[ 6 Feb 16 ] GILLS v Swindon Match Thread

[Garawa]

The Gills are unbeaten in 7 at home to Swindon and before last season's draw had won the last 3 ties against them 2-0, 3-1 and 5-0.

The Gills are unbeaten in 6 home and away against Swindon scoring 15 goals in them in the process. Swindon however edge the wins 35 to 32 overall.

Swindon have won just 2 of their last 10 away league games failing to score in 4 of them, one more than the Gills from ALL league games.

Swindon recently won 4-0 at Chesterfield. Their 4 away games before it saw them score just 1 goal from them and the 4 after it saw them score just 2.

Both sides have won 1 of their last 4 league games. The Gills have scored 6 and conceded 7 from them whilst Swindon have scored 5 and conceded 6.

Earlier in the season Swindon failed to win in 10 league games before winning 7 of the subsequent 10. They are now winless in the following 3.

Swindon's 3 league clean sheets have all came in their away games (the joint second worst total in the league). The Gills 3 blank sheets is the best total in League 1.

3:01 KICK OFF

3:05
Rory Donnelly hits the woodwork.

3:48 Half-time 0-0

4:06
The second half resumes.

4:55 FULL-TIME: 0-0

Position: 4th
Attendance: 6,398 (260)
Referee: Andy Woolmer

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

February looks a better month on paper with 3 home games out of 4.We start off with Swindon at home,and these games are always exciting.We will be wanting to bounce back from last Saturday`s disappointing defeat at Blackpool.Swindon have lost their last two games 1-0,and have not won at Priestfield since 1987.Hopefully we can start the month with a win and get back in the automatic hunt.

Gills Team? Norris could be out still,So maybe Mbo will get a place on the bench.I expect Chicksen to keep his place at LB,and perhaps Hessenthaler to come in for Loft.

----------------------- Nelson------------------------------
----Jackson------------------------------------Chicksen----
------------------Egan---------Ehmer-----------------
-------------------------Wright-----------------------
-------------Hessenthaler------Morris---------
------------------------Dack-------------------------------
--------------Donnelly----------Samuel------------------

Subs: G Morris,Dickenson,Loft,Osadebe,McGlashan,List,Mbo?

[lidbid46]

Who is Mbo? Have I missed something?

[fan_of_mulligan]

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

----------------------------------Nelson---------------------------------------
Jackson-------------Egan----------------------Ehmer------------------Chicksen
----------------------------------Wright------------------------------------------
-------------------A.Morris-----------------------Loft-----------------------------
----------------------------------Dack---------------------------------------------
-------------------Samuel----------------------Donnelly-------------------------

Subs: G.Morris (GK), B.Dickenson, Osadebe, Hessenthaler, McGlashan, Norris, List

The only change I can see from the team that started against Blackpool Last Saturday is Rory Donnelly in for Luke Norris - but what a relief it is to possibly have Luke Norris back among the substitutes bench tomorrow because I thought Luke was going to be out injured for 10 - 12 weeks.

If Luke Norris doesn't make the bench then I think Darren Oldaker will be named on the bench instead, as he was promoted on to the bench when Rory Donnelly picked up a injury in the warm up against Peterborough United.

Gillingham Train Station is going to see a lot of security after what happened at Gillingham Train Station Last Night and with Gillingham playing at home against Swindon Town tomorrow, I am expecting a larger then usual police presence, not just to have enough police to focus on the football supporters, but to be on the lookout for this suspect and protect members of the public - I am not sure if there is still engineering works on the train lines tomorrow as well.

Big month coming up with three home games and one away match in the next four matches and Gillingham need to win all three home games, because we have yet to figure out a way of playing away from home, fingers crossed for a win and all three points against Swindon Town tomorrow - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[baronnight]

Not knowing who's fit, who's out of favour, who just can't be asked, I'm hoping for a 2 - 1 Gill's win.

p.s. Loft to start on the bench, even if he comes on at half time

[Garawa]

Thought Loft had a good game today! Still extends that run of winning every home game without him and now 7 wins out of 12 with him lol.

