Gillingham 1 Crawley Town 0

Match 65/13/1092 - Saturday, 8th March 2014 - League One

Gillingham (0) 1 Lee 88
Crawley Town (0) 0
Att. 5,973

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 45/6,523

Match Report

Football is all about results and no amount of discussion changes the scoreline that is published in the Sunday newspapers. But opinion is what gives the game its lasting appeal, if we had to take any result at face value, the pubs would be a lot quieter and Gary Lineker wouldn’t have a job in the media (there is a downside to opinion). It was my opinion, on this particular game, that almost appeared to be at odds with the world as I took to social media on Saturday evening.

The heavy majority posting on Twitter and Facebook were thankful for the three points attained by Gillingham but felt that they were very lucky to have done so. I’m not denying that Crawley crafted the greater amount of clear cut chances and with a striker on the pitch, Matt Tubbs, who had scored six goals in six games since returning to the club, they should surely have scored from one of those. But looking at the statistics (and stats, as we know, can be tailored to reflect your point of view) Gillingham lost the shots on goal total by 14-15, whilst shots on target were in favour of the home side by 6-3. Further, Stuart Nelson, albeit that he needed the aide of Jake Hessenthaler’s goal line clearance on one occasion, was only asked to make one comfortable save low to his right from Tubbs in the 53rd minute, while his counterpart, Paul Jones made four sprawling saves to deny Joe Pigott, Craig Fagan and Cody McDonald on two occasions. I rest my case that Gillingham were not particularly lucky and deserved something from the game, if not the full quota of points.

My detractors will quite rightly point to two terrible misses from Jamie Proctor, who shot high into the assembled support from West Sussex from no more than three yards and a header steered wide by Billy Clarke when it seemed easier to score.

Crawley, whose Broadfield Stadium has seen a plethora of postponements leaving them five fixtures behind most clubs, came into the game on a run of seven games without defeat whilst Gillingham, three successive defeats behind them, were looking anxiously over their shoulders at the relegation spots.

The first half was a tight affair in which Crawley undoubtedly held sway. The best chance fell to Proctor who having been sent clear down the left, fired a shot across the face of goal that narrowly went wide of the far post with Tubbs sliding in, failing to make contact.

Jones made his first save of the second half on 55 minutes when he dived low to his right to push away a shot from Pigott from the edge of the box and produced a similar save on 66 minutes when Fagan curled a shot towards the far post. In between those efforts, McDonald was set free by Fagan and, having wriggled his way past the lumbering challenge of Kyle McFadzean, his shot was once more parried to safety by Jones.

The wastefulness of Proctor and Clarke came back to haunt them when, with two minutes remaining, a corner from Hessenthaler was headed back across the face of the goal by Leon Legge to Charlie Lee, a 81st minute substitute for Fagan, who, with not the greatest contact he will ever make, shot into the net from around five yards.

This was a vitally important win for Gillingham. It lifts them six points above the drop zone and IF (deliberate emphasis) they can win their home games against teams below them in the table, then that should be enough to ensure their safety.

John Gregory, the Crawley manager, called the result a travesty and that his side should have won the game by three or four-nil. It’s all a matter of opinion, John.