Gillingham 0 Fleetwood Town 1

Match 80/14/1189 - Friday 3rd April 2015 - League One

Gillingham (0) 0
Fleetwood Town (1) 1 Evans 18
Att. 7,961

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 56/5,880

Match Report

Gillingham's season is set to drift towards its end as this disappointing performance in front of a big crowd effectively signalled the end of any lingering play-off hopes. Kids for a Quid is always a successful initiative by the club in attracting the next generation of supporters to Priestfield, but on the pitch, it does appear to be a jinx.

Justin Edinburgh continued with his experiment of rotating his main strikers to enable a longer viewing of Luke Norris and it is this particular piece of tinkering that has infuriated supporters, not least today when a lack of a cutting edge has cost Gillingham dear. Norris has had three games and, despite last Saturday's win at Crawley when he didn't do too bad, overall he has failed to impress.

Gillingham enjoyed, if that is the right word, the lion's share of the possession but were frustrated by a resilient Fleetwood side that employed all the tricks in the book as they began running down the clock from the moment they took an 18th minute lead.

Glenn Morris, retaining his place in goal in front of Stuart Nelson, busted a gut to save the ball going out for a corner. There was a short delay as Fleetwood thought a corner had been awarded, whether this broke the concentration of the Gills defence, one wonders. When the throw was eventually taken, Aaron Morris had an opportunity to send the ball to safety but his control only fell at the feet of David Ball whose shot was parried by goalkeeper Morris to the waiting Gareth Evans who stabbed it home from close range.

Gillingham failed to exert Chris Maxwell into a meaningful save in a depressingly poor first half.

At least the home side, sent out early after the break, set about their task with a raised tempo and a driven shot from Norris was deflected wide of the post by Steven Schumacher with a touch that could have ended anywhere.

Cody McDonald was welcomed into the fray on the hour replacing Norris, but it summed up Gillingham's day when his on-target shot inadvertently struck fellow substitute Brennan Dickenson.

Gillingham huffed and puffed their way through the remaining time but Maxwell was comfortably equal to the few half-chances that were offered.

Looking to next season, Amar'i Bell had a really decent game at left back and he could be one that Edinburgh will be looking to bring in on a season-long loan should the opportunity arise. Seven of the youngsters were shown the door this week, some senior players are definitely set for the same exit in the coming weeks as the manager starts to surround himself with his own players.