Gillingham 4 Burton Albion 1

Match 27/12/980 - Saturday, 20 October 2012 - League Two

Gillingham (2) 4 Flanagan 22, Fish 40, Weston 59, Martin 63
Burton Albion (0) 1 Diamond 54
Att. 7,268

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 45/1,807

Match Report

Earlier in the week league tables were published in which Gillingham were top of the league, unfortunately it was one that the fans of the club would rather not be the leaders. This was a BBC Survey on the Price of Football in which the cost of a ticket, programme, pie and a cup of tea contributed to the cost of a day at the match. At £28.90 they were 60p clear of their nearest rivals, Southend United and £9.30 dearer than the cheapest in League Two at Plymouth Argyle. The main reason for the overall top price appears to be in the match day pricing of tickets which is the highest, because the cheapest season ticket category sees several League Two clubs with higher prices and, in fact, Newport County in the Conference were also higher priced. Gillingham supporters may well contend that various ticket offers, not least the “kids for a quid” that was in evidence at today’s game, lowers the price but comparatively these offers are prevalent up and down the country. It has long been my contention that the cost of football at League Two level, and particularly at Gilllingham, is too expensive and more so than the survey, the recent offers have served to prove the point.

This is a really good Gillingham team that deserve to be watched week in, week out by over 7,000 people as they were for this highly entertaining encounter with Burton Albion. But, unfortunately, in the present financial climate, it takes an offer to boost the attendance beyond the hard core base of 4,500, but hopefully it does reflect that the word is out in the Medway Towns that they have a decent team and Mums and Dads will want to bring the children if the price is right.

The most satisfying feature of this game was that Burton were a thoroughly decent team, in a good run of form, eight unbeaten going into the clash, but with no sense of bias, they were simply brushed aside. With David Wright having returned to Crystal Palace at the end of his loan period, Lewis Montrose, not a universally popular choice, was given the opportunity to fulfil the holding midfield role, and much to my own surprise, he made a damn good job of it.

Priestfield Stadium, with its increase in numbers, was in a boisterous mood from the outset and they were nearly at full volume after just 20 seconds when Montrose lofted a forward pass into the path of Myles Weston, who narrowly shot wide of the far post having left his marker for dead with his pace. Montrose then saw a shot of his own rebound off the post after six minutes before defender Adam Barratt got into the act with a long range effort that skimmed the bar in an opening period full of attacking intention.

The breakthrough finally came after 22 minutes when another defender, Tom Flanagan, picked up the pieces of a Danny Kedwell turn inside the six yard box to smash the ball into the roof of the net. Gillingham were thoroughly dominant and chances followed before the Brewer’s keeper, Stuart Tomlinson did well to turn aside another strike from the hugely impressive Weston.

Gillingham doubled their advantage five minutes before the break with another goal from the personnel making up the back four. Matt Fish began the move, pressing forward down the right hand side before a clearance found him on the edge of the box from where the full back curled a shot into the top corner via a post.

Burton who, despite at times in the first half being totally outplayed, had shown some enterprising forward play of their own with the impressive Jacques Maghoma and the sizeable unit that is Calvin Zola forming a dangerous partnership came out for the second half in search of a foothold in the game. Substitute Bradley Dack made a goal line clearance before 10 minutes in the half, Zander Diamond fastened onto a shot cum pass to score from the corner of the six yard box with a low shot.

If it was a setback for the home side, it was only of a temporary nature. On the hour, Weston’s blistering pace was far too much for Rob Kiernan and his angled drive into the bottom corner in front of a rapturous Rainham End was a sublime finish. Three minutes later and Gillingham were home and hosed when a clearance from a Fish cross only found Joe Martin, 20 yards from goal, from where a well hit volley was despatched for a third defender’s goal.

With Tuesday’s encounter at Torquay in mind, Martin Allen, who described the performance as magical, was afforded the luxury of withdrawing Weston and Kedwell and likewise, Burton’s manager Gary Rowett, accepting the game was lost, substituted Maghoma with a nod towards Tuesday’s full League Two programme and a game against Gillingham’s foremost rivals at the present time, Port Vale.

So the survey said … you get what you pay for. You want the best, you pay the top price. No, that’s not quite the opinion I hold, but at this time, I can only say that I’m more than happy with the entertainment I’m getting for my money and I’m pretty sure, the 58 hardy Brewers apart, the rest of the 7,000 people went home thinking to themselves that the afternoon had been well worth their time, effort and their cash.

The classic programme covers that are being replicated for this centenary season today came from the 1960-61 season.