Coventry City (H) - 17 Jan 15

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

There is not much excitement going around about this fixture with no Manager in place,no one knows what is happening apart from we`re heading down as we speak.We slipped into the bottom four on Saturday and under the caretaker four we have lost all three games so far.They have been told that they`re not candidates for the job,so will the motivation be there when they know they have no chance? In those three games we have conceded 8 goals so with us so gun ho we`re very open.Coventry are not doing well themselves.When they returned to the Ricoh arena there was a massive buzz that they were back in Coventry,but that has fizzled out.They come into this game off a 3-0 home defeat to high flying Swindon.

I think most fans would agree that any win would,it doesn`t matter how it comes as we look to get out of the bottom four.

What would be your line up?

[Elgrande]

Hillyard
Peach Bruce Hope Adams

Woodley Hess Tydeman

Peacock

Wilkes Yeo

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

Good Team!

[Rimshot]

What ? No John Simpson, Harry Hughes or Pat Terry ?

[Garawa]

Coventry lead the Gills by 24 wins to 14. The last 3 results here at Priestfield between the sides saw 4-2 and 3-1 wins for the Gills after a 2-5 defeat 10 years before.

Coventry have scored 3 fewer league goals than the Gills but their 2 joint top scorers are on 4 for the season, 5 behind former City player Cody McDonald.

Both sides have won 3 of their last 10 league games but all 3 of Coventry's came in away fixtures.

Coventry have failed to score in 4 of their last 5 home league games (scoring just 1 goal in those 5) but have only failed to score 3 times away in the league all season.

62% of the league goals Coventry have conceded this season came in the first half but last season they conceded the joint most in the second half (48).

The Gills took 13 games to get their last clean sheet (against Leyton Orient) but it has been 16 games without one in League 1 since then. Coventry have managed 5 during that time.

3:00
Kick-off

3:01
Simeon Jackson and Frank Nouble both start for Coventry against their former clubs.

3:24
Jake Hessenthaler hits the top of the crossbar after flicking the ball over his shoulder with his back to goal.

3:36
Penalty conceded by Josh Pritchard.

3:37
GOAL! Gillingham 0-1 Coventry.

3:49
Half-time: 0-1

4:16
Coventry hit the woodwork.

4:43
GOAL! Gillingham 1-1 Coventry: John Marquis
Marquis scores his first goal for the club on his home debut.

4:47
PENALTY GILLS, won by Jermaine McGlashan.

4:48
GOAL! Gillingham 2-1 Coventry: Cody McDonald

4:54
GOAL! Gillingham 3-1 Coventry: Jermaine McGlashan

4:56
Full-time: 3-1

[Garawa]

As usual, some facts about the game can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1584

[fan_of_mulligan]

I think Gillingham will line up as follows.......................

----------------------------------Nelson--------------------------------------
Hoyte----------------Legge------------------Egan------------------Garmston
-------------------------------Hessenthaler------------------------------------
------------McGlashan----------------------------------Loft-------------------
-----------------------------------Dack----------------------------------------
--------------------McDonald--------------Marquis----------------------------

Subs: G.Morris (GK), Hare, Ehmer, Pritchard, Dickenson, Norris, Cundle

You can really tell that the squad depth we had has gone as Stephen Bywater, Harry Lennon and Michael Doughty have seen there loans expire, Matt Fish, Adam Barrett and Danny Kedwell have all left the club and Aaron Morris, Amine Linganzi, Callum Davies, Danny Galbraith and Joe Martin are all injured, eleven players either have left the club or are injured has left Gillingham depleted and we have now got to go with what we have got until a new manager comes in and brings in his own staff and his own players, That's why I think youngsters Josh Hare and Greg Cundle will be named among the substitutes tomorrow, I think Gillingham will stick with The Diamond Midfield Formation and stick with the approach of "we will score more goals then the opposition" - this approach has not worked in the previous two league games, but it is a approach I think our four man coaching set up with continue to persevere with.

