Gillingham 1 Crawley Town 1

Match 35/14/1144 - Saturday, 25th October 2014 - League One

Gillingham (1) 1 Legge 44
Crawley Town (0) 1 Edwards 29
Att. 4,850

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 52/2,405

Match Report

Following Leeds United's 2-1 home defeat to Wolverhampton, Massimo Cellino sacked Darko Milanic after just 32 days in the job. Cellino has disposed of the services of two managers this season and three since his takeover of the Yorkshire side in April. Meanwhile, in slightly different circumstances, in the space of 37 bemusing days, Gino Pozzo changed the nameplate on the manager’s door four times at Watford. Both of these clubs have been through severe financial problems and their rich Italian owners are seen as both saviours and villains by the supporters of their respective clubs. Why am I opening with two clubs, not even in the same division as Gillingham? Because it highlights that we should all be careful what we wish for.

There is an air of despondency at Priestfield Stadium and speaking to one of Gillingham’s diehard supporters after the game, he seemed resigned to the club’s relegation from League One. Reviewing opinion on social media, the only salvation from that fate appears to lay in the sacking of manager Peter Taylor accompanied preferably with the sale of the club by Paul Scally.

I’m not here to defend either character, one win in ten hardly warrants the vote of confidence Taylor got from his chairman and the home performance against Scunthorpe and the first half to this game against Crawley Town made for dismal viewing. Football is no longer a game for a cheap afternoon out, supporters earn their money during the week and deserve to be at least entertained when Saturday comes and quite frankly, at Gillingham, we are not being entertained.

Cellino, in particular, proves the point that lack of stability serves no purpose. If Taylor was to depart, where do Gillingham go from there? A fresh start doesn’t always lead to a change in fortunes, in the case of Leeds United, it has proved to be a conntinuance of the decline. A year ago when Martin Allen was surprisingly sacked, Taylor took over a struggling team and despite the budget having been spent by the previous incumbent, managed to gather just enough points to ease the club to safety.

Supporters were hardly enamoured with the style of football that was on show but gave Taylor the benefit of the doubt with due regard to the team he had inherited. During the summer there was a major overhaul of the playing staff and now we have a team that plays, or at least should play, in the image of its manager. Do we like what we see? The answer to that question is an almost universal NO.

Taylor obviously made his summer signings within the budget that the chairman had set and this is where the question of whether Mr Scally has taken the club as far as he can comes into play. The old saying went, Scally might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but back in 1994 he was the only cup on the table, but 20 years on and a radically different industry has evolved in that time, many would wish that he would test the water and see if there was somebody out there with the investment to progress the club. Who are we, mere fans, to know, but he probably has. That might be our wish, but who is to say that the next cup on our table might be that of a Cellino and would we really want that?

The signs of improvement displayed in the midweek game against Preston were quickly dispelled in a first half performance that had a lot more echoes of Scunthorpe. Gillingham should have been dead and buried by the half-time whistle, but with the benefit of a towering header from Leon Legge went into the break on level terms.

Negative tactics are one of Taylor’s critics’ assertions and the lack of any sort of pressing in midfield with two banks of four seemingly willing to concede 30 yards of grass in front of them frustrating everybody around me. Crawley dominated, or were allowed to dominate with Keith Keane having a free rein to dictate, they created and failed to take, several good chances. Gwoin Edwards tested Stuart Nelson before a simple, straight pass from Keane split the Gillingham defence to give Edwards the opportunity to convert from the angle of the box with a shot that Nelson got a hand too, but failed to stop the ball from trickling into the far corner. Further chances, a shot from Matt Harrold that hit a post and a header from central defender Joe Walsh, should have extended the visitors lead before Legge’s powerful header from Jake Hessenthaler’s corner levelled the scoreline.

In fairness to Taylor, his half-time change of Bradley Dack for the ineffective Jermain McGlashan made the difference in the second period, but why Dack sits on the sidelines defeats me anyway.

Keane was no longer allowed to rule the roost in the middle of the field and with that the dominance of the game changed hands although Crawley would point to the lack of serious saves needed from Jamie Ashdown with the central defensive pairing of Walsh and Leacock standing strong. As Gillingham grew into the game, the debut influence of Michael Doughty, on loan from Queens Park Rangers, grew with them. So it was something of a surprise, and to the annoyance of many, that he was substituted with 12 minutes remaining, but with very few games under his belt this season, it was to be expected that he wouldn’t last the full 90 minutes.

A point was not enough to stop Gillingham dropping into the bottom four and the calls for Taylor and Scally to take responsibility for that situation becomes ever louder. Are those people calling it right, who knows, but those fans at Leeds and Watford might say loud and clear, be very, very careful what you wish for.