Wycombe Wanderers 1 Gillingham 0

Match 40/10/858 - Monday, 3 January 2011 - League Two

Wycombe Wanderers (0) 1 Winfield 64
Gillingham (0) 0
Att. 4,617

Entrance: £18
Programme: £3
Mileage: 178/6,208

Match Report

Gillingham fans returned to their Theatre of Nightmares on Monday and the matchday announcer was not going to allow them to forget their last visit. His interviews with the mascots relived that fateful day with his questions to the kids allowing replays of the goals on the video screen and, did you know, that Gillingham haven’t scored at Wycombe since 1999, he added with a tad too much relish.

Wycombe are a good side that won’t be too far from the top of the table come May and had already won the reverse fixture convincingly in November, so it was to be expected that the five game winning run was going to come under pressure.

There were minor snow flurries as we walked the chilly path through the industrial estate to Adams Park. Often depicted as picturesque, its only real redeeming feature is the backdrop of the rolling hills. Such is our record here, we are never going to see it as a place of beauty.

Gillingham started brightly and created a clear shooting opportunity in the first minute, sadly it fell to Matt Lawrence, a central defender who blasted over the bar. The home side then seized the initiative and Gillingham were subjected to a mainly rearguard action, although they were never really threatened.

Gillingham’s front line partnership of Adebayo Akinfenwa and Cody McDonald that had been so effective during the successful run was being well-marshalled by Dave Winfield and ex-Gill Leon Johnson.

The game encapsulated itself around a 10 minute period from 65 minutes. Wycombe took the lead following a corner that was headed against the cross bar by Scott Rendell, the rebound found Winfield in space to head home. 10 minutes later, Cody McDonald ran onto a Luke Rooney pass, lobbed the keeper, only to see the ball hit the bar and was cleared to safety.

Gillingham made a good effort to retrieve the deficit with sustained pressure in the final minutes, but the moment McDonald’s effort rebounded from the woodwork it was written that the matchday announcer would have another year to add to his tally on our next visit.

As we walked away, we felt that whilst not deserving to win, a draw would have been a fair reflection of the game. If Gillingham were not to get promoted this season, I hope Wycombe do, not that I have any particular affection for the club, I’m just sick of Adams Park.