In -1° c wind chill it was absolutely freezing in Gillingham… and they say the south is warmer. The 300-400 Alex fans, situated in a roofless temporary stand behind the goal, were looking to bounce back after being thumped by Sheffield United mid-week. The 4 hour journey to Kent didn’t affect the squad and Dario named the same team for the 3rd successive game.
INCE
WRIGHT FOSTER WALKER TONKIN
LUNT SORVEL COCHRANE VAUGHAN
ASHTON JONES
The game started pretty even, with Gillingham showing early warning sign’s with Mamady Sadibe giving Foster and McCray a tricky test. Sadibe had the first chance of the match in the first minute but his header from inside the area was high and wide of the left.
Crewe’s first chance came via Steve Jones when he made one of his trademark runs before slicing across the goal but Barry Ashby got a foot to clear it for a corner. The corner was taken short by Lunt and Vaughan and, as usual, given away.
Gillingham’s general threat was coming down the wings from John Hills and Nicky Southall, sometimes Sadibe’s pace also caused trouble. Tonkin and Wright were caught out of position’s many times and lack of closing down allowed a average Gillingham to trouble us.
There were a few of penalty shouts from Gillingham but all were turned away. The first one was when McCready missed the ball to allow Shaw through on goal but he redeemed him self by winning the ball with a tackle ‘from behind’. Foster then brought down as he wriggled past and although not clear to Gillingham fans it was clear to the travelling fans that Foz got a strong foot to the ball and played it out of the defence. The last challenge was probably the most debatable one, a break from Gillingham saw Sorvel, McCready and Tonkin surround Shaw inside the box - Sorv’s went in from behind to toe poke the ball out of Shaw’s reach but also took Shaw down.
On the 18th minute Dean Ashton was terrorising the Gillingham defence and should have put us in front. Jones set Ashton free down the middle, Ashton split the defence in two and from the edge of the area tried to tap it past the keeper into the bottom right corner but Brown, in goal, smothered the ball. It was weakly hit from Ashton, who has the best shots on target ratio in Division One.
Gillingham went back up the other end pressured again. Sadibe cut into the box down the left and with the back four refusing to tackle Shaw managed to rebound a loose ball on the turn but the powerful shot was straight at Ince.
Half way through the first half another Jonah run down the left got him inside the box but his flash shot whistled past the left post. Eight minutes later Gillingham were continuing to push and Andy Hessenthaler’s powerful shot hit Ince by surprised and Ince had to take a step back as it went straight into his arms.
The only player other than Ashton, and maybe Jones, that was threatening to do anything was David Vaughan who made some great runs past 3 or 4 players at a time, but he either shot over the bar or straight at the keeper from the edge of the area.
The final 15 minutes of the half were mostly Gillingham pressuring down the wings but the last of the action was a excellent run from Ashton. Deano ran from the half way like, beating two players, before his shot sailed over the bar from the edge of the area.
Second Half
Crewe started the brighter in the second half and Cochrane, with better finishing, could have put us ahead. Less than a minute into the half and Tonkin broke down the left to send the ball into the area. The ball was bouncing around the edge of the area and J.C. stormed in and tried curling it round a crowd of players into the right of the goal - unfortunately is curled the wrong way and curled out a few yards wide.
Ten minutes later Kenny Lunt was booked for a rash two footed challenge on Perpetuini. The free kick saw Crewe break with Jones down the left and a Tonkin cross found Ashton in the centre of the area, Deano’s looping header saw Gillingham’s keeper in no man’s land but the ball smashed out off the left post.
On the hour mark Sadibe smashed a header straight at Incey but 2 minutes later Steve Jones forced Brown, in the ‘Gills’ goal, to make a one handed parried saved from a right footed shot from inside the area.
Things weren’t going right for the travelling fans and it got worse when Dean Ashton was penalised for a (non) handball when he tracked back to defend. The free kick was taken to quick before the ball was chipped over the defence to Shaw, who got the better of McCready before smashing into the bottom far left corner.
It got worse as Crewe were rocked and Gillingham bombed forward with 5,500 fans behind them. Less than 10 minutes later a high bouncing ball let Nosworthy get the better David Wright, Nosworthy smashed a ball across goal where a unmarked Danny Spiller, on his knees, allowed the ball to just bounce off his head into the back of the net.
Crewe looked down and out and the Gillingham contingent looked as if they were on the way to winning a cup. The day couldn’t get any worse when Cochrane went down under a bad tackle and he looked in agony. He played on for a couple of minutes before Allan Smart replaced him on the 79th minute.
|
The last 10 minutes aren’t needed to be reported on, the only interesting thing that happened was a 20 yard shot from Paul Smith that hit Clayton’s up right.
Well. Firstly on the red card… Hessenthaler should have got a straight red. Lunt - yes ok, second yellow for kicking out but when Hessenthaler - a so called experienced proffessional - tries to punch Lunt 2 or 3 times is surely a straight red card. Hessenthaler is nothing more than a smug prat, not a great footballer either.
The general performance from Crewe was pretty much the same as Sheff Utd - there wasn’t one. The closing down and tackling what we saw in the Reading match was non existant. Players like Tonkin, Wright, Cochrane and Sorvel were poor and the only real threat from us was the ever impressive Dean Ashton.
Maybe the return of Brammer and Moses can improve our team performances and with no game for 2 weeks they have a chance to get properly fit. Good job too as if we carry on playing like we are then by the new year we’ll be sucked into the bottom 3 or 4.
MOTM - DEAN ASHTON