Gillingham (1) 1 McDonald 85
York City (1) 1 Lee (o.g.) 17
Att. 4,893
Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.00
Mileage: 45/3,602
Match Report
Welcome Back! An unscheduled winter break convinced me that Arsene and his Premier mates might like a scheduled mid-season break, but for it’s not for me, one enforced boring Saturday is one too many in a season. Quite how anybody with an interest in the game can suffer Soccer Saturday, despite the enthusiasm of Jeff Stelling, on a weekly basis earns my respect.Busting a gut to get back to football, perhaps with Gillingham’s recent form, Priestfield was not the best place to satisfy that lust for entertainment. What is going on with the home form? Since they beat Scunthorpe in an early November FA Cup tie with a third successive four goal salvo, seven games have yielded just six points (a win and three draws) whilst five unbeaten away games have produced three wins and two draws.
All around me people were scratching their heads at Martin Allen’s team selection. Matt Fish, undeniably the most improved player at the club and arguably a contender for player of the year, was inexplicably omitted and two defensive midfielders, Andy Frampton and Steven Gregory were included in a midfield that cried out for some creativity. Charlie Allen, fast becoming the object of abuse from certain sections of the home support, is woefully out of form yet retains his place. It was not surprising that the returning prodigal son, Cody McDonald, took his place on the bench given his inactivity at Coventry and Danny Kedwell and Adam Birchall was the favoured striking partnership at the expense of Deon Burton. The team selected was certainly one of Mad Dog’s stranger choices, and there have been some strange ones.
York City arrived as a team in 15th place in the table, with an average set of recent results behind them and looked ripe to get Gillingham’s home form back on track. However, they turned out to be a side that was small in stature and one that had the ability to pass their way through a pedestrian midfield in much the same way that Barnet had done on Boxing Day. Michael Potts and Scott Kerr were particularly impressive in an energetic manner that was everything that the Gillingham midfield was not.
Gillingham fell behind, in what became a shambolic first half performance, on 17 minutes in what was thought at the time as somewhat fortunate circumstances. Patrick McLaughlin appeared to almost scuff a corner to the near post from where Charlie Lee sliced a clearance past his own goalkeeper. I say, at the time, because on two further occasions, McLaughlin produced similar corners that caused all sorts of confusion in the Gillingham penalty area.
Martin Allen, at least recognising the deficiencies in the original selection, replaced Frampton with Myles Weston to add a threat from the left hand side. Weston forced a corner four minutes before the break from which Adam Barratt brought an instinctive save from Michael Ingham to deny a close range header.
A second substitution was made at the break when Fish replaced the ineffective Charlie Allen and the full back’s marauding down the right hand side highlighted the folly in his omission. Gillingham might have gone further behind in the first attack of the half when Stuart Nelson pushed away Matt Blair’s shot before Leon Legge planted a free header over the bar for the home side.
The home crowd rose to welcome home Cody McDonald as he became Gillingham’s final substitution on 55 minutes replacing Adam Birchall, who had very little joy from his time spent watching long hoofed passes sail over his head. Once again, York spurned opportunities to double their advantage when Chris Smith headed against a post and Potts and Kerr brought out the best of Gills’ defensive capabilities.
A clash of heads between Lee and York’s Lanre Oyebanjo brought about a lengthy stoppage that forced both players from the field. Oyebanjo was eventually substituted but with Gillingham having used their substitutions, a woozy Lee re-entered the game; once more went off but only to return again to complete the game and earn the man of the match award in a game of very mixed personal fortunes.
Five minutes remained when McDonald made his hero’s return. Weston crossed from the right and the striker buried a header from six yards to the delight of the Rainham End, with whom he celebrated. McDonald could have earned legendary status with another header that Ingham did well to save before the visitors spurned a final opportunity to grab all three points when Blair wastefully shot wide after being sent clear.
Three home games on the spin was seen as the opportunity to reclaim top spot and even put a little bit of daylight between themselves and Port Vale, but the sequence might be seen as more of a blessing in disguise for the present leaders than a Gillingham side, for whom, Priestfield is far from home, sweet home.
The classic programme covers that are being replicated for this centenary season today came from the 1962-63 season.
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