Gillingham 0 Coventry City 0

Match 82/15/1287 - Saturday, 2nd April 2016 - League One

Gillingham (0) 0
Coventry City (0) 0
Attendance: 7,200

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.00
Mileage: 56/6,024

Match Report

Gillingham touched wood and needed a bit of good fortune as Coventry City twice struck the bar in the second half. This wasn't quite in the "must win" category, but results elsewhere deemed that three points would have been very welcome and as it was, that 12 yard length of crossbar at least maintained the status quo with another game past.

It is always said that, at this point in the season, performances count for nothing and it is just the points on the board that matter. Whilst subscribing to the theory, more often than not, without a performance the result doesn't happen anyway.

In a very drab game, a spark of invention, a little bit of guile, was needed to unlock two defences that stood firm and produced the outstanding characters on the day. Gillingham's strikers, whilst not covering themselves with glory, were starved of any sort of service as both wing backs failed to deliver any meaningful cross into the box.

In the centre of the field, ex-Gillingham loanee, Romain Vincelot, beavered away just doing the ugly stuff and stifling any creativity that might have come from the home side.

The pitch had been heavily watered prior to kick-off and this appeared to catch many of the players by surprise with one after the other losing their footing and could have contributed to Dominic Samuel slipping and over-stretching causing his substitution after just 13 minutes.

To emphasise the dullness of the game, the first half progressed to its conclusion without a single shot on target from either side.

Justin Edinburgh responded at the break, replacing the more defensively-minded Aaron Morris with, hopefully, a bit more creativity in the guise of George Williams.

It took until the 75th minute for the first shot on target to be registered when Jake Murphy's shot was touched onto the bar and over by Stuart Nelson, although the referee deemed that the Gillingham goalkeeper had not touched the ball.

As the game entered its last minute, Adam El Abd failed to clear his lines, the ball fell at the feet of Marcus Tudgay, whose shot came down off the underside of the crossbar and was cleared from the line. It was the closest either side had come to a winner.

The draw wasn't a great result for Gillingham, but for Coventry 672 travelling fans it almost certainly meant the end for their play-off hopes.