Gillingham 1 Yeovil Town 0

Match 33/09/785 - Tuesday, 24th November 2009 - League One

Gillingham (1) 1 Jackson (pen) 10
Yeovil Town (0) 0
Att. 4,450

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 45/4,172

Match Report

Gillingham fans were left sitting uncomfortably in their seats for the closing moments of last night’s encounter with Yeovil Town and the reason could only be laid at the door of one man, the West Country side’s keeper, Alex McCarthy.

After our soaking at Bristol Rovers on Saturday, a certain sympathy had to be felt for the small gathering of Yeovil supporters with no shelter from the heavy rain and howling wind, who looked on fearfully for the first 20 minutes as the home side ripped the visitors defence to shreds.

Only McCarthy stood between Yeovil and a substantial deficit as he made five top class saves to limit Gillingham to a single goal lead, obtained from the penalty spot.

For the third home game in succession, loan star Febian Brandy earned the penalty as he teased Stefan Stam into a rash challenge. Simeon Jackson, back in the starting line up, resumed spot kick duties which he despatched with a cheeky chip after McCarthy committed himself early.

The Yeovil defence had no answer to the speed and movement of Brandy, Jackson and Andy Barcham who all saw efforts brilliantly turned away by the keeper. Brandy rattled the crossbar before the custodian made a superb double save from the striker and the follow up from Chris Palmer.

Yeovil successfully managed to stem the tide towards the end of the first half and in the early stages of the second. They had a bit of forward momentum as well but were not unduly concerning the home side’s defence.

The Yeovil crossbar was rattled again by the unlikely source of a Barry Fuller free kick that was superbly tipped onto the woodwork by McCarthy.

Gillingham’s own custodian, Simon Royce was called into action with 15 minutes remaining when he needed to be at his best to push a Sam Williams header over the bar.

Yeovil’s hopes of an unlikely point were probably ended with the sending off of Jean-Paul Kalala for a second yellow after a crude challenge on Kevin Maher.

So once again Fortress Priestfield lifts the Blues into the comparative safety of mid-table. If we can obtain another 10 wins from our last 14 home games we probably won’t need another away point!