Gillingham 1 Northampton Town 0

Match 43/10/861 - Saturday, 15 January 2011 - League Two

Gillingham (1) 1 McDonald 32
Northampton Town (0) 0
Att. 5,613

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 45/6,497

Match Report


Gillingham overcame difficult windy conditions and the jinx of the Manager of the Month Award to inch themselves into the play-off positions. Their visitors, Northampton Town, had limited resources in attack and asked their club captain, Andy Holt, a defender to lead the front line. Subsequently, they offered very little threat and a long-range shot from Michael Jacobs that was easily gathered by Alan Julian with 10 minutes remaining was their only shot on goal.

Gillingham’s surge up the table during December had earned Andy Hessenthaler the award and he reportedly refused to touch the trophy (which is pretty ugly anyway) for fear of invoking the curse. Such is the strength of the squad at present that, despite last’s week’s five goals at Stockport, it was something of a surprise that an unchanged side was selected with ex-Cobblers favourite Adebayo Akinfenwa sitting it out on the bench.

Gillingham’s path may have been eased as Curtis Weston was offered an early chance, but his shot was blocked by keeper, Chris Dunn. With neither side settling in the conditions, chances were at a premium. Top scorer Cody McDonald saw an effort into the side netting and then forced Dunn into a save before opening the scoring on the half-hour.

A long cross field pass from John Nutter was helped into the box by Danny Spiller, where a cushioned header from Josh Gowling gave McDonald a clear shooting opportunity which he took with ease for his 12th goal of the season.

The second half was much the same as the first with the wind and an over-fussy referee, Trevor Kettle, dominating proceedings. McDonald, had a carbon copy of his opportunity at Wycombe a couple of weeks ago, with unfortunately the same result, this time his lob narrowly clearing the bar. The arrival from the bench of Akinfenwa and Luke Rooney injected a bit of life into the game, big Bayo setting up McDonald and a rocket from Rooney narrowly missing a post.

A free kick into the box that narrowly evaded ex-Gill Dean Beckwith evoked bitter memories of the winning goal at Sixfields back in October, but this time drifted harmlessly wide.

Man of the Match was given to Gowling, who alongside Matt Lawrence, earned his award by controlling the conditions as much as the toothless Northampton attack.