Gillingham 2 Coventry City 1

Match 31/16/1339 - Saturday, 24th September 2016 - League One

Gillingham (1) 1 Ehmer 25, Knott 71
Coventry City (1) 1 Reid 20
Attendance: 7,664

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 56/2,867

Match Report

On Sunday morning I posed a simple question on a Gillingham Facebook Forum: Do you ENJOY watching Gillingham at this present time? My question was posed almost to justify my own feeling which is No. The responses amounted to a bit of tub thumping: Gillingham are my team, win, lose or draw, which is very admirable to others who answered No, but justified their reasons or those whose simply answered No. There were a few that said Yes, but almost all of these added the caveat, that the day wasn't necessarily about the result or how the team had performed, but more about a day out with their mates, once again completely understandable.

Justin Edinburgh sent his assistant manager, David Kerslake, down to do the media interviews following the game and he admitted that due to a lack of confidence following two home games that had yielded just a single point; games that had been lost from a winning position and last week at Port Vale plus the thumping at Tottenham. Because of this, he admitted lacked style but this would come as results improved and confidence grew.

Personally, I think it goes back a lot further than the last four games. Even in the early season period when Gillingham headed the table, I'm convinced that not even the most die hard of supporters would have claimed they were stylish.

At the end of the season, it comes down to what you want from your club. Do you want them to win matches, no matter how or would you prefer to see them go down fighting with a bit of pizzazz. I'm sitting on the fence and claiming you can have a bit of both, pragmatism coupled with a little devilment going forward. I should also add the perspective that, at this present time, it could hardly be labelled a crisis with the club sitting just outside of the play-off places.

Such a preamble would probably lead you to the conclusion that this game wasn't a great deal to write home about and you would be correct. I'm certainly pragmatic enough to realise the importance of any victory to banish the memory of Wednesday night and ultimately it was gained, although there seemed to be more than the odd person leaving Priestfield asking the question as to whether it was deserved.

Coventry City, didn't look and are probably not, a bottom of the table side. They lacked a cutting edge in the final third and conceded two goals that will give manager Tony Mowbray, a hard-bitten defender in his time, nightmares.

Billy Knott, recalled to the side, tested the Coventry goalkeeper, Reice Charles-Cook in the opening minute whilst, after five minutes, Marvin Sordell was sent through for the visitors, only to be blocked at his feet by the advancing Stuart Nelson, who took a knock for his trouble and was the recipient of attention for a couple of minutes.

After 12 minutes, Gillingham should have been in front. A Bradley Dack corner from the right was met with an unchallenged header from Deji Oshilaja, but the central defender steered it well wide.

The visitors went ahead after 21 minutes when the impressive Kyel Reid found space 20 yards from goal on the left and fired an accurate shot into the bottom right hand corner.

The 380-strong travelling support were quickly silenced when Coventry succumbed to Gillingham's long throw tactic. Ryan Jackson threw to the near post where it was met by the head of Max Ehmer who glanced it past the goalkeeper. I cannot believe that League One sides continue to fail to defend this straightforward action.

McDonald for the Gills and Sordell for City tested each other's goalkeeper before the break without troubling them too much.

Josh Wright, who had a particularly poor first half, was replaced for the second half by Mark Byrne.

The second half was one of deadlock before Gillingham took the lead after 71 minutes. McDonald dispossessed a defender before sending Knott away down the left in acres of space. The midfielder strode unchallenged to the edge of the box before producing a composed finish into the bottom right hand corner.

With nothing to lose, Coventry piled forward in search of an equaliser. Reid and Ben Stevenson had shots on target before, in time added, Nelson made a great stop at his near post to deny Sordell and preserve the points.

A win is a win. Gillingham gave away 2,000 tickets to schoolchildren for this match, boosting the attendance to over 7,000. But I do wonder if many of the Mums and Dads were entertained sufficiently to pay full-price for admittance at a later date.