Port Vale v Gillingham-Match Thread

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

The Gills are back on the road this Saturday,and they will be looking to start 2015 with a good result at Port Vale.Vale are not too bad at home,and in their last game at Vale Park they beat Sheffield Utd 2-1.It will be a tough game for us,but if we can play as well as we did in the first 45 minutes at Colchester then we have a good chance of getting something.Lately we have only been playing good one half,but we need to be doing it in both half of games.

What Team would you play? Would you play two Strikers upfront,or look to pack the Midfield?

[CadburyMan]

I would always go to win a game rather than not lose so its two up front for me

[gillsfan1066]

We are in desperate need of a right back, and a forward who can score goals on a regular basis, (but which team in the bottom half of the table isn't) so things are going to look bleak all the time Taylor goes into games wanting the score to be tied at the 85th minute mark and then hopes we snatch a winner before the final whistle. ??
It sure would be nice to bring a point home from Vale ,and then take 9 from the games against Crewe, Coventry and Oldham ( who's away record stinks big time,) I think those three games are going to decide which division we play in next year.
Start playing 4-4-2 ,keep it simple and use the wings, stretch the pitch from North to South make space for Cody Mac and our new forward (to be named any time ) then we will be safe for another year in Division One.

[Garawa]

Pack the midfield!!!! We were hopelessly over-run against Bristol City as they had 2 extra in midfield as we played only 3 there. Ok we had 2 extra defenders but we had no pace or width so the defenders could barely get out their own half! As soon as we changed the formation at half-time we started to compete and drew the half so for me I would go with this:

......................Nelson

Hoyte........Egan........Legge........Martin

.............Doughty........Ehmer

...Dack............Kedwell............Dickenson

....................McDonald

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

With Hess taking charge on Saturday,he may go for a more attacking Line up.Hopefully the curse will affect Port Vale now we have sacked our Manager.

[Garawa]

Some facts about the game are here (more to appear during the match): viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1536

[fan_of_mulligan]

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

----------------------------------Nelson--------------------------------------
A.Morris-------------Egan-------------------Ehmer--------------------Martin
-----------------Hessenthaler--------------Pritchard--------------------------
McGlashan---------------------Doughty-----------------------------Dickenson
--------------------------------McDonald---------------------------------------

Subs: G.Morris (GK), Fish, Legge, Loft, Kedwell, Norris, German

I am not sure how Andy Hessenthaler will line up tomorrow, but with Paul Scally's criticism of the 5.3.2 formation and the inclusion of one un-named player, then I highly doubt we will see the 5.3.2 formation played tomorrow away at Port Vale, Danny Galbraith and Bradley Dack are both doubts, and with Amine Linganzi and Callum Davies injured and Harry Lennon going back to Charlton Athletic then the eighteen man squad may pick itself tomorrow.

I think Gillingham will line up with a 4.2.3.1 formation with Jermaine McGlashan and Brennan Dickenson providing width and pace down both flanks and Michael Doughty will be pushed further forward behind Cody McDonald, and with Cody McDonald scoring two goals in his last three appearances we are approaching the time of the year where Cody McDonald usually goes on a goal-scoring run and I am sure we all hope that Cody McDonald can score a lot of goals in January as we have got some important fixtures coming up in the next few weeks, Jake Hessenthaler should be back in his usual central midfield role and I think we will see a much better performance from Josh Pritchard if he has players in-front of him to pass to, the Doughty, Linganzi and Pritchard midfield trio and five at the back just did not work against Bristol City.

I will be going to Port Vale tomorrow and hopefully Gillingham can come back from Vale Park with all three points, we need something to put smiles back on our faces after the defeat to Bristol City and the sacking of Peter Taylor - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

Doug Loft is a doubt for the game today,but i`m sure he will be hoping to Captain the side at Vale Park against his old Team.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/spor ... urn-29464/

[gillsfan1066]

A point down the drain, looking good till the 90th minute ,but not to be, oh well plenty more footie left for us to escape. Don't like it when we have played more games than those around us,wish this had been called off, but never mind ,you have to play them all sometime I guess. DAM,DAM,DAM.

[Reuben]

Long standing Vale fan - here in peace - trying to give an objective view of the game.

You had every reason to feel proud of your lads today. All 22 players gave their all and it was an end to end, entertaining game, if lacking a bit of quality.
A draw might have been a fairer result and I felt for your fans, going down to a very late goal before boarding the coach on that horrible long journey home. I've been to Priestfield and it's a blinkin long way when you've lost so my commiserations to the loyal 150 supporters and best of luck for the rest of the campaign.
Lovely to see Lofty back. I know he perhaps hasn't pulled up any trees for you but he got a nice reception and gave us 5 years excellent service.

I don't think you'll get sucked downwards. Your team seemed very hard-working and committed and organised. You break quickly when given the chance and McDonald took his chance well. Kedwell looks like he's had a good New Year! The main problem I think you have is a lack of pace at the back. The centre backs are good in the air but slow on the ground and 1-2 of our quick lads got the better of them when the ball was played in behind. Perhaps we just about deserved the win as we kept going until the end and created numerous chances in the last 15 minutes but you were always in the game and always a threat on the break, though, like ourselves, with not much cutting edge.

With a bit of luck you could have drawn the game and were the better team after you had scored for 20 minutes.
Keep the faith!

[Rimshot]

Cheers Reuben, forgive us if we don't respond as graciously as we should. We concede last minute goals as a matter of routine and our chairman has just consigned us to another period of Hessmanagement. It's hard to take any comfort from that.

[Robpthegills]

Thanks Reuban.

It is hard at the moment.

We sack the manager, and to try and appease the fans, the chairman releases a press story telling us

I am really seriously looking for a new investor, we should be in a new ground soon, and we should be in the premiership in the next few years.

We have had the same story every year for about 15 years, normally when season tickets are up for renewal, or whenever we have hard news to take.

Bored with scally, his lies, the way he treats us fans as stupid and the whole thing.

[gillsfan1066]

Thank you Sir, very nice report,everything I needed to know in a few sentences ,still feel a bit like the tallest midget in the room, not a great feeling but I think we will stay up,sure do hope so,although our February schedule is brutal, have a look it will give you a laugh, lol.
You hit the nail on the head,our defense is slow and I think we need one more goal scorer up front, but then who doesn't at this time of year ?
Thanks again, and look forward to reading your report on the game this time next year, hahaha, guess that sounds a bