Gillingham FC Forum

- Although Bolton have 8 wins to the Gills 6 (2 draws) they have won 6 and lost 0 of the last 8 meetings scoring 20 goals and conceding 7.
- Bolton could go second with a win and overtake Fleetwood whom they beat 4-2 away on Saturday. It was their first league win in 5 and their third in 11.
- The Gills have won 3 out of 4 in the league and are unbeaten at home in 6 games. They have lost 1 out of 12 at home in the league (5 wins).
- Bolton have only conceded 16 away goals and 31 goals in total. Both figures are the leanest totals in League 1.
- Bolton have scored the joint highest number of first half goals (28) in League 1 and conceded the fewest second half goals in the league (16).
- Each time Bolton fail to score in away games this season, they lose. Away in the league they have 5 blank sheets and 5 defeats.
- Bolton have led for longer than any other League 1 side this season, a total of 1,262 minutes (534 more than the Gills).
- The Gills last beat Bolton in May 1987 (9 meetings ago). It was also the last time a clean sheet was kept against them.

7.47 Kick-Off [ 3 - 4 - 1 - 2 ]

7.50
GOAL! Gillingham 0-1 Bolton: Wheater
The Gills have only lost once at home in the league this season when conceding the first goal (3 wins and 3 draws)

8.02
GOAL! Gillingham 0-2 Bolton: Le Fondre

8.34
GOAL! Gillingham 0-3 Bolton: Beavers

8.35 Half-time 0-3 (47.19)
Bolton have won 14 and drawn 3 of the 17 league games they led at half time but the Gills had won both the games they were losing at home.

8.51
The second half kicks off.

8.54
GOAL! Gillingham 0-4 Bolton: Vela
Filipe Morais provides all 4 assists, his 9th in 4 games.

9.40 FULL-TIME 0-4 (96:08)
The Gills lose 4-0 at home for the first time since September 2004.

Position: 16th
Attendance: 5,199 (517)
Referee: Tim Robinson
Goal Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0neGmwU ... freload=10
BBC Sport Match Report: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39188583

Another very tough game at home tonight.Bolton are a very good side,and have given themselves a good chance of the top 2 again now.They thumped us at their place back in December,and come into this game after a very good win at Fleetwood.From our point of view confidence and moral has to be high after the great come back against Scunthorpe on Saturday.I would take a draw tonight.

3rd placed Scunthorpe came to town on Saturday and lost having won 5-0 earlier in the season.
3rd placed Bolton come to town tonight. Will they lose after winning 4-0 earlier in the season?!

In their website's match preview they stated about coming down to London and then talked about their London results this season. How can anyone (apart from American's that haven't visited the UK) believe that we are in London?!?!?!

When they call to ask the way the calls are put through to Scallys office and he tells them were in South East London really close to his beloved Millwall,just a few miles down the road, or perhaps they watch the Kent Cup and asume that if Charlton London is in Kent,then Gillingham Kent must be in London.?

Well that bought us back to reality with a bang.

I waited until this morning to comment because I really had no enthusiasm left after the game. I think the injuries and suspensions obviously had an effect on our performance, but even if we had had the rest of the squad available I don't see how we could have competed against Bolton. If we think about our midfield alone, it would have been comical for anyone who was not a Gills fan to watch. Dack , Byrne and Hesse looked like primary school kids had been thrown into a secondary school football match. When the ball was on the floor, they all had good moments, but Bolton made sure the ball didn't spend much time on the ground. They, and Cody, Martin and Muldoon, were actually bullied, sometimes right on the edge of legality, but forced off the ball or to give the ball away by the sheer physicality of the Bolton players. We never seemed in control of the ball, but I don't necessarily blame the players for hurriedly getting rid of the ball before they got steamrolled by some giant for the umpteenth time. What did disappoint me was that we seemed to have accepted the fact that we couldn't compete from the first whistle. Two nil down after ten minutes leaves you with little chance of recovery, especially when conceding two such soft goals. Then, switch off in injury time at the end of 45 mins and let the fourth in three minutes into the second half to make it as easy as you like for the opposition. I normally look for positives even in defeat, but last night, there were none. We need to look at the squad, which seems completely unbalanced at the moment, and come up with a different approach for next season. I've always thought we will survive in league one, although hopefully we won't come up against teams like Bolton again, but we must stop just signing individuals who may be decent players, and think about the whole group. We haven't had any tall, strong players for a while now, and I think opposition managers know that and know we can be bullied.

