Gillingham (1) 3 Tomlin 4, 62 Kuffour 54
AFC Wimbledon (0) 4 L Moore 60, Richards (o.g.) 73, Midson 80 (pen), 89
Att. 6,236
Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 45/3,350
Match Report
It would be easy to use this medium to launch into a rant about the shortcomings of Gillingham in this particular match, there were plenty and time will come later to report on them, but before then let me give a massive amount of credit to AFC Wimbledon. Since they demolished their hosts with an overwhelming first half display back in October they have hit a wall and their form has been poor, tumbling them from a top three position into the lower reaches of mid-table.They were also missing their top scorer, Christian Jolley, through suspension and fell behind in just four minutes to a goal from Gillingham debutant Gavin Tomlin. It was a setback that could have swept their style of football off course but they continued to please the eye with a passing game that could only be admired. Falling 3-1 behind to a sucker goal having just found their way back into the match after an hour should have spelt the end of their challenge, but they fought their way back to produce a stunning finish to the game that would have delighted their 1,163 travelling supporters.
Having given out the credit, it is time to hand out the stick. Gillingham were not woeful for 90 minutes, but for those last 20 minutes they were unforgivable and their defending, using Andy Hessenthaler’s word, but also mine at the time, criminal. The manager now threatens to “bring in the kids” if those youngsters had made up the back line perhaps there would have been an excuse but this was an experienced set up that should have been able to see out the game to a successful conclusion.
But what of Hessenthaler’s role in this debacle? After last week’s ineffectual attacking performance at Shrewsbury he felt the need to bring into the side two newly signed strikers who were supposedly no more than 70 per cent fit and, as stated pre-match, unlikely to last the full 90 minutes. As it turned out, alongside the ever hard-grafting Danny Kedwell, they were causing havoc with their pace and were linking as if they had played as a trio for years rather than minutes. When Joe Kuffour was first substituted on 70 minutes and the score 3-1, it didn’t appear that the striker was labouring and, although I could not observe from my own seat, those that could commented that his body language was not that of a man who wanted to leave the field of play. At 3-3 and with five minutes of regular time remaining, Gavin Tomlin was also withdrawn; he had taken a slight knock earlier but once again didn’t appear to be unduly struggling. From the point of Kuffour’s substitution, the momentum completely shifted to the visitors who were good enough to exploit it to the full.
If we had hoped that a new partnership would blossom between Kuffour and Tomlin, nobody could have guessed that it would gel with such immediacy. Four minutes had elapsed when a Tomlin received a Danny Jackman pass, outpaced his marker and his shot from the edge of the box evaded the AFCW keeper, Seb Brown, who might consider that he should have saved it. Wimbledon recovered from the setback with a tempo and passing game that should have brought a reward before half time but it was Gillingham that went into the break with the advantage.
After eight minutes of the second half a brilliant through ball from Tomlin sent Kuffour on his way and he coolly slotted past Brown from the edge of the box to double the lead. On the hour, and in the space of a couple of minutes, Wimbledon deservedly found a way back into the game when a George Moncur pass found Gillingham’s right side devoid of personnel allowing Luke Moore a run on goal with the ex-Ebbsfleet striker beating Ross Flitney from eight yards only to see their route back foundering on the attacking potency of the home side’s front trio. Kedwell fed Kuffour down the right hand side and his near post cross was met with a header from Tomlin into the far corner to restore the two goal advantage.
I cannot believe that anybody in the 6,236 attendance at Priestfield envisaged a way back into the game for Wimbledon but on 73 minutes the dopiest of defending gave them hope. A short corner found Gillingham’s defenders sleeping in the box, Sam Hatton took full advantage and his cross was diverted into his own goal by Garry Richards.
With Kuffour gone and Kedwell now playing alone upfront the home side reverted to type and the ball over the top was aimless and Wimbledon were more than ready to seize their opportunity. Once again, crass defending, this time with Matt Lawrence laying hands on Jack Midson in the box to concede a soft penalty from which Midson himself converted to level the score line.
Two minutes of regular time remained when Gareth Gwillim swept in a left wing cross to the near post from where, was it a Joe Martin own goal or Midson with his second, no matter, the ball thundered into the net to complete an incredible fight back by the Dons. Five minutes were added offering the home side time to salvage a point but they were a spent force and nothing materialised to end the game to a chorus of boos and an awful lot of angry people making their way home with much of the blame heaped on the manager’s shoulders.
To the neutral this was a seven goal extravaganza, to the home fans it was bewildering quite how this game got away from their side but for the visitors, this will probably end as one of the highlights of their inaugural season in the Football League.
Did the result centre on the withdrawal of Kuffour, quite possibly. But, I think players themselves have to take some responsibility when a patent failure to do the jobs that they are paid for resulted in this major setback in their quest for automatic promotion. Neither full back can be judged to have covered themselves with glory when three of the four goals came from areas where a cross was delivered unopposed and Lawrence’s foul for the penalty was mostly about the lack of pace in his 38 year-old legs, prompting Hessenthaler to announce his recall of Connor Essam from his loan spell at Dartford. The manager’s choice of team at Accrington on Saturday is going to be his most interesting of the season thus far.
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