by fan_of_mulligan » Sun Aug 17, 2014 7:36 pm
My Thoughts on Gillingham V Yeovil Town.....
Not a great performance from The Gills but we gladly take all three points against a Yeovil Town Side who look very likely to suffer back to back relegation's this season as there squad is not the strongest and they don't have the finances or fear factor Wolverhampton Wanderers or Peterborough United had, as those two could spend there way out of trouble.
I was surprised to to see Stephen Bywater selected over Glenn Morris, who I thought played exceptionally well in our 2 - 1 win against Yeovil Town at Huish Park and didn't deserve to be dropped but five minutes into the match and Stephen Bywater gathers a high dangerous cross and relieves some of the pressure that has been building on Gillingham's goal.
Eleven Minutes into the match and Josh Hare had to stretchered off and Matt Fish was substituted on in his place, Josh Hare blocked a cross with the side of his face but it was strange for Josh Hare to be substituted because of that, I thought Josh Hare might be seeing stars but would be able to continue but he was knocked out cold and our luck with injuries just seems to be getting worse and worse.
Yeovil Town had two chances in two minutes, AJ Leitch-Smith created the first goal-scoring opportunity in the 12th minute as he was able to cut inside Leon Legge far too easily and The Yeovil Town front-man ran across the whole Gillingham Back Three before teeing up Kevin Dawson and thankfully from our point of view Kevin Dawson scuffed the shot wide because if Kevin Dawson got a much stronger connection on the ball then I think Stephen Bywater would of been struggling, a minute later and Yeovil Town threatened our goal again, Jakub Sokolik beats Danny Kedwell in the air and Simon Gillett wins the ball in midfield Aaron Martin plays a floated through-ball to AJ Leitch-Smith who cuts inside Leon Legge again and this time AJ Leitch-Smith hits a low shoot through a crowd of bodies, but Stephen Bywater does well to dive low down his right to prevent Yeovil Town from opening the scoring.
In The Seventeenth Minute and Yeovil Town have been awarded a penalty kick, Chris Weale's long kick down-field is aimed towards Kieffer Moore and and The Yeovil Town Centre Forward's presence forces John Egan to header sideways, but Leon Legge's challenge on Ben Nugent is clumsy and Leon Legge has been having a mare so far because Kieffer Moore is winning the aerial battle and now Leon Legge has conceded the penalty, Kieffer Moore stepped up to take penalty responsibilities for Yeovil Town and the towering centre forward's penalty was poor into the bottom left corner of the net and Stephen Bywater dived the right way to keep Gillingham in the match - Peter Taylor's decision to start with Stephen Bywater in goal has turned out to be an inspiring choice so far.
That Penalty Save seemed to spark Gillingham into life as we started to have more possession of the ball, both Doug Loft and John Egan have tried to pick out Joe Martin on the left flank but for Egan's pass Joe Martin was offside and Doug Loft's pass was over-hit when really Doug Loft wanted to thread the ball through to Antonio German but German was standing in a offside position and this broke up our attacking play a bit.
And Twenty Five Minutes into the match and Doug Loft played a through-ball for Antonio German to run on to and German's cross to the far post was heading towards Danny Kedwell but Aaron Martin made a crucial interception, but despite that attempted effort for Gillingham it was still Yeovil Town who were in the ascendancy as Simon Gillett's through-ball to Kieffer Moore is over-hit and runs through to Stephen Bywater, Nathan Ralph plays an excellent through-ball to AJ Leitch-Smith and The Yeovil Town striker collides with Stephen Bywater, Bywater is OK to continue, but even if AJ Leitch-Smith got to the ball first the linesman had flagged for offside.
I don't like the way we defend corners and free kicks, we bring everyone back and over-crowd our own penalty area and this allows Yeovil Town to throw everyone forward, also when defending free kicks we just have one long defensive line and this gives us one chance to clear the ball, we ideally need a defensive line, two on the edge of the D of the penalty area and two on the halfway line, we just seem to create our own problems when we defend set plays, Peter Taylor was furious on the sidelines with some of the decisions that had not been awarded in our favour as there were some reckless challenges on Aaron Morris and Jake Hessenthaler and this was frustrating us Gillingham Supporters and frustration seemed to sum up the whole first half.
With Jermaine McGlashan out and Brennan Dickenson on the subs bench we just have not got a outlet, Danny Kedwell can hold the ball up and he will give it 100% but he isn't going to threaten Yeovil Town's defence in and behind with his pace, and while Antonio German is giving his all, he just has not the same level of pace or ability that Cody McDonald has and it means that Yeovil Town can continue to hit long balls towards Kieffar Moore and the number of times The Yeovil Town Centre Forward won the ball in the air must of been 15 - 20 times, if only someone in a Yeovil Town Shirt was anticipating where these headers were going and had someone anticipated the knock down then Gillingham would of been in deep trouble.
But thirty five minutes into the match and Gillingham take the lead against the run of play, Danny Kedwell was fouled by Nathan Smith and up steps Joe Martin to curl the ball into the top left corner of the net from twenty five yards out, This is very similar to the free kick Joe Martin scored against Peterborough United last season, somehow Gillingham are 1 - 0 up in a game that Yeovil Town have been dominating and that penalty miss is so costly now, rather then Yeovil Town being 1 - 0 up it is Gillingham who have taken the lead.
Fort Three Minutes into the match and Stephen Bywater completely mis-judges the flight of Simon Gillett's free kick and thankfully for us the header hits the side netting, but Gillingham ended the first half strongly and could of added a second goal before the break, Antonio German intercepts Kieffer Moore's poor backpass and goes on a run down the right flank, checks back and plays a cross-field pass to Joe Martin, Joe Martin's first choice is brilliant and Joe Martin beats Kevin Dawson to the byline and Joe Martin's cross is headered out for a corner kick.
The resulting corner kick was swing in by Jake Hessenthaler and Yeovil header the ball clear but only as far as the edge of there penalty area and Joe Martin plays the ball out-wide to Jake Hessenthaler who see's his cross charged down by Kevin Dawson and Joe Martin's first time cross to the far post is only half cleared to Danny Kedwell who was urged to shoot from the home crowd, but Danny Kedwell threads the ball out-wide to Antonio German who pulls the ball back past the advancing Chris Weale and Aaron Martin makes a crucial block, Danny Kedwell volleys the ball across the face of Yeovil Town's penalty area, the ball is sliced up into the air, then headered up and under, before Chris Weale has to tip Leon Legge's header over the crossbar, Gillingham end the half strongly after a terrible start.
HALF TIME: GILLINGHAM 1 - 0 YEOVIL TOWN
Somehow Gillingham are in-front after conceding a penalty and shocking start to the first half but the one thing that goal-mouth scramble showed us at the end of the first half is that Yeovil look just as poor defensively as we do because I have not been impressed with the way Gillingham have defended corners or free kicks throughout the first three matches of the season, great strike from Joe Martin for the free kick to give Gillingham the lead, but I don't think Joe Martin has the pace to play as a attacking wing back.
Dickenson and McGlashan not starting means that we got to play 3.5.2 and Loft, Hessenthaler and Morris are all trying to protect Legge, Egan and Hause, Kedwell and German cannot provide us with the outlet we need and Yeovil Town have constantly found Kieffar Moore with long balls and going direct, thankfully no-one is anticipating the knock downs or Gillingham would be in deep trouble by now.
Had we not taken off Josh Hare for Matt Fish I would of said that Brennan Dickenson needs to come on for Antonio German, but I doubt we will risk using a second sub and we will probably wait until the players start to tire around the hour mark before we start making any substitutions.