3 hours Ago
By Kris Delo Well here we are, after nine long months and three managers we are now a few days away from our final Sky Bet League Two game of the 24/25 season. It comes days after the anticipated visit of Swindon to Priestfield last Saturday. This is a fixture that stirs some animosity thanks to 1989’s meetings leading to a full-on rivalry, for us Gills fans atleast, the name Mchale will make fans wince for many a year to come.
This year was no different, and both managers were aware of the history while also being respectful of each other. Ahead of the game, Gareth Ainsworth paid tribute to lan Holloway, his gaffer while a player at QPR. Both are working wonders at their current clubs.
Back in October, Holloway yet to take charge of the club who were facing relegation witnessed us score through Timmy Dieng, He was in the stands when we visited, and during half-term gave the home side a pep talk which led to their last-minute equaliser through Chatham Born Harry Smith and dashing our hopes of a first win since September. Now they will finish above us in the table. That’s some turnaround.
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funny old game isn’t it? Thankfully, we remain unbeaten under Ainsworth. Sure, we haven’t had as many wins as we would want but we have been picking up points and we don’t have to worry about our football league status. There were few surprises with the squad Ainsworth picked to go up against the Swine, other than maybe Joe Gbode on the bench after scoring that glorious goal against AFC Wimbledon on Easter Monday.
The match itself opened with a rather tepid first half, with lots of long balls up the pitch and Elliot Nevitt isolated, something we have rarely said under Ainsworth. We were reminiscent of a Coleman or dare I say Bonner team. The sign of a good manager is one who acts and Ainsworth definitely did.
At half-time he fixed it only to see Nev pick up an unfortunate injury. Gbode came off the bench and suddenly we clicked. In the 61st minute, Sam Gale sent a ball out of defence and up the line to Aaron Rowe who hit a lucky knock off his man, then sprinted up the field and passed to Gbode.
It looked a bit short and probably was but Joe showed his pace and strength to make up the yard, hold off the defender and slot the ball away to give us the lead. Had the keeper saved it would there have been a penalty shout? Who knows, but that doesn’t matter now. Until this point the referee had gone relatively unnoticed, but it all changed when Masterson was fouled outside our box but the free kick was given to Swindon.
The resulting kick was taken by former Gills defender Will Wright who managed to smash a knuckleball past Glenn Morris – bitter sweet for a player who did the same against us last season at the exact same end when playing for Crawley. Sadly, the referee carried on in a similar vein for the rest of the game, somehow waving to play on when we were fouled but blowing the whistle for Swindon. With seconds of the match left, it got worse when Jonny Williams was sent off for a second yellow.
That one, at least was a deserved yellow and Jonny knew what he was doing. I later spoke to Jonny and it’s the first time he’s been sent off in his career. While we were watching that, a second yellow was given to Man of the Match Joe Gbode and we’re not quite sure why.
Two Swindon players pinning him to the floor in WWE Fashion! With Gbode suspended, Nev injured and Andrew’s still looking like the enigma he appears to be, we now fall on loan strikers, not a wholly terrible thing as I rate Wakeling and JJ Morgan so let’s see what they have this weekend against Port Vale, which promises to be a tasty tie. They will want to beat us to claim the League Two title, while we want to end the season as party poopers. Gills fans will be wearing Hawaiian shirts to add to the party atmosphere, and we can’t wait.
All that and the Player of the Year Awards on Saturday. It was a brilliant night packed with laughter, with a well deserved win for Glenn Morris, our trusty number one. Sam Gale also deserved his Young Player award.
These two weren’t the only players we honoured on Saturday: there was a send-off to Max Ehmer before kick-off. With more than 400 appearances to his name, he will be a Gillingham legend for what he has achieved for us over the years. One of the things that Gareth Ainsworth has already noticed is how much the club means to those watching.
We’ve taken large numbers on the road to every game this season despite having to travel hundreds of miles to do so. We do it because, as The Last Waltz almost says, we fell in love with the club, and that won’t change. After a season that promised much but delivered little, we’re glad to be at the finish line and Ainsworth can start the hard work of rebuilding the squad in his image.
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