Gillingham 2 Barnsley 1

Match 67/15/1272 - Saturday, 13th February 2016 - League One

Gillingham (1) 2 Samuel 25, Dack 63
Barnsley (0) 1 Hourihane 62
Attendance: 5,887

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 56/5,080

Match Report

I've friends who like a flutter on a Saturday and when they ask how I think Gillingham might fare in their weekend fixture, I invariably beg them not to involve them in their bet. This Saturday, I had statistical reasons why they should take heed of my words. The visitors, Barnsley, were on a run of seven straight wins and the previous six games between the clubs had all ended with victories for the Tykes. One of thoses punters was going to include the Gills as he explained: "the law of averages says those runs have to end sometime."

In the end, it was nothing to do with fate or good fortune. A good performance was needed to beat an obviously very decent team and the home side delivered in a game that was hard fought to the final whistle.

In a week in which ticketing pricing had taken high profile in the press, sympathy had to be with the Barnsley supporters braving a bitterly cold and damp afternoon on the open Brian Moore Stand. Whatever the price was too much for the near 400 travelling supporters who would have needed every mile of the journey home to thaw.

For Gillingham, Ryan Jackson failed a fitness test and Aaron Morris vacated his midfield anchor role to fill in at right back with Manny Osadebe earning a recall into midfield. Josh Wright who took that anchor role was to have a superb game and there could not of been a person inside the stadium that hadn't recognised him as the man of the match.

Barnsley opened the game with the confidence they hard garnered from their unbeaten run that had seen them progress from looking over their shoulders at the relegation places to eyeing the play-off spot

Leading goalscorer Sam Winnall saw a overhead kick go harmless wide before the home side opened the scoring after 25 minutes. A bad back pass from James Bree was pounced on by Rory Donnelly, who produced a slide rule pass into the path of Dominic Samuel, who slid his shot underneath the advancing Adam Davies.

Apart from a weak attempt to lob Stuart Nelson from Marley Watkins, the Tykes, for all their possession, failed to trouble the home side's defence.

Samuel had an early second half chance as he linked with Bradley Dack, but when the midfielder returned the pass, Samuel couldn't sort out his feet and the chance went begging at the near post.

Gillingham were guilty of some really dozy defending just after the hour mark. A throw-in into the path of Conor Hourihane allowed the visitor's captain the luxury of time to pick his spot from the edge of the penalty and hook his shot into the far corner.

To their credit, Gillingham bounced straight back with a counter attack of great pace. A punt clear was headed on by Samuel to Dack, who sent Donnelly into a shooting position on the right hand side of the box. The Irishman's shot was only parried by Davies into the path of Dack, who tucked it home from close range for his 15th of the season.

As the visitor's pressed for an equaliser, substitute Adam Chicksen made a goal line clearance under pressure and when the board showed the minutes added on, the stadium announcer Doug Hudson, described them as five agonising minutes. Gillingham survived a final effort from Hourihane and a header that drifted wide.

Gillingham moved into second place Wigan and Walsall surprising dropped points against lowly opposition. Is this to be their year? Please don't bet on it!