Gillingham (0) 1 Jackson 83
Charlton Athletic (0) 1 Nutter (o.g.) 79
Att. 10,304
Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 45/3,508
Match Report
Perhaps I was unduly pessimistic, perhaps I imagined Charlton to be a whole lot better than they actually are, whatever the reason I expected Gillingham to get a bit of a pasting today. But come the final whistle, if Phil Parkinson has an honest bone in his body, he will be thankful to have escaped Priestfield with a point.The Sold Out signs were posted and the atmosphere bristled with the local rivalry. Whether it was the buses or Dickson, Scally or FA Cup revenge this rivalry has been propagated over the last couple of years. Although they are relative neighbours there has never really been that much animosity between the clubs, players such as Dick Tydeman, Dave Shipperley and, dare I say, Derek Hales have switched between the two with no recriminations, but now there is a real feeling of dislike, especially from the Gillingham support, who feel that they are considered second class country bumpkins by their South London counterparts. Personally I cannot classify Charlton in the same category as the likes of Swindon, Millwall or even Maidstone in the “hate” table.
Dennis Oli was restored to the starting line-up in the absence of Scott Vernon whose loan spell from Colchester was ended by injury at Milton Keynes.
Both sides had shouts for a penalty in the opening minutes which were waved aside by referee Jon Lewis, who looked to keep the game in motion. The first real opportunity of the game fell to Izale McLeod who shot high and very, very wide when free on the right hand side of the box after 25 minutes. Gillingham themselves went close from a John Nutter free kick that was well saved by Charlton keeper, Rob Elliott and a Oli overhead kick from a Nutter corner that grazed a post. All square at half time and a fair reflection of the play.
The opening 20 minutes of the second half saw the game continue to be evenly contested with a couple of half chances for each side being dealt with by the respective keepers. But, as the game entered its final quarter, it was the home side that started to assert themselves and Nutter was denied by a very good save from Elliott.
The three good chances that Gillingham had fashioned had all had a significant contribution from John Nutter, but on 79 minutes his game took a bizarre twist. A seemingly harmless situation, the ball rolled towards the full back whose shank of a clearance somehow found the bottom corner of the net. It will undoubtedly feature in a Christmas bloopers DVD, John Nutter didn’t deserve his fate and Gillingham certainly didn’t.
The despair turned to joy in double quick time. Simeon Jackson, who had been successfully shackled all afternoon by an uncompromising central defence, latched onto a Mark Bentley flick on to despatch with the unerring confidence of a striker who has 11 goals already to his name this season.
Justice had been served, overall Gillingham finished the stronger, but a draw was probably a fair result. It had been a good derby, there were only minor skirmishes of trouble when Charlton supporters made themselves known in the home areas of the stadium. But with their allocation sold out and many of them living in Kent, it was inevitable that this would be the result.
Gillingham can take several positives from the game, a fine man-of-the-match performance from Mark Bentley, good defensive performances across the back line with Barry Fuller the stand-out and, of course, there is Simeon Jackson, one chance and he’s on the score sheet again. Phil Parkinson must be thinking tonight, if only a word in jest could materialise into fact. Fact is Parky, he can do a lot better than Charlton.
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