Gillingham 3 Port Vale 2

Match 55/13/1082 - Saturday, 1st February 2014 - League One

Gillingham (1) 3 Akinfenwa 42,61 McDonald 64
Port Vale (0) 2 Robertson 81, Hugill 87
Att. 6,356

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 45/5,573

Match Report

With the amount of water that has dropped from the sky since New Year’s Day, for the month of January, I might well have considered giving this blog the temporary name of That’ll Be The Weather. In that time, Tonbridge have played twice, once each home and away, whilst Tunbridge Wells have managed just one home game and let’s not forget that January has also brought the wasted journey to Stevenage. So, as I sat at my Bermondsey workplace through the night from Friday into Saturday, with the rain beating against the windows, I figured that another change of direction was going to be needed come Saturday afternoon. So it can only be to the credit of the groundsmen, Tony Proven and Jay Berkhauer that Gillingham’s home encounter with Port Vale was given the go-ahead after a midday inspection. The pitch was obviously going to be heavy and with the rain continuing to fall through the first half, it cut up badly but there was never a doubt that the game would not get through to its completion.

This week has seen the end of the transfer window and although clubs like Gillingham are able to do loan business in a week’s time there has been significant transfer activity at Priestfield. Of the two Ipswich youngsters, Mick McCarthy took the viewpoint that if Jack Marriott was not going to be guaranteed first team football then he would be better off at Conference side Woking; in the case of Elliott Hewitt, his appearance prospects were far greater and the Ipswich manager was content to let him stay until the end of the season. The replacement for Marriott came in the imposing shape of Charlton Athletic’s Joe Pigott, a striker that has scored goals aplenty for their development squad and has served successful loan period at Bromley. The final signing, at least on the face of it, is a somewhat strange one. In September, I was watching Garry Borrowdale struggling for fitness at Tonbridge, before in November moving downwards to Ryman League Margate to get games and improve his fitness levels. Now at the end of January, he is making the step up to League One with Gillingham. Peter Taylor knows the player well, has picked him in an England Under-21 squad, but given that his fitness wasn’t at the level required in Conference South four months ago and is still two to three weeks away from being ready for selection, the signing is altogether . . . well, strange.

Pigott was selected on the bench as Taylor brought in Adebayo Akinfenwa and Bradley Dack from the side that played admirably in defeat at Brentford last time out and both were to have significant impacts on the game.

The opening half was one in which the home side dominated proceedings but it took until five minutes before the break when they finally made the breakthrough. A corner, won after a shot from Steven Gregory had been turned away, was swung in from the left by Dack and from the centre of the goal, Akinfenwa found a yard of space, enough to direct a header into the right hand corner of the net for a deserved half-time lead.

A clever free-kick routine almost brought a second goal ten minutes into the second half. Everybody was expecting Joe Martin to curl one towards the top corner, as he had with a first half effort, but Cody McDonald ran out from the assembled wall, took a short pass and fired low to goalkeeper Chris Neal’s right from where he made a parrying save and recovered brilliantly to save twice from Amine Linganzi and Dack.

Dack was not to be denied though and on the hour, retrieving a clearance, he delivered a Beckhamesque cross that was duly converted with a far post header from Akinfenwa and within two minutes, the youngster was once more the provider as he steered a pass from Gregory into the path of McDonald who scored from the angle of the six yard box.

With the game seemingly put to bed, Taylor opted to introduce Pigott for Akinfenwa, who received a standing ovation from the home support and also replace Linganzi, who although a little way from full fitness gave the fans a glimpse of what they have been expecting since the opening weeks of the season, with the Watford loanee, Connor Smith. Unfortunately, with the changes, the wheels somewhat fell off the wagon. With nine minutes remaining, after a period of Vale pressure, Chris Robertson’s header from a corner was adjudged by the linesman to have crossed the line and the visitors saw a way back into the game as Gillingham fell deeper and deeper towards their own goal.

A tense finale was set up three minutes from time when Doug Loft sent a cross into the box and Jordan Hugill found time and space to plant a shot past Stuart Nelson. Five nervous minutes of extra time were added in which Gillingham invited pressure and failed to relieve themselves of the same, but saw the game out to its successful conclusion.

Peter Taylor was criticised for the substitutions, but three goals to the good, there could not have been a better time to blood the new faces with both Akinfenwa and Linganzi not having the full 90 minutes in their legs. At the time is wasn’t even a gamble, but following Vale’s opener unnecessary panic set in with the new guys struggling to find their feet.

Nevertheless, the three points lifted Gillingham into the top half of the table and there are clear signs that brighter days are on the horizon, if only somebody could tell the weather gods!