Gillingham 2 Fleetwood Town 3

Match 126/16/1433 - Saturday, 22nd April 2017 - League Cup One

Gillingham (1) 2 Cairns (o.g.) 38 Donnelly 65
Fleetwood Town (0) 3 Hunter 54 Ball 80 Dempsey 90+1
Attendance: 8,760

Entrance: Season Ticket
Programme: Sold Out
Mileage: 58/8,619

Match Report

All eyes turn to Walsall on Tuesday evening with the hope that they can save Gillingham from relegation by beating Port Vale, because the Gills sure as hell are not going to do it by their own volition.

In his post-match interview Adie Pennock stated that he thought "they had played well against a good side and gave a good account of ourselves." Really? Not from where I was sitting. The first 45 minutes are not going to be 45 minutes that I'm given back anytime soon, even given the own goal that had given his side the lead.

If his side has deceived my eyes and played well then the result lays squarely on Pennock's shoulders. It was his substitution of Cody McDonald, that brought derision from the home support, presumably to preserve the 2-1 lead, but within 30 seconds that lead had disappeared.

As the game entered its final throes, Pennock, once again, going for preservation, replaced the sponsor's man of the match, Lee Martin and the goalscorer, Rory Donnelly and in the first minute of time added, four passes, each one played into Fleetwood players with time and space, cut open the Gillingham defence to score the winner. Football Genius ... I think not.

The club had done its best to create a last day atmosphere by flooding the Medway Towns with free tickets by the handful shoved through the letterboxes. But to create an atmosphere you need people to be excited by what they are watching and those new to Priestfield must have wondered if they would have been better off at home watching their paint dry.

But, they were given an unexpected moment to cheer when after 38 minutes a corner from Martin was headed against a post by Zesh Rehman with the rebound crossing the line off the back of the Cod goalkeeper, Alex Cairns.

The lead was to last 10 minutes into the second half when a shot from 25 yards by Ashley Hunter that left Tomas Holy rooted to the spot.

Holy was, once more, a mere spectator as a shot across the face of goal from Bobby Grant struck a post.

Gillingham were back in front after 65 minutes. A free kick, awarded for a foul on McDonald on the edge of the box, was shot low through the wall and found the net via the far post.

Jake Hessenthaler smacked a shot against a post and the finishing line, and safety, was within sight and Priestfield responded accordingly but they were stunned into silence when with 10 minutes remaining a free kick was headed on and David Ball had the freedom to volley into the net.

With a little game management, a draw would have been a good result with Port Vale losing at home to Bolton, but Gillingham conspired to throw away the points when Fleetwood played their way through non-existent challenges to leave Kyle with a tap in from the centre of the goal.