Former Gillingham Strikers Frank Nouble and Simeon Jackson will be in The Coventry City Squad tomorrow and I am sure that both players will be given a decent reception from the home supporters, especially Simeon Jackson for scoring the winning goal at Wembley Stadium to take Gillingham back into League One, Cody McDonald has also scored against Coventry City while playing for Gillingham, so tomorrow could be about strikers scoring against there former clubs.

I believe that our home form will be critical in deciding what division Gillingham will be playing in next season, with eleven home matches left between now and the end of the season, then it is crucial that Gillingham pick up as many points as well can to ensure we stay in League One for the 2015 / 2016 season - COME ON YOU GILLS!!!!!!!!

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

I only listened again but it sounded like we deserved to win the game comfortably.We sounded the better side in the first half,but we gave away a penalty and it looked like we would come away with nothing as the game went on.Chance after chance missed,but when Marquis scored I just felt we would get the winner.We then won a penalty which looks really soft,but I will take that after last weeks poor decisions at Crewe.It was good that we still wanted another goal after taking the lead in the 90th minute,McGlashan adding a third deep into stoppage time to seal the win.We attacked them all the second half,and with 19 shots we wouldn`t have had that many three weeks ago.This was a massive win that lifts us out of the bottom four.Four defeats in a row in the League would have put us in more trouble.

[fan_of_mulligan]

My Thoughts on Gillingham V Coventry City.......................

Before yesterday's match I posted a thread on here speaking about just how important Gillingham's Home Form is going to be and how our home form is going to be a deciding factor in what division Gillingham are going to be playing in next season, and it was a point I mentioned during the game to Wainscotty - who like me felt that The Coventry City Game was the start of two massive home matches as we can ideally do with six points from the two games against Coventry City and Oldham Athletic, and it is nice to pick up three points straight away, because yesterday's win was a big big result.

I got the formation right but Max Ehmer and Josh Pritchard starting with Leon Legge and Jermaine McGlashan named among the substitutes bench were the surprise inclusions in the starting eleven, I wasn't confidant with Max Ehmer's performance against Crewe Alexandra and I was not confidant with his performance in the heart of our defence yesterday either, good to see Simeon Jackson and Frank Nouble get decent receptions from The Gillingham Supporters yesterday, especially Simeon Jackson who got "Your Gills and you know you are" sang towards him from The Rainham End, I doubt that Cody McDonald gets the same levels of appreciation shown towards him from The Coventry City Supporters, although Cody rarely played as a striker during his time at The Ricoh Arena.

FIRST HALF.........................

Four Minutes into the match and Max Ehmer almost slicked a dangerous cross from Ryan Haynes into the back of his own net and Max Ehmer was lucky to only concede a corner kick and although Stuart Nelson was not forced to make a meaningful save, Coventry City were enjoying the bulk of the possession in the opening eight minutes and Max Ehmer also did well to block a powerful shot on target from Simeon Jackson and I thought that Coventry City looked a threat with Frank Nouble, Simeon Jackson and Gary Madine as there front three and Gillingham had the chance to sign Simeon Jackson on loan on Loan Deadline Day, but Wainscotty feels that Simeon Jackson is the wrong type of striker to play alongside Cody McDonald as both players would make the same runs.

Nine Minutes into the match and I thought Cody McDonald opened the scoring, Bradley Garmston plays the ball inside to Doug Loft who skips past Simeon Jackson's challenge and plays the ball forward to Bradley Dack on the stretch, and Bradley Dack stretching for the ball caused some confusion inside Coventry City's Penalty Area and Cody McDonald's first time shot was brilliantly saved by Ryan Allsop and The Coventry City Goalkeeper also saved the follow up effort from John Marquis when John Marquis really should of opened the scoring for The Gills, and Gillingham almost scored from the resulting corner as Jake Hessenthaler's Corner Kick was headered up and under by Gary Madine and the ball dropped to Cody McDonald who played the ball back to Max Ehmer on the right side of Coventry City's Penalty Area and Max Ehmer's curling effort to the bottom right corner only just went wide of the far post with Ryan Allsop scrambling across his goal and I thought that was in as well.