It certainly did Gillsfan. Apart from the last 13 minutes against Scunthorpe you can say we have been quite poor in the last two and a half games.

Byrne was man of the match and I agree. He was average but showed desire and effort, Hessy to a degree as well, but the rest were poor. The moment they scored after 3 minutes from already their second corner of the game we lost our shape and looked ragged. We fought back well in the second half and looked like we were capable of getting a goal or two to get the deficit down but withing 4 minutes that was put to bed when they scored their fourth.

We missed Wright a lot but in truth the goals have masked the performances. With 3 youth players on the bench the scope for change was minimal. Apart from Fleetwood (who may already be promoted when we play) the remaining games pretty much are against sides around us. If they don't need the points desperately we should get the 6 points we need to secure League 1 next season but quite an overhaul will be needed in the summer.

I agree Lidbid. I thought Quigley was our "big and tall" player but compared to Wheater, Beavers, Pratley etc he was out-jumped and out-muscled. Muldoon looked well out of his depth and I struggle to see what he will offer the side. List has been here for too long being the "one for the future" and now finds plenty of "ones for the future" taking his place. We brought in too much expensive experience (ie too old) last season after having no experience. We need to address that as a matter of urgency the moment the season ends.

This is becoming a never ending roundabout, we hire a new manager, in comes HIS players, out goes that manager, out goes some of his players, who are not on 3 year contracts, in comes the new manager, then in comes his new players, then out goes that manager, then ........
Time to hire a new manager,a manager with EXPERIENCE of Championship and First Division football , it might cost us more than we have paid to bringing in the crap managers we have done over the few years. These guys must talk a good fight at the interview stage then can't knock their way out of a paper bag when the bell goes and the players are on the pitch.
OK it is going to cost but WHO CARES, we need a STRONG EXPERIENCED MANAGER, and we need to hire a GENERAL MANAGER who is going to be the buffer between the owner and the board and the Manager and the Team, and the Manager and the team and the Fans, but more importantly someone who can work with the manager and the board in choosing players to bring in or let go, who can sit with the manager and watch film, explain what and where everything went wrong, or right .
Maybe an ex manager that does not want to manage anymore, or an ex player that has a brain, but we need someone. Who ever hires the Managers at GFC is getting real bad advice ,or is just too PIG HEADED to listen to anyone elses opinions when it comes to picking GFC managers,and I assume I am talking about P.S.
I don't know who's fault it is that were sitting with only 11 wins on the season, is it the players that don't give two ****'s, is it the manager that cannot get them fired up to play, is it the owner that just sits back and watches us go from disaster to disaster without saying anything to him, like WHAT THE **** is going on, all I do know is that this has been going on for far, far to long at Gillingham Football Club,TIME FOR A CHANGE, the fans of GFC don't deserve this mediocrity year in year out, they have taken it for far to long.

Luckily I wasn`t at this game,but I feel for the fans that went.It sounded awful,and looking at the highlights all four goals were from awful defending.Bolton in both games have been a class above us,but we definitely made it easy for them last night.Our goal difference has taken a big hit,and we have to hope we don`t go on a losing run now due to confidence hit.

I actually agree with everything Gillsfan says. The manager is the most important person at the club after the man with the money. Look at the improvement at the clubs that have changed their managers, Leicester, Hull, Swansea and no doubt many more. I was reading about Fleetwood's massive improvement as well. Get a manager with a top CV at this level. I thought Edinburgh was going to be the man to take us forward, but wrong again. How about something radical, like a foreign manager, even an Aussie.

