Dark Clouds, Silver Lining vs Gillingham (L2)

After the week's earlier trip to Sarfend, it was time to make another journey around the lovely M25 - this time to Gillingham. On my own this time, and further round. I left plenty of time, and sure enough was held up in a couple of places, but got there before kick off easily enough.

Back home in deepest, darkest Bedfordshire it had been very windy and I can see a bit of DIY roofing repair work for me when it all calms down. I was hoping that the hurricane would abate as I drove south, since to my mind there are very few things that are likely to spoil a match of football more than a strong wind. By the way the car was moving as I drove down either it was still windy, or one of my wheels was a bit loose. Probably fortunately, it wasn't the latter.

Now I don't know what you think of when Kent is mentioned. I think of Oast Houses, thatched barns, hop picking and pretty seaside towns. I'm sure they are all there somewhere - just nowhere near Gillingham! The area around the ground is fairly grotty, but I managed to park at the side of the road a little way off and wandered down past the rundown Primitive Methodist Hall (my Mum and Dad are Methodists, not sure they'd appreciate being called 'primitive' though!) and the mini-marts, over the railway track and to the ground. On asking where the away end was, we were told to retrace our steps and walk up a little (and completely unsignposted) alley. Shades of the Cuckoo Lane end! Maybe a small sign saying something like, oh I don't know, perhaps 'Away Supporters' and an arrow might be a good idea?

Anyway, the price to get in was an amazing £23. Obviously, for that the accommodation would be sumptuous, the view unparalleled and the football a feast for the eyes. Erm, no.

The away end at Gillingham is a load of uncovered, temporary (that seems to have become permanant) seating supported on a forest of manky old scaffolding. The seats are green plastic, attractively blotchily faded by the sun. At least they matched the pitch, which was also green and fairly blotchy - although the blotches were worn patches rather than sun-kissed turf. It looked fairly bobbly. The reason I could see the pitch so well is that Gillingham had decided to put us in the upper tier of this green plastic monstrosity. So we were quite a long way up, quite a long way from the pitch and totally exposed to the howling gale as well as any rain that might fall. Thanks for that. You really know how to make us feel welcome.

The home supporters on the other hand were housed in relative comfort - at least they had a roof. The rest of the ground consists of three stands of differing height and looks OK. The scoreboard (with a useful gametime clock) was difficult to read from an angle, being blue lights on a blue background, but at least it was there. Many of the grounds I have been to this season haven't got a clock or scoreboard of any description - how hard can it be to put a clock up?

The PA was incredibly distorted, all the music sounded as if it was being played on a record player whose stylus hadn't been changed for a decade. For all you younger readers, it sounded like an mp3 that had been sampled at a very very low bit rate after being ripped off a TV broadcast, where the TV was in a dustbin. The team announcements were all but inaudible, but Purkiss replaced Batt (obviously, due to him being suspended for tackling a Sarfend player) and Clist (who had been much missed in the earlier part of Tuesday's match) started in place of Heslop. Probably near enough the side most of us expected to come out (despite my fanciful ideas about 4-4-2 on the forum - what was I thinking!).

On a sartorial note - all white this time, which looked much better but still doesn't answer the question of why the away/second kit (the horrible blue one) wasn't more carefully considered. Nothing that can be done about it now, I suppose. But let's be sensible next season, eh?

The match kicked off with us attacking the far goal, but the Jills (well that's how it's pronounced!) looking more dangerous in the early exchanges, forcing a couple of corners. Which we managed to negotiate safely. Phew. We than came into the game more, with a couple of half chances. Gillingham also had a couple, but it was all very scrappy. Unfortunately, the wind was spoiling the match. It seemed to be swirling around, and judging by the speed that the ominous black clouds overhead were moving, very strong. As a result, the players on both sides were misjudging the weight of passes, clearances were moving about in the air like a Muralitharan doosra and there were throw ins and goal kicks galore. Clarke especially seemed to be hitting the ball so long that it often went straight though to the Jill's keeper.

The referee was a relative of the one we had on Tuesday, ignoring what looked (admittedly from quite a long way away) like a foul on Constable in the Gills penalty area and even worse, a blatant stamp by Gills defender Lawrence on Maclean. For some reason Maclean took exception to being assaulted, so the weak referee booked both players when Lawrence should have been having the proverbial early bath (if they have baths in Gillingham, that is). As an aside, when walking back to the ZeroMobile after the match, the Gills fans around me were also marvelling at how their player avoided the walk of shame.

Half time came. It had been a fairly even half, perhaps we had just shaded it. Neither team had created any glaring chances and it was getting colder. The Oxford faithful had tried to get the atmosphere going, but much of it just floated away into the windy air. At least it wasn't raining, but the wind wasn't letting up.

If I was a Sky or Talksport commentator trying to big the occasion up, I could say that the second half burst into life, with plenty of goalmouth action, shots and saves. I'd be lying though. It was more of the same really. The remarkably bulky Akinfenwa ('Have you ever seen your toes?'!) caused a few problems, but the truth is that much of the Gills play was 'boot it up the field and see if Akinfenwa can get a flick on' and ours was 'boot it up the wings to see if someone can get onto it' both of which were being made to look ridiculous by the wind. In an attack of wideplayeritis, Tufty Wilder replaced Craddock and Maclean with Alfie and Simon Hackney with about 25 minutes to go. Hackney looked occasionally dangerous, Alfie didn't really get on the ball much. As the home team, Gillingham pressed in the last 10 minutes, but didn't have many alternative ideas, so they just did more of what they'd been doing all match. Of course, a couple of their corners caused some concern, especially with the still swirling wind, but eventually the ref had enough and ended the match. I'm not sure that we had one shot on target in the second half, and as I recall we might well have only had a couple of shots at all in the last 45 minutes, of which Hackney's was the closest - although he might well have been attempting a cross. With that wind, who can tell?

Blimey. A clean sheet, the first for 24 matches or so. And the first away draw since the end of September. The 600-700 yellows left, after applauding the players off. A good point earned really, away at a team in decent recent form. A quickish drive back and the day was done. But stone the crows, is petrol now the most expensive commodity on Earth? It would be cheaper to fill my car up with Chanel No.5 (well probably some horrible cheapo Lynx body spray would suit my car better, but you get the idea). 136.7 a litre on the motorway. EEEEK!

What can we learn from our trip to Kent's nether regions?

More expensive isn't always better!
Our midfield CAN challenge for the ball - they did it effectively all match, so credit where it's due.
As suspected, with Purkiss replacing Batt we were more solid defensively and less threatening in attack.
I don't want to be too critical, especially since the wind ruined much of the game, but our distribution out of defence was very erratic (that's being kind!).
Sometimes we just need to to put our foot on the ball - often the player has more time than they think, and a hasty little pass goes astray and puts us under immediate pressure.
A much more composed performance than Tuesday.
It wasn't an exciting match, but I'll settle for the occasional yawnfest at difficult away matches if it means we get a point or three!

No match on Tuesday, so the players will have a week to prepare for Rotherham at home next Saturday. It's Ultimate Support Saturday, so sing your hearts out for the lads!