In The Thirteenth and Fifteenth Minutes respectively, both teams had great chances to take the lead and again Coventry City are a threat down the left hand side as Frank Nouble gets in behind and uses his pace and trickery to go past Gavin Hoyte and whips in a dangerous cross and had Gary Madine got a better connection on the ball then he would of volleyed Coventry City into the lead, by Gary Madine's volley went into the ground and thankfully Stuart Nelson wasn't committed and was in the right place to gather the ball, it doesn't have to be the cleanest of strikes to see the ball hit the back of the net - two minutes later and John Maquis uses his physical presence to hold the ball up and lay the ball back to Max Ehmer who has hit a sensational strike which only just went wide of Ryan Allsop's right hand post - if that was on target Gillingham would of taken the lead.

Twenty Two Minutes into the match and Jake Hessenthaler plays the ball inside to Bradley Dack, who plays a ball over the top to Doug Loft on the right side of Coventry City's Penalty Area, and Doug Loft runs backwards with the ball and I was expecting him to lay the ball off to Gavin Hoyte but Doug Loft whips in a reverse cross to Jake Hessenthaler who chests the ball up and goes for the spectacular over-head kick and Jake Hessenthaler almost scored another sensational goal against Coventry City only for his effort to hit the top of the crossbar and even after that attempt Coventry City were weak defensively and Bradley Dack saw his shot on the edge of the penalty area blocked by Andy Webster.

A minute later and John Egan fouls Simeon Jackson and Coventry City have a free kick twenty five yards from goal which Gary Madine blasts into the wall and Coventry City had won themselves a corner kick - good thing that shot was deflected wide because Stuart Nelson was covering the opposite post, Jake Hessenthaler also should of got his shot on target in the Twenty Seventh Minute after a fantastic build up move with Bradley Dack, Cody McDonald and John Marquis all involved and I think Jake Hessenthaler should of tried to catch Ryan Allsop out at the near post, we have had a few shots like that when we go for the opposite corner which fail to hit the target and it is something I personally think that Gillingham need to work on - great attacking play from The Gills and all that we're missing is a goal.

I have got to mention John Maquis where he looked liked he played himself into trouble when defending our own corner kick, before eventually finding a route out of danger all by himself, The Signing of John Marquis was criticised all over social media but yesterday and away at Crewe Alexandra I thought John Marquis has played well and he can hold the ball up, flick the ball on, bring others into play and works exceptionally hard and we saw more from John Marquis yesterday then we saw away at Crewe Alexandra, whether the new manager decides to keep him until the end of the season we will have to wait and see.

Gillingham then had two chances in The Thirty First and Thirty Third Minutes to take the lead, After Bradley Dack was fouled on the halfway line, Josh Pritchard almost caught Ryan Allsop out with a spectacular effort as Ryan Allsop (and probably everyone inside the ground was anticipating a cross) and had Josh Pritchard's effort been on target then he would of given Gillingham the lead, then two minutes later Cody McDonald went on a fantastic run to get from the halfway line to inside Coventry City's Penalty Area and had Cody McDonald looked up he would of seen Bradley Dack in a better shooting position but Cody McDonald probably saw this opportunity as the chance to score against his former club and show what he could really do when he is played as a striker, but Cody McDonald was crowded out and failed to get a shot off on goal.

And failing to take one of the number of goal-scoring chances that Gillingham had created through-out the first half so far proved to be costly as Coventry City won a penalty in The Thirty Fourth Minute, really Bradley Garmston should of put a challenge on Danny Swanson outside The Penalty Area, but The Coventry City Winger skipped past Bradley Garmston's challenge and once Bradley Pritchard dived in to make a challenge and missed then Referee James Linington was going to point to The Penalty Spot, if you dive in the way Josh Pritchard dived in then you are going to give The Referee every possibility to award a penalty kick, but my disappointment was with Bradley Garmston who back-peddled from the byline to inside our penalty area when Bradley Garmston should of challenged Danny Swanson by the byline, up stepped Gary Madine to place the ball into the bottom left corner with Stuart Nelson diving to the opposite side of his goal and somehow Coventry City are in-front without really creating anything on goal, they have had half chances but nothing that has caused Stuart Nelson to make a top draw save, and it is failing to score on top which is Gillingham's problems yet again and something Gillingham need to work on, especially if your unlikely to keep clean sheets in matches.

