Gillingham 4 Aldershot Town 0

Match 26/12/979 - Saturday, 13 October 2012 - League Two

Gillingham (3) 4 Allen 9 Kedwell (pen) 26 Weston 38 Whelpdale 66
Aldershot Town (0) 0
Att. 5,039

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 45/1,762

Match Report

From a rather too descriptive account of a stomach bug that has swept through the club to his observations on how this season has progressed so far, Martin Allen was at his enigmatic best in his radio interview following this rout of struggling Aldershot Town. Words such as unbelievable, incredible and amazing described the opening quarter of this season whilst the players were described as charismatic and intelligent. He also paid tribute to the fans that are paying their money in tough financial times. Those fans, whose numbers edged above 5,000 without the help of any ticket offers, are presently a group of believers. They question virtually nothing, team selections, substitutions and formations are accepted because they have complete faith in the manager and whilst the team on the pitch reproduce results and performances of this nature that will not change.

Time was when this audience had been worn down by hoofball, but a little bit of head tennis early in the game was quickly seized upon because they have seen the type of attractive football that this Gillingham team are capable of and that is what they want and pay to see. Gillingham put this game to bed before half-time with a first half performance that devastated their under-pressure opponents. They opened the scoring after 10 minutes when a Chris Whelpdale shot following a Myles Weston corner was beaten out by Shots’ keeper Jamie Young but only to the feet of Charlie Allen who bundled the ball home for his first goal for the club. Weston, in particular, was too hot to handle for the visiting defence and Young was forced into another fine save before Sonny Bradley handled a Matt Fish cross to concede a 26th minute penalty. Danny Kedwell, whose distinctive style was copied by Wayne Rooney at Wembley the previous evening (written with tongue-in-cheek), powerfully striking home the kick.

Now, over-running their opposition, Gillingham increased their lead in the 38th minute when Weston outpaced his marker to shoot between Young and the post for a fine individual effort. Stuart Nelson was asked to make one meaningful save in the last minute of the half from a Craig Reid volley.

Three goals to the good, Martin who had been booked just prior to half time, was preserved from potential suspension with his withdrawal and when Jack Payne also received a yellow card, manager Allen also decided a little self-preservation was justified with his substitution.

Gillingham never rose to the heights of their first half performance in the second 45 but controlled the game with the majority of the possession before adding a fourth with a well worked team goal finished by Chris Whelpdale. Weston took a short corner to Andy Frampton, who crossed low to Whelpdale who shot into the bottom corner.

Gillingham made Aldershot look the San Marino of the previous evening and might well have surpassed England’s five goal total, but the cliché, you can only beat what is put in front of you, does Gillingham a disservice. This is a really good Gillingham side that can be a delight to watch, has depth to the squad and has a man in charge that has the confidence of everybody from the chairman to the supporter that has only heard his now legendary radio interviews. He holds our attention in awe, even when he is describing his bodily functions!

The classic programme covers that are being replicated for this centenary season today came from the 1991-92 season.