or so to produce something, which was too little, too late.
So another away defeat that has been caused by individual mistakes, IF, that huge word, Miller had scored the second goal when Gillingham were so on top, if Gowling hadn’t made that howler and just booted the ball into Row Z, then I’m convinced the outcome would have been much different, but they are ifs and by the final whistle the home side deserved the points.
The Community Stadium created a good atmosphere from a crowd of less than 5,000. As said it is out of town, surrounded by open fields that are obviously ear marked for further development of the business park. A parking place at one of the business premises leaves a 10-15 minute walk. The stadium itself is obviously a modern structure lacking in character, but let’s face it just about anything would be an improvement on the dump that was Layer Road.
Words like must win on Saturday were muttered as we filed out, I don’t think we are quite at that point three games in, but the slide needs arresting and the individual errors need cutting out. I can visualise a couple of changes for Saturday.
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