I thought Gavin Hoyte did well to not dive in on Frank Nouble who was use his fancy foot-work to draw a challenge from Gavin Hoyte and Hoyte shielded the ball out of play for a goal-kick, Jake Hessenthaler has put himself into a few hard challenges to intercept the ball, but I don't like the way Bradley Dack dives into sliding tackles because Bradley Dack is very reckless when he lunges in and I hope someone has a word in Bradley Dack's ear to tell Dack to stay on his feet and focus on stab and block tackles and not lunge into sliding challenges, the only chances created on goal from either team was right at the end of the first half when Simeon Jackson was played through by John Fleck and Simeon Jackson had a great one v one chance and his shot across the face of goal was so poor that it hit the corner flag and went out for a goal-kick, and that was it for The First Half.

[fan_of_mulligan]

HALF TIME: GILLINGHAM 0 - 1 COVENTRY CITY

I thought we would stick with the same personal for fifteen to twenty minutes in The Second Half and if nothing has changed by then, I was certain that Jermaine McGlashan and Brennan Dickenson would come on to give us a bit of width and Josh Pritchard and Bradley Dack might be the two players substituted if we want to play a 4.4.2 formation with pacey wingers on both flanks, but other then being 1 - 0 down I don't think we can be negative or critical because Cody McDonald, Jake Hessenthaler x2, Max Ehmer x2, John Marquis and Josh Pritchard have all had chance to score and Gillingham have not taken those chances, Coventry City have scored from the one clear cut goal-scoring opportunity they have had on target and that's how it goes - and Wainscotty was not confident because Gillingham needed to score two goals in forty five minutes to turn this defeat into a win, I mentioned that we might need three goals because Gillingham could concede another goal.

SECOND HALF...................................

Simeon Jackson forces Stuart Nelson to make a routine save in The Forty Seventh Minute, but after that chance for Coventry City it is Gillingham who create a succession of goal-scoring chances although Jake Hessenthaler has taken two very poor free kicks which wasted any chance we could of created on goal, Doug Loft and Josh Pritchard hit efforts from distance which are deflected wide of Ryan Allsop's left hand post, Josh Pritchard's effort looked in for me and Gillingham need to take one of these chances to not only get ourselves back into the game, but also give ourselves the opportunity to go on and win the match as well.

But we do look poor defensively as Max Ehmer has kicked the ball out of play nervously and a poor pass from Doug Loft saw Simeon Jackson have a great one v one chance with Stuart Nelson, but a heavy touch from Simeon saw Stuart Nelson gather the ball at the feet at our former striker when Coventry City had a fantastic chance to make the score-line 2 - 0, But we defiantly should of scored in The Sixty Fifth Minute as Jake Hessenthaler has possession of the ball on the left flank after skipping past Jordan Willis's challenge and Jake Hessenthaler's cross is not dealt with by Coventry City and Josh Pritchard has smashed the ball over the crossbar when he should of equalised for Gillingham, our shooting at times in promising positions just has not been up to the required standard and when you get chances as good as that then you have got to score, five minutes after that spurned goal-scoring opportunity, Josh Pritchard is substituted and Jermaine McGlashan comes on for the final twenty minutes of the match - I thought that was Josh Pritchard's best performance in a Gillingham Shirt and hopefully we can see these type of performances from Josh Pritchard from now on.

