Gillingham 2 Tranmere Rovers 0

Match 77/13/1103 - Good Friday, 18th April 2014 - League One

Gillingham (0) 2 Dack 78, McDonald 90
Tranmere Rovers (0) 0
Att. 7,343

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.00
Mileage: 45/7,323

Match Report

Gillingham finally crossed the line that, in all but mathematical terms, assured their safety as a League One club for next season. While I have maintained that 48 points would probably have been enough, I’m as relieved as the next person that the 50 point barrier has been broken.

After last week’s catastrophic defeat at Leyton Orient when they were four goals behind in the first 35 minutes, Gillingham owed their suffering fans a performance, and whilst they did not exactly deliver on that score, the win would have been compensation enough for most supporters.

With one home game remaining, I’ll for the most part leave the reviewing of the season for that particular game but it is worth relating the thoughts of not only me but other supporters regarding the future of Peter Taylor and opinion remains fairly divided.

The vast majority, whether they want Taylor retained or otherwise, accept that, having achieved the objective of avoiding the drop, he will be offered the job on a longer-term contract (probably two years). In my opinion this is nothing more than he deserves. He took over in a difficult situation with almost everybody considering that Mr Scally had been a touch trigger-happy in his decision to remove Martin Allen, who still held a groundswell of support following the championship winning season and believing that he had earned more time.

The road has been far from straightforward for Taylor. Those that would have remembered his first reign at the club would have expected a style of football that would be more pleasing on the eye than that of Allen, but that has largely not happened. Whether the players have been unable to adapt to a more expansive style or whether it was the circumstance of needing points on the board, the style has not really improved to any great degree.

Taylor now should be afforded a summer in which I’m sure will see a complete overhaul of the playing personnel. There are a lot of players out of contract and the vast majority of those will fear the exit door. I would hope that Stuart Nelson (my player of the year) and Danny Kedwell would quickly be offered terms for the new season but beyond them I can see reasons why all of the others may not be retained. The trick, of course, is that new players brought in by Taylor are better than the ones going out.

Kids for a Quid boosted the attendance to above 7,000 but the atmosphere became nervous as the first half progressed without the home side finding an early lead. Gillingham began strongly, Charlie Lee brought a save in the opening minute and Steven Gregory missing the target in the opening three minutes but it took until a couple of minutes before the break for an Adebayo Akinfenwa header to bring a meaningful save out of Fon Williams in the Tranmere goal. In the final act of the half, a ball over the top was latched onto by the burly striker whose chip over the advancing Williams drifted marginally wide.

The second half was very much Tranmere’s in the opening stages, they were in even more desperate need of the points than the home club. The veteran midfielder, Jason Koumas brought a save from Nelson and Akpa Akpro also tested the home custodian.

On 65 minutes, Bradley Dack was introduced to replace Lee and five minutes later Danny Kedwell returned to the fray following a long period on the side-lines replacing Akinfenwa. Both were to make a major impression on the game.

Kedwell sent McDonald clear but his shot was saved at the near post before good work on the left side by Joe Martin whose cross was met with a volley from Dack that whistled into the top corner despite the attentions of a defender on the post who could only help the ball into the net. The shot was perfectly executed by the youngster, who signed a new four-year contract this week, unfortunately, his shirt removal in celebration brought the obligatory booking.

As the time and the game ebbed away from the visitors, they earned a corner and Fon Williams fancied a Jimmy Glass moment and left his goal to take his place in the opposing penalty area. The corner was delivered not too far from his head but the ball broke to McDonald who sprinted clear with the goal at his mercy. Ignoring the screams of shoot from the paying public he took the ball to within 30 yards and then fired into the empty net to seal the points and Gillingham’s League One survival.