Gillingham 1 Shrewsbury Town 1

Match 82/13/1108 - Saturday, 3rd May 2014 - League One

Gillingham (0) 1 Barrett 70
Shrewsbury Town (0) 1 Miller 86
Att. 7,634

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: Sold Out
Mileage: 45/7,823

Match Report

The final game of the 2013-14 season pretty much summed up Gillingham’s season, frustrating. Despite the extraordinarily large attendance, 7,634, the game felt like a pre-season friendly with neither club having anything left to play for. The pitch looked great, the sun shone and the players went about their business mostly at half pace. It seemed the only difference was the substitutions were limited to three each.

One of those substitutions brought the heartwarming moment of the afternoon when Matt Fish became a 52nd minute substitution for an injured Leon Legge, bringing to an end nine months on the sidelines following his cruciate ligament injury in the very first game.

A second pleasing moment came pre-match when the honoured legend, [Sir] Keith Peacock, was given a rousing reception from all corners of Priestfield Stadium.

Gillingham, almost certainly, deserved to take the three points against a relegated Shrewsbury Town side and enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession. Joe Martin brought a good save from Joe Anyon following a well hit free kick whilst Stuart Nelson was called into action to make a good stop from a Luke Summerfield free kick.

The best chances of the half fell to leading scorer Cody McDonald in the five minutes leading up to the break. A superbly worked move ended with the striker hitting a post and a couple of minutes later, sent clear by Adebayo Akinfenwa, McDonald’s first touch took him too wide and the attack petered out.

Two chances in the 70th minute eventually gave the home side the lead. Danny Kedwell’s initial effort was cleared from the line before Jake Hessenthaler retrieved the ball and chipped a cross to the head of Adam Barrett who firmly planted a header into the net.

Gillingham had their chances to put the game beyond doubt, Bradley Dack brought a fine save from Anyon; Fish and Chris Whelpdale also saw efforts turned over by the keeper, before, frustratingly, Shrewsbury broke away and Shaun Miller headed home from close range a Joe Jacobsen cross to delight the near 200 travelling support, a fine effort from them to support a relegated club.

As the curtain fell on another season at Priestfield it was time to reflect on the past nine months with a series of questions self-answered.

At the start of the season would I have accepted 17th place? Without a doubt, I never bought into Martin Allen's assertion that he was building a side that would smash League One. It was a much tougher division than the one we left four years ago with some massive clubs (Wolves, Preston, Bristol City and Sheffield United) in comparison to Gillingham.

Would I have guessed that we would end the season without Martin Allen? Certainly did not see that one coming last August. At the time of his sacking, despite the desperately poor start, I thought he had earned the right to time having won the League Two title the previous season. But rumours of player unrest and a style of football that wasn't easy on the eye made it less of a surprise when it happened.

Have things changed for the better under Peter Taylor? Not totally, but he has fulfilled his mandate, that of keeping Gillingham in League One. The squad, in principle, is the one that Taylor inherited and if the football is any more pleasing, it is very marginal. But, having achieved the initial objective, I would hope that in the next couple of days he is announced as manager with a contract that enables him to build a team in his image and not that of his predecessor. This will not cut much ice with a section of the support that hasn’t taken to him and want him removed right now.

A season of not too many highs and far too many lows. The win at Sheffield United, sandwiched between the FA Cup games against Brackley produced both ends of the scale in a matter of days. The win over Wolves, despite being over-run for much of the game, was special in that it was quite unbelievable considering the run that the eventual champions went on after losing at Priestfield. Home wins against Coventry and Swindon were good days, whilst dreadful performances at Colchester and Stevenage highlighted the inconsistency. Thankfully, for myself, I didn’t suffer the humiliation that was Brisbane Road. The home game against Rotherham was a great game of football, but, of course, Gillingham lost it.

Who might we not see back at Priestfield next season? Get Stuart Nelson and Danny Kedwell under contract pretty damn quick and after that, within Taylor's budget constraints, I can see a mass exodus of players. The emergence of Jake Hessenthaler and Bradley Dack are huge bonuses and one would hope that both are given much greater prominence next term.

What would be considered a success next season? Progress. This might be considered another season of consolidation, but if Gillingham were to have a season when they head towards the top half of the table without looking over their shoulders at the relegation places, then I would consider this success of a relative nature.

Well folks, that's it for another season. I suppose I'm left to reflect that this season has been a frustrating one from the point of view of the clubs that this blog follows. To add to Gillingham's season already detailed, Tonbridge's relegation and Tunbridge Wells' failure to achieve promotion when highly fancied were big disappointments. Another frustration was the weather and three months of postponements, never quite knowing where I was going to end up on a Saturday afternoon, but this contributed in the end to the variety of fixtures that I've managed to attend this season. Roll on June 18th, release date for the Football League fixtures when the planning for 2014-15 begins.

Lifetime match total: 2,359
Number of grounds: 257