MK Dons (0) 2 Easter 61, Wilbraham 90
Gillingham (0) 0
Att. 11,754
Entrance: £10
Programme: £3
Mileage: 225/3,463
New Ground: 235
Match Report
As Gillingham’s away day misery continued at the impressive stadium:MK, their two new loan signings experienced vastly different debuts. While West Ham’s young defender Matt Fry enjoyed a very good start to his loan period, Colchester’s striker Scott Vernon limped painfully away from the game after 44 minutes and later left the stadium on crutches.Milton Keynes Dons had made today a family day with tickets available for just £10 for adults. Outside of the stadium all manner of events were happening to encourage Mum, Dad and the kids to be a part of the youngest, and arguably most controversial, club in the Football League.
Whatever your opinion might be with regards to the franchising of Wimbledon to Milton Keynes, Pete Winkleman has taken this club a very long way in a very short time. The stadium might be unfinished but it is potentially a very fine arena. The second tier needs the seating installed for it to be complete, but they have are huge, padded seats and ample leg room. There are high-tech bar reading entries to wide concourses where rather expensive food and drink are served. The view is, of course, unobstructed and the rake of the seating is excellent. One criticism would be the reasoning behind positioning the away support into a corner of stadium and leaving the area directly behind the goal completely unused, a diagonal view across the length of the pitch is not the best.
Conspicuous by their complete absence were Adam Miller and Garry Richards, scapegoats for the midweek defeat at Brighton.
Gillingham started the stronger and forced MK keeper Willy Gueret into a couple of saves in the first ten minutes. He failed to hold a Curtis Weston shot, but smothered the rebound and then dealt more comfortably with an Andy Barcham effort.
After 18 minutes Matt Fry (pictured) became a firm favourite with the travelling support with an immaculate challenge on Jermaine Easter. The striker had been sent clear when he looked a mile offside but as he was set to pull the trigger, Fry had made up the ground and made an impeccable tackle from behind to clear the danger. It was the highlight of a very good debut for the 19 year old.Gillingham enjoyed their fair share of the possession and territorial advantage but lacked a cutting edge that was diminished further by the departure of Vernon. Simeon Jackson got very little service and created nothing of note for himself, failing to muster an effort on goal all afternoon.
The Milton Keynes faithful might be a little too comfortable in their seats as the noise levels of their support was a good deal quieter than they received at the Hockey Stadium. But they finally found their voice on the hour when Jason Puncheon benefited from a lucky rebound off Gills’ skipper Barry Fuller leaving him in the clear to cross to Easter who scored from close range.
The Dons now held the upper hand and Simon Royce was called on to make several good saves to keep the game at just the one goal. He was finally beaten for a second time when Aaron Wilbraham struck with an angled drive from the right hand side of the box.
This wasn’t one of Gillingham’s lay down and die away performances of late but it was rather toothless upfront. Who knows what the difference might have been had Scott Vernon lasted the course because the visitors lacked any real threat once he had departed. Let us hope that his Gillingham career is not restricted to just 44 minutes.
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