Gillingham 1 Burton Albion 0

Match 34/09/786 - Saturday, 28th November 2009 - FA Cup 2nd Round

Gillingham (0) 1 Weston 68
Burton Albion (0) 0
Att. 4,996

Entrance: £15
Programme: £2
Mileage: 45/4,217

Match Report

It was far from pretty but tomorrow afternoon there is a ball in the velvet bag with our name and number (50) on it. It would be nice to think that the reward for winning this bruising encounter will be the financial windfall of a trip to one of the big Premiership clubs but there are 30 or so other Round Two combatants hoping for a similar outcome.

If the fate of the balls take us to Old Trafford, the Emirates or Holker Street, Barrow I cannot imagine Gillingham are going to come across a side quite as physical as Burton Albion. I say this with a degree of confidence borne out of the fact that Oldham are no longer in the competition.

Guy Branston is described politely as a journeyman professional, let’s face it he is a good, old fashioned clogger. The big, old boy was the recognisable figure in the centre of the defence, but there were others more than willing to put a foot in and take a yellow for the sake of the team.

As on Tuesday night, the home side were quick out of the traps and fashioned a chance within the first minute with Febian Brandy shooting just wide of the post. Shane Redmond, in the Brewers’ goal made a good parry to thwart Simeon Jackson and Stewart Lewis’ follow-up within the first five minutes.

When Jackson was stopped in his tracks by a last ditch tackle it seemed that it would only a matter of time before the Burton defence was breached. But the home side lost their momentum, the League Two side gained in confidence and when Branston put a header wide from a corner they could have gone into the break with an unlikely lead.

The home side failed to regain their impetus in the early part of the second half with only Brandy forcing Redmond into a meaningful save on the hour mark. A double substitution brought John Nutter and Dennis Oli into the fray and it paid instant dividends. Nutter played the ball into Brandy who in turn sent Curtis Weston clear to finish from an angle.

Now we could dare to dream, but Burton were not going to lie down without a fight and Simon Royce was called upon to make a couple of decent saves before a tortuous four minutes of added time were called to a close.

We will all have our preferences at 3.55 p.m. tomorrow, but, in my dreams tonight, Number 23 will play Number 50. I wonder if Fabien Brandy is allowed the same dream?

24 hours later: Well, how close was that? One ball later and a tie against Manchester United would have been ours. A away tie at Barnet or Accrington Stanley is just rubbing it in.