Accrington Stanley (3) 7 McConvillle 13, Parkinson 34, Barnett 43, Edwards 58,62 (pens), Gornell 73, Ryan 90
Gillingham (2) 4 Bentley 29,31, McDonald 55, Akinfenwa 79 (pen)
Att. 1,923
Entrance: £13
Programme: £3
Mileage: 592/3,565
Match Report
Read the scoreline above and you might think that I've been watching a game at Under-8's level. I wasn't, but the defending on both sides, but Gillingham in particular, was more appropriate to that age group. It's a funny old game . . . No, this was just plain crazy.BBC Radio reported that there were only 13 shots on target in the whole game and 11 of them were goals, I presume they are correct and it only serves to illustrate the dire nature of the defending from both sides. Our own after match inquest certainly pointed figures at Josh Gowling, who is going to rival Brendan Plaice as one of the poorest centre backs to wear a Gillingham shirt and Chris Palmer, who is just not a full back and should never be picked in that position again. But television viewing has added Lance Cronin into the dock as three of the goals looked “saveable”.
An unwanted record equalling 28 league games away from home without a win, 32 in total is the sorry statistic that follows this latest embarrassing episode and to think that I left home with a certain confidence that was founded on absolutely nothing but gut feeling, but when Mark Bentley scored his second goal in a couple of minutes my belief that the drought was over was absolute.
But such was performance of Gillingham’s rear guard that at the time of Cody McDonald’s excellent equalising goal at 3-3, I had none of the sense that we were about to go on to win this match. Referring back to the Bury game, somebody behind me said he could see this game ending 5-4 again, my reply was that 10-9 was just as likely.
Bentley had returned to the side in place of Bruce Inkango in Andy Hessenthaler’s only change from the side that had gained a point from the uninspiring draw against Southend.
The visitors started brightly enough, a Spiller free kick was just over and, in a foretaste of the goalkeeping that was to follow, Ian Dunbavin directed the resultant goal kick straight to Adebayo Akinfenwa who was not quick enough to capitalise on error.
Accrington took the lead on 13 minutes when Terry Gornell was allowed to run into space and feed Sean McConville to steer the ball into the bottom right had corner.
Gillingham recovered from the set back with McDonald and Bentley going close before the latter headed on a long throw from Jack Payne to level the scores after 29 minutes.
Two minutes later, Akinfenwa set up Bentley to firmly shoot past Dunbavin to set up my moment of belief. Shame that it was to last only three minutes as Andy Parkinson was allowed to cut in from the right wing to drill a shot across Cronin and into the far corner.
Charlie Barnett showed the type of footwork that is required to win a round of Strictly Come Dancing as the leaden footed Gillingham defence allowed him to waltz into a shooting position and coolly curl a shot into the far corner to give Stanley a half time advantage.
Cody McDonald showed that would be no slouch on the dance floor with a wonderful individual goal to gain the visitors parity after 55 minutes only for referee Iain Williamson to take centre stage and two penalty decisions in the space of a couple of minutes put the game out of the visitors reach. Williamson harshly adjudged that Bentley had pushed Andy Proctor for the first and that Gowling had tripped Gornell for the second. Phil Edwards converted both to give the home side breathing space for the first time.
The game was over as a contest on 73 minutes when Gornell was given the freedom of the right side of the penalty area to stroke the ball past Cronin. There was still plenty of time for the comical defending to continue as crazy keeping from Dunbavin ended with the keeper hauling McDonald to the ground after dropping the ball at the striker’s feet. Akinfenwa calmly struck home the resulting penalty, 6-4 if you are keeping count.
The game descended from comedy to farce in the closing minutes when an otherwise impressive Jim Ryan kicked out at Danny Spiller to spark a brawl with the benches and both teams wading in. Stanley’s assistant manager Jimmy Bell was clearly seen to throw a punch and was sent to the stand, sitting himself no more than five yards from his touchline position. Mark Bentley lifted his hands, but didn’t appear to make much contact to receive a second yellow.
That was enough for this reporter and an early getaway to avoid the traffic generated by a crowd of less than 2,000 was deemed preferable to the final embarrassment of a seventh goal that we heard from the road outside.
Although the penalties were the defining moments of the game, Gillingham cannot hide behind the poor officiating as their dreadful defending was the main contributor to this humiliation.
Since my first visit to the Crown Ground two years ago, very little has changed. The toilets are still a disgrace, but for a club that has a small support their choir behind the goal is one of the best. I’ve never heard Twist and Shout sang before and have no idea what it has to do with football, but it was very well done!
Health and Safety also had its moment as the legendary Binman’s flag was confiscated because it did not carry a Fire Certificate! Crazy? Not half as mad as the football.
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