Gillingham (2) 3 McDonald 6, 36 Oli 88
Rotherham United (1) 1 Law 7
Att. 4,824
Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 45/7,330
Match Report
Chalk and cheese. Just how can two performances in the space of three days be so different. Gone was the howling wind that ruined Saturday’s game against Oxford and with it went the aerial assault on our neck muscles. Gillingham needed to use the albeit rather threadbare grass on Saturday and failed miserably, last night they found their passing game and produced as good a performance as any that we have seen this season at Priestfield against fellow promotion contenders, Rotherham.We also had the opportunity to compare the two in-form strikers in the Division, our own Cody McDonald and Rotherham’s Adam Le Fondre, and on the night, Cody won by a country mile.
Lacking any wide players, manager Andy Hessenhaler chose to position Curtis Weston behind the front two in a diamond formation that worked to the benefit of the midfielder, who had his best game in many weeks.
To round off a night of good news, disappointing though it was to see Matt Lawrence limp out of the game after 20 minutes, the return of Simon King after 20 months on the sidelines was greeted rapturously by the Gillingham faithful. It might have been a slightly rusty partnership with the recently returned Gary Richards but they did enough to restrict Le Fondre to nothing more than a couple of speculative attempts on goal.
Gillingham were ahead after just six minutes, Weston played in McDonald, who burst clear of the Millers’ defence and drilled a shot that crept in under the body of the veteran keeper, Andy Warrington. Joy was short-lived as the visitors equalised within a minute. Awarded a dubious free kick 25 yards from goal, I was viewing from the angle that the shot would be taken. The wall appeared to be offering a yard of space to Alan Julian’s right and Nicky Law exploited it to the maximum with a perfectly placed shot that left the keeper motionless.
Following Lawrence’s substitution, Rotherham were forced into a significant change of their own. Warrington made a save at the feet of Weston, who caught the keeper with an accidental kick to the head that forced Warrington from the field and earned the Gillingham player a booking. Whilst there was nothing malicious in the challenge, and Weston could not have been more repentant as the pair shook hands as Warrington left the field, from my seat it appeared that he arrived marginally late as the keeper plunged at his feet.
McDonald showed his worth with a stunning finish to put the home side back in front on 36 minutes. He ran onto a ball over the top from the once-again impressive Kevin Maher and although forced wide he drove across the substitute keeper into the far corner of the net to put him personally within one goal of Le Fondre’s season total.
McDonald was offered several second half opportunities to level up those totals in an absorbing second half. A rebound off the keeper from a Weston shot saw the striker lift the ball over the bar and from a Adebayo Akinfenwa pass he dragged a shot wide of the post.
Julian had been virtually unemployed until Law brought a decent save from the keeper with a quarter hour remaining and there was a major scare five minutes from time when Le Fondre was offered his first clear-cut opportunity but lifted the ball over the bar from close range.
The sighs of relief turned to cheers when Gillingham made safe the points with a third goal. Akinfenwa’s persistence in the box led to McDonald having two shots being blocked before the ball fell to substitute Dennis Oli, his initial shot was well saved by Annerson but the rebound was driven home by Oli.
Before the game, my thoughts were that Gillingham needed to reinforce their credentials for an automatic promotion place by beating one of the sides above them. They have lost twice to Wycombe, recently at home to Chesterfield and it was way back in September when they beat Shrewsbury at Priestfield. Their next three games are all against fellow contenders and they enter this sequence with this morale boosting win behind them.
Smashing game, great win and could it be that in Cody McDonald we have the best striker in the Division, the evidence of last night says we have.
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