[Garawa]

For a change we had a really good first half! We looked lively and quick and the Swindon defenders pushed up high to give us plenty of space to get in behind, trouble is the wind was atrocious and hindered both sides in truth. Just 5 minutes in Donnelly hit the post with a shot that looked to me as if it was going in but the wind pushed away. Jackson was tripped in the box for a certain penalty that the ref never gave. In fact it was yet another game in which the ref gave 50/50s the way of the opposition yet failed to give any our way when clearly hauled over or shirt pulled when through on goal. Its getting very tedious!

For me Aaron Morris was man of the match. He is relishing not having his defensive responsibilities and won the ball back more times than I can count. He was a thorn in Swindon's midfield and never gave up a ball. So to did Jackson who even ran into the penalty area, ran round the attacker and took the ball of him before clearing it away. He was up and down that flank all game. We had the chances but didn't take them and now have 2 blank sheets in a row. Conditions may have given a different result but Swindon looked poor and this was 2 points dropped and even more annoying that we haven't capitalised on Walsall's 3-0 home reverse. It's now very tight with the Gills 4th, a point behind 2nd!!!

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

Who is Mbo? Have I missed something?

He is a highly rated Youth striker,big built aged 16 and has 21 goals this season.Probably will make an appearance before the season finishes.

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

After the first ten minutes I was expecting a comfortable win as Donnelly hit the post and then Jackson had a penalty appeal turned down.Before halftime Wright forced their keeper into a really good save as well.We didn't take our chances,and Swindon were better in the second half as we didn't create much.The conditions were really poor with the strong winds,so maybe a 0-0 should not be a surprise.I hope we can get back to winning ways shortly with the gap being cut a bit.

[baronnight]

We played really well in the 1st half without scoring that's now 2 games on the trot without finding the net.
Whilst it's still all to play for, our current form (1.33 points per game over the last 6) would leave us on 76 points for the season not a guarantee of a playoff spot (Huddersfield 2010 lost out with 80 points) and next up we have Barnsley who are on a run of 7 straight wins.
As stated above it's still all to play for but our form has been steadily declining all season and we need to stop the slide before it's too late.

I know we've joked about Loft and his effect on the result, but I'm starting to think there could be more to it

[Garawa]

He has had some good second half sub appearances and did alright on Saturday. He is definitely has a bad effect on the side and many seem to say he slow and doesn't have the same power at this level so maybe that is the reason. We have moved on a level whereas he hasn't and that difference is starting to tell with such fine margins in the games.

Baron, I think we are having a little wobble (along with Walsall) but will pull out of it. Your calculations go on if this run continued to the end. If you average out ALL the points over 46 games we are still on target for 83 points and will so many sides close on points, the totals needed should be lower.

[baronnight]

I understand what you mean Gary, the trouble is our little wobble started at the beginning of the season, we have gone from achieving over 2 points per game average and slowly month by month lost ground to reach a 1.33 goals per game over the last 6 games. there are currently too many of the teams in the top 6 and the chasing pack that are above us in the form table.

[baronnight]

Just to emphasise my point, I've checked our average points per game over the season so far.

After 6 games...........average 2.33 ppm (points per match)
After 12 games.........average 2.00
After 18 games.........average 1.89
After 24 games.........average 1.96
After 30 games.........average 1.83

I think the above shows a overall downward trend, the same form continued for the remainder of the season would see us just scrape a playoff (I hope)

[Rimshot]

I'd say just getting into the playoffs was about a fair reflection of the team; we haven't done particularly well against the top sides and to be honest, I think our league position is a surprise to many.
I would be happy to see us make the top six.

[Garawa]

Just to throw another statistic into the mix!!! You know how we tailed off when we won the league, staggered out a number of draws etc? A win on Saturday will put us on 1 fewer points after the same number of games of the title winning season so we could easily exceed the 83 won that year. Also, with so many teams battling at the top I think the number needed will be lower than it would normally have been. The side with momentum is Wigan and they have yet to go to both Walsall and Burton so points could be dropped there and I guess these games will hold the answers to what happens come May:

GILLINGHAM:
Walsall (H)
Burton (A)
Coventry (H)

BURTON:
Gillingham (H)
Walsall (H)
Wigan (H)

WALSALL:
Gillingham (A)
Wigan (H)
Burton (A)

WIGAN:
Coventry (H)
Walsall (A)
Burton (A)