Stop,stop,stop, lets not get carried away, lol,lol. I think there are a lot of overseas managers who would really like a crack at managing a team like GFC ,a team with potential and not a lot of pressure, win the Kent Cup and everyone thinks your the greatest thing since sliced bread, lol.
Although thinking about it why anyone would want to leave " down under " to come to England during the winter to manage a club beats me , lol.

My Match Report.............

Bolton Wanderers have given Gillingham A Football Education On Tuesday Night, Player for Player Bolton Wanderers were on a completely different level, a level that Gillingham are trying to reach ourselves, but it is going to take A Summer Over-Haul Of The Squad and signing players who can play in positions that we want to play, Ollie Muldoon and Lee Martin aren't Wing Back's, if we want to line up with Wing Back's, then we will need to sign players capable of playing in those position's, You need to be very athletic to play as A Wing Back and Ollie Muldoon and Lee Martin haven't got the energy levels to play in these positions, in-fact, just to give an example about The Differences between playing at Full Back, and playing at Wing Back, here is Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher's Fascinating Interview about Playing The Wing Back Role - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdF9B85DUMA - This Interview is a few year's old now, but this is well worth listening to.

I think the main reason why Adrian Pennock has lined up with three at the back is because he knows how poor Gillingham are defensively, so we need to line up with two strikers and Bradley Dack in The Starting Line Up and try and score more goals then the opposition, and as we're battling to avoid relegation, you score two and we score three is the approach we need to take to ensure League One Survival, but long term, Adrian Pennock, or someone else depending on who is appointed as Gillingham Manager, has to really strengthen Gillingham's Defensive Options In The Summer, because to have no fully fit full back's shows why we're forced to play with Three Centre Back's, Ryan Jackson and Bradley Garmston have had injury plagued season's, Paul Konchesky has signed for Billericay Town, and why did we let Brennan Dickenson go at the end of last season, Brennan Dickenson has scored Ten Goals for Colchester United This Season, he could play anywhere down the left side of the pitch, and up-front if we needed him to, and now Brennan Dickenson is playing very well for Colchester United.

Tactically I have no idea why was Lee Martin playing at Right Wing Back when he is Left Footed, I know he kept switching with Ollie Muldoon, but Lee Martin should have started at Left Wing Back, and when I saw The Team Sheet, I thought Gillingham were going to line up with A Diamond Midfield Formation with Jake Hessenthaler, Mark Byrne, Ollie Muldoon and Bradley Dack in The Centre of Midfield, mind you, regardless of what formation Gillingham Played On Tuesday Night, Gillingham needed to put in a 10/10 performance and hoped that Bolton Wanderers were on a off day, the reverse happened, and Gillingham were no-where near the levels we put in against Bolton Wanderers, while Bolton Wanderers put in a very professional performance, I don't mind losing if we gave the opposition a game and they had to battle and scrap to earn all three points, but it was game over at Half Time, and it could have quite easily have been 5-0 / 6-0 if Bolton Wanderers really wanted to step up another gear, thankfully Bolton Wanderers settled for four goals, because our goal difference has taken a bit of a battering, and we need to respond to this set-back as quickly as possible, because we're not safe yet by any means, I still think Gillingham need three more wins to retain our League One Status - which would put us on Fifty Four Points - Port Vale having three games in hand means that the gap between ourselves and The Bottom Four could be cut to two points if Port Vale win all there games in hand.

