Gillingham 3 Barnet 1

Match 52/11/939 - Tuesday, 6 March 2012 - League Two

Gillingham (0) 3 Oli 47 Obita 76 Lee 87
Barnet (1) 1 Kamdjo 38
Att. 3,751

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.00
Mileage: 45/3,979

Match Report

It was a good goal, is wasn’t a great goal, but it supplied one of the “Moments of the Season”. A half-time scoreline of a goal down to those bogey men from Barnet and with Danny Kedwell, obviously struggling and only half-fit, Dennis Oli was introduced as a second half substitute. Poor Diesel, subject of much mirth among the fans, told by Andy Hessenthaler that he has no future at the club; expectations could not have been any lower. A chance for him to put himself in the shop window, I was told; only if it’s a Charity Shop was my reply. 90 seconds later and a ball over the top from Chris Whelpdale saw Dangerous Dennis galloping into the right hand channel to the edge of the box, as the goalkeeper came to narrow the angle, our Super Hero placed his shot across the face of Liam O’Brien and into the far corner. Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Oli, Oli. It wasn’t only the joy of the equalising goal that had us falling over in laughter!

Sickness and injury had left Gillingham massively short of options prior to kick off. Jo Kuffour and Gavin Tomlin were absent and Kedwell was suffering from sickness and injury and never looked capable of making the 90 minutes. Drafted in alongside him was 17-year-old Ashley Miller, whilst Simon King was also sick and Garry Richards was brought in to partner Connor Essam; 18-year-old loanee Jordan Obita, from Reading, was also making his full debut.

Izale McLeod has long been a thorn in the side of Gillingham having scored countless times against them, Pele he isn’t, we just make him look that good. This time McLeod made a much different impression on the game. A long punt downfield was made in the direction of the Barnet striker and Richards, as the ball cleared the pair, the Gillingham centre half was left on the ground in agony. What happened nobody seems to know, Richards himself accuses McLeod of “doing him” countered by McLeod saying it was accidental. Richards suffered a spiral fracture of the left leg and will miss the rest of the season.

O’Brien made two great saves in the space of a minute on 18 minutes. Charlie Lee, who had had two sighters, brought out the best in the keeper, who touched his shot around for a corner from which, Whelpdale’s header was also brilliantly saved.

On the half-hour it appeared that McLeod had his usual goal when he stroked home from close range following Gazzaniga’s parry of Sam Deering’s shot, only for the linesman to flag it offside. Eight minutes later, Barnet took the lead. An over hit cross from left was retrieved on the right and a cross to the near post was met by Clovis Kamdjo to fire in from close range.

Whether the Richards incident had affected McLeod, only he can know, but his 45th minute substitution was almost as bizarre as he appeared to just walk off the pitch and sit down on the bench. It’s a long running rumour that, despite his wonderful scoring record, McLeod has a lousy attitude and this seems borne out by his withdrawal.

Kedwell was obviously labouring and his substitution brought about the Oli moment. Dennis might not have been man of the match, but he was man of the 45 minutes he was on the pitch with a thoroughly professional performance considering his dubious future at Priestfield.

On 75 minutes, Oli foraging down the right channel once more, crossed for Miller to force O’Brien into a parrying save from which Obita was on hand to tuck home from close range.

Oli’s night was complete when he had a hand in Gillingham’s third goal in the 87th minute. He broke through the middle of the pitch before, characteristically, getting the ball caught between his feet, luckily the ball fell to Danny Jackman who sent Lee into the box from the right hand side. Lee’s finish was pure class; he stepped inside his marking defender, took his time, steadied and placed an outside of the foot shot into the left hand corner to the acclaim of the Rainham End.

Charlie Lee’s disciplinary record leaves a lot to be desired but, that left aside, he has all the qualities to become a Gillingham legend. His competitive nature, which leads, of course, to the cautions and now with four goals in three games, is much appreciated by the Gillingham faithful.

Four wins on the spin have propelled Gillingham back into the play-off picture and the never-say-die spirit of successive comeback wins at home has the fans believing again, so much so, they even believe in Dennis Oli!