Swindon Town (1) 3 Austin 37, Cuthbertson 51, Paynter (pen) 73
Gillingham (0) 1 Palmer 87
Att. 6,773
Entrance: £22
Programme: £3
Mileage: 268/5,040
Match Report
Winter loosened its icy grip on the nation and a superb effort from the Swindon Town ground staff allowed Gillingham to contest their first game of 2010 on a much better than expected surface at the County Ground.Sadly, the new year brought more of the same in terms of away performance as the visitors slumped to their 11th league defeat on the road out of 13. Keeping faith with the formation that earned only their second away point at Exeter over the Christmas period, Mark Stimson chose to leave fit again Curtis Weston and Febian Brandy on the bench.
Undone by a neat turn and strike, albeit with the aid of poor marking, from Charlie Austin, Gillingham probably felt hard-done-by to enter the break a goal in arrears. They had enjoyed their share of possession and created a couple of reasonable half chances. As early as the fourth minute Simeon Jackson shot wide and also hit a post on the half hour. Moments before half time a stabbed effort from Stuart Lewis rolled agonisingly wide as the visitors failed to gain half time parity.
Expectations that may have been raised by an evenly contested first half were quickly dashed as the home side went further ahead in the 51st minute. A corner from the left, taken by Jon-Paul McGovern travelled a long way to beyond the back post where it was met by a looping header from Scott Cuthbertson that crept in at the far stick. As with the opening goal, questions have to be asked of the defence as the Swindon full back had oceans of space in which to pick his spot.
The home side were now buoyant and dominating proceedings. Off the pitch, the vocal element of the Gillingham support, which had spent the vast majority of their efforts baiting the home support rather than supporting their own, now turned on their team and manager. Febian Brandy’s introduction was greeted with rousing cheers as much for the substitution of Kevin Maher as the diminutive striker’s entrance and Curtis Weston entered the fray at the expense of one of Gillingham’s better performers, Stuart Lewis.
Brandy brought about a upsurge in the tempo drawing a couple of fouls from defenders harassed by his pace and trickery, but, in truth, the goalkeeper was not being tested with only an off target effort by Rashid Yussuff deserving of his attention.
Swindon put the game beyond the reach of the visitors when a foul by Mark Bentley on Vincent Pericard allowed Billy Paynter to seal the game from the penalty spot. At this point the depressing scoreline and the woeful second half performance had this particular blogger eyeing the exit. Even those thoughts were brought to a close with a stadium announcement that Gillingham fans were to be kept behind after the game.
Why this age-old hostility continues to inconvenience the law-abiding citizens of both clubs when the vast majority of the protagonists were merely a twinkle in their father’s eyes in the days of Ray McHale and Ken Price is beyond me. But I suppose I have them to thank for keeping me in my position to see Chris Palmer’s well struck consolation from the edge of the box to score his first goal for the Gills.
The County Ground is a functional but tired looking stadium. The visiting support of around 450 was housed in a corner of the Arkells Stand which was a blessing as, despite the upturn in the weather, the open to the elements seating behind the goal looked particularly uninviting, much the same as, errrr, the Brian Moore Stand. Opposite the Arkells is a modern stand taking the name of Swindon legend Don Rogers. Being a football stadium traditionalist it was nice to see the old fashioned floodlight pylons remain, but whether it was an optical illusion or fact, they didn’t appear to be pointing in the direction of the pitch, more so down the touchlines and the front rows of the stands and I have to say that the illumination of the pitch seemed to confirm my viewpoint.
Sadly the light at the end of Gillingham’s away day tunnel is just as dim.
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