Welling United 1 Gillingham 1

Match 04/14/1113 - Saturday, 19th July 2014 - Pre-Season Friendly

Welling United (0) 1 Healey 60
Gillingham (1) 1 German 9
Att. 500-ish

Entrance: £8 Senior
Programme: £2
Mileage: 76/188

Match Report

Up and down the country, football supporters have an affinity with a local lad that is making good for his local club. When things are not going as well as they might, supporters cut the player a little slack and when things are going well, then he’s one of us.

Josh Stanford might not be a local lad to Gillingham but as a former Tunbridge Wells player with the legendary status of the goalscorer on their Wembley occasion in 2013, he is a player who I desperately would like to see make the most of his trial period at Priestfield and earn himself a contract to play alongside Leon Legge, who plied his trade at Tonbridge Angels and, possibly Gary Borrowdale, also previously at Longmead, who is also trying to earn a contract.

This was my first look at Gillingham this pre-season and they left me with a glass-half-full feeling. They dominated the first half, in which Stanford played and certainly didn’t look out of place, but their second half eleven were quite poor and, had it been not for a missed penalty, would have suffered their first defeat of pre-season.

On a hot afternoon, with temperatures touching 30degC, the first half eleven played some effective football that was also pleasing on the eye, a vast improvement on last season’s offerings. On view were new signings Jermaine McGlashan and John Egan, who both had good 45 minutes, but the player that caught the eye was one that was much derided last season, Antonio German, who looked sharp and a real handful for the Welling defenders, but at the same time endured a mixed half in front of goal.

Gillingham went ahead on nine minutes when a long pass from Adam Barratt was headed on by Danny Kedwell into the path of German who finished well. Within a couple of minutes, Kedwell narrowly headed wide at the far post as the visitors looked to establish a comfortable lead.

With an entirely new eleven taking the field in the second period, Gillingham lost control of the game as a much younger side struggled to contain the physically strong Conference side. New signings Doug Loft, who took on the captaincy, Glenn Morris in goal, Luke Norris and Brennan Dickenson featured among the youngsters.

A corner on the hour was only half cleared and with his back to the goal, Joe Healey managed to find the corner of the net with an overhead kick. Devante McKain’s far post header from a corner clipped the bar before, with a couple of minutes remaining, Callum Davies brought down Malachi Hudson to concede a penalty. Welling’s new signing Kieron St Aime committed Morris to an early decision to dive to his right but then contrived to send the ball high over the bar.

There seems to be a greater strength in depth about the squad this season. Luke Norris showed that Kedwell and McDonald have to be on their game to be continually picked and Dickenson, McGlashan and, possibly, Stanford are going to offer the pace that missing last term. On the debit side, there is still no obvious competition at left back for Joe Martin and another mobile central defender would be a welcome addition.