AFC Wimbledon 0 Gillingham 1

Match 28/12/981 - Saturday, 27 October 2012 - League Two

AFC Wimbledon (0) 0
Gillingham (1) 1 Vincelot 23
Att. 4,546

Entrance: £15
Programme: £3
Mileage: 118/1,925

Match Report

As a spectacle the only winner was the wind which dictated which side was in the ascendancy, but Gillingham withstood their turn to face the elements and bravely held onto the single goal lead obtained with the wind at their backs. It is a widely used train of thought that to win championships you have to sometimes win ugly and, make no mistake, this was, if not ugly, a really scruffy victory.

Speaking to Gillingham fans before the game that had been to Torquay for the midweek defeat, it was thought that on Tuesday the selected team was surprising and there were a few raised eyebrows when the team was announced this time. Andy Frampton replaced the injured Joe Martin, whilst the newly-loaned Romain Vincelot came into the midfield as a total of six changes were made.

Gillingham completely sold out their allocation and 856 travelling supporters packed the shallow terracing and a section seated in the newly-built North Stand. The viewing from the East Stand was difficult even for a six-footer such as myself and the constant leaning and standing on my toes in a largely unsuccessful attempt to see the action in the far left hand corner left me with sore calf muscles.

With the wind at their backs, Gillingham started the game brightly and early half-chances fell to Ben Strevens, who shot wide of a post and a Myles Weston header that was saved at the near post by the Dons keeper, Seb Brown. The best chance of the opening quarter came on 21 minutes when Kedwell and Strevens carved out a shooting opportunity for Chris Whelpdale, but his shot was directly at Brown who saved comfortably.

The reprieve was short-lived and the visitors took the lead a couple of minutes later. A Whelpdale long throw was only cleared to the edge of the box from where Vincelot marked his debut with a low, rasping drive that was nestling in the net before Brown had completed his dive.

The first 30 minutes had been predominantly one-way traffic and the only scare came when Wimbledon’s Norwich City loanee, George Francomb sent a cross across the face of the goal leaving the Gills support thankful to see Matt Fish steer the ball to safety. Fish then turned his thoughts to attack and a cavalier run forward ended with a driven shot towards the top right corner of the goal that Brown did well to palm away.

The benefit of the wind turned the game in Wimbledon’s favour for the second half but it was Gillingham that opened up with the best chance. Curtis Osano was forced into a last ditch block to deny Weston after some good link play with Kedwell. Following on, the impressive Francomb started winning his midfield battles and two attempts on goal resulted with Nelson needing to make his first meaningful saves.

Adam Barrett and Tom Flanagan were standing firm at the heart of Gillingham’s rearguard action and, one goalmouth scramble apart, the testing of Nelson was virtually non-existent while Kedwell and Whelpdale brought saves from Brown.

So, despite raised eyebrows at team selection, Martin Allen continues to lay the ghosts of season's past. This time it was the horrendous first half at Kingsmeadow last season when Gillingham found themselves three down in little more than 20 minutes that was laid to rest.

The wind dictated that this game was never going to be a thing of beauty, last week’s home victory over Burton might have been of that nature, perhaps this was ugly but the reward is just the same.