Bradley Garmston looks more comfortable when he is attacking rather then defending as Garmston uses his pace to go past players and whip in some dangerous crosses and you do wonder if we can play Bradley Garmston as a left winger if we need to play there, although we have got Brennan Dickenson and Danny Galbraith so there are plenty of options we can rely on in the wide area's, I didn't like the defensive weaknesses in the left side of our defence as Max Ehmer and Bradley Garmston looked uncomfortable, where as John Egan looks so assured of himself in the heart of our defence, Egan is in the right area to intercept the ball, drops off to make it easier for his team-mates to pass him the ball and John Egan for me is Gillingham's Player Of The Season this season, I know Cody McDonald is on a fantastic goal-scoring run at the moment, but I don't think Cody McDonald's goal-scoring spell should disguise the fact that John Egan has been our most consistent player this season - also the clue is in the name, Player of The Season, not Player For 10 - 15 games - but if Cody McDonald can keep this goal-scoring run going until the end of the season then he would be a serious contender for The Player Of The Season Award.

Coventry City were backing off / dropping off trying to protect there one goal lead (which any team would do if your the away side) and Gillingham had two great chances to equalise in The Seventy Third and Seventy Fourth Minutes respectively as Doug Loft see's his effort on goal blocked, but Jermaine McGlashan keeps the ball in play and eventually skips past Aaron Martin's challenge and threaded the ball down the line to Gavin Hoyte and Gavin Hoyte's cross went over Andy Webster's head and John Marquis's header went over the crossbar, The chances kept being created and not being converted as there was some head tennis inside Coventry City's Penalty Area with Cody McDonald and John Egan headering the ball and John Marquis headers the ball wide without knowing where the posts were and Jermaine McGlashan whips in a fantastic low cross which Bradley Dack cannot get a meaningful touch on the ball and Bradley Garmston went for goal and Ryan Allsop gathered the ball when Bradley Garmston should of pulled the ball back, also, I don't think Cody McDonald was offside when Cody McDonald was involved with another goal-mouth scramble, you can make a case for John Marquis being offside but I personally thought that Cody McDonald was onside - in-between all of these goal-scoring chances being created, Simeon Jackson is substituted and Shaun Miller comes on - and Simeon Jackson gets a fantastic reception from The Gillingham Supporters and Simeon Jackson claps the fans before walking to the technical area, Jack Finch comes on for Danny Swanson as Coventry City look to protect there slender lead.

Brennan Dickenson and Luke Norris were both ready to come on when Gillingham finally did put the ball into the back of the net, Doug Loft hoofs the ball forward and Cody McDonald and Jordan Willis both challenge for the aerial ball but Cody McDonald puts himself between Jordan Willis and the ball and lays the ball off to Jake Hessenthaler runs towards goal before squaring the ball to Jermaine McGlashan, who waits for Bradley Dack to make a run to the right side of Coventry City's Penalty Area and Bradley Dack just gets to the ball first and see's his shot saved by Ryan Allsop and the ball bounces off a defender and John Marquis pokes the ball in for a deserved equaliser and John Marquis deserved that goal for the chances he has not scored during the game and one eventually had to hit the back of the net and I am pleased for John Marquis because hard work gets it's just rewards, and John Marquis put in a real shift for Gillingham up-front yesterday.

After Gillingham had equalised, Brennan Dickenson came on for Bradley Garmston and Doug Loft moved to Left Back and Gillingham were in the ascendancy and would of taken the lead instantly had Cody McDonald headered Jake Hessenthaler's cross on target, but in The Eighty Sixth Minute Gillingham won a penalty as Ryan Haynes had fouled Jermaine McGlashan and The Coventry City Defender was shown a yellow card even though there were a few chants of "Off, Off, Off" - prior to The Penalty being awarded Coventry City over-committed numbers forward themselves and a long ball up-field was headered clear by Max Ehmer to Bradley Dack on the halfway line who turned and ran at Coventry City's defence and Bradley Dack played the ball through to Jermaine McGlashan on the over-lap and Jermaine McGlashan won the penalty - at the time I thought the challenge by Ryan Hayes was a 110% penalty, but having seen the replay I now know that this was a fair challenge and not a penalty kick and if I was a Coventry City Supporter I would be furious with the decision - up stepped Cody McDonald to smash the ball into the top right corner of the net and there was no way that Ryan Allsop was saving that, a big penalty and Cody McDonald confidently put the ball into the back of the net.