Phil Parkinson's Teams have always been organised, structured, hard to play against and very combative, but it appears that Phil Parkinson has the financial clout at Bolton Wanderers to add a bit of flair on top of that organisation, and perhaps this is why Phil Parkinson left Bradford City to take The Bolton Wanderers Job, he had more of a budget to work with, and you only had to look at the players who played on Tuesday Night to see the differences between Bolton Wanderers and Gillingham, Mark Beevers, Josh Vela, David Wheather, Gary Madine, Adam Le Fondre, Darren Pratley and Filipe Morais - who assisted all four goals on Tuesday Night - compare that to the team we named, and the differences in height and experience, and it was all too clear to see that there is a large gap between Bolton Wanderers and Gillingham, but we could of at least done more to make it difficult for Bolton Wanderers to score, we could have made it difficult for the visitor's and made them work hard to win, the fact that Bolton Wanderers have beaten Gillingham 4-0 home and away tells you a lot about this squad, because we have had a change of manager, but the squad remains largely the same, and it is changes to The Playing Squad that will need to happen during the off season.

There is no doubt in my mind that Bolton Wanderers are the best team to visit Priestfield Stadium This Season, but if we're going to lose, don't lose 4-0, lose 2-1 and make a fight for it, I am very disappointed that yet again Gillingham's in-ability to defend corner kicks has cost us two goals, the opening goal of the game and the goal that killed the match off at half time for 3-0, it happens far too often in my opinion, some-times, the cross is perfect and the header has gone into the top corner and there is nothing you can do about that, but both goals conceded could have been prevented in my opinion, and sometimes you need to put your head in where it hurts, and I am not sure if we have enough of those type of players in the squad.

Once we were 3-0 down, I would have given Noel Mbo his debut for Gillingham, and give two out of Elliott List, Mitchell Dickenson or Greg Cundle a runout, give a few of our younger players a chance and see what they could do, that would have been a positive we could have taken out of the match on Tuesday Night, Our Second and Third Substitutes Disappointed Me, Emmanuel Osadebe and Elliott List come on with five minutes to go, why not make that change after Seventy Minutes and give both players A Twenty Minute Run-Out ???

I think Sheffield United and Bolton Wanderers will get promoted in First and Second Spot respectively in League One This Season, but One Gillingham Supporter made this very interesting point to me after the game on Tuesday Night, Many Supporters Believe that The Gap Between The Premier League And The Championship is the biggest gap in England, but actually it is The Championship and League One which has A Larger Gap, Wigan Athletic and Bristol City have both been promoted as League One Champions, there in The Bottom Three Of The Championship, and MK Dons and Yeovil Town have both gone up and down, and in Yeovil Town's Case, down into League Two, Just look at the teams in The Championship, Newcastle United, Leeds United, Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest, Preston North End, Derby County, Norwich City, Ipswich Town, Wolves, QPR and Blackburn Rovers, All of these clubs have been in The Premier League, Blackburn Rovers won The Premier League back in 1995.

This doesn't mean that we shouldn't have ambitions to try and reach The Second Tier, but it just goes to show how strong The Championship is and how big a gap there is between The Championship and League One, finally, credit to The Gillingham Supporters in The Rainham End for trying to get a atmosphere going even at 4-0 down, this reminds me of Northampton Town Away where Gillingham were getting thumped and supporters were in a conga line singing and chanting with a bit of gallows humour, also, credit to Bolton Wanderers for bringing 517 supporters to Priestfield Stadium On A Tuesday Night, I traveled to the reverse fixture so I know just how long a journey that is to make in the middle of the week.

Our Last Defeat was also on A Tuesday Night, that was a 3-1 defeat to Swindon Town, Gillingham followed that match up by traveling to Bury and winning 2-1, hopefully, Gillingham can recover from this set-back and pick up all three points against Rochdale this weekend, Rochdale and Bury are only a few miles apart, and I have got a good record at Rochdale, so hopefully Gillingham can pick up all three points and move up to Forty Eight Points and edge closer to League One Safety - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://twitter.com/KM_TeamTalk/status/841752781232996352

Also, Peter Taylor was spotted at Priestfield Stadium On Tuesday Night.

Peter Taylor entered in front of me and "had a meeting with the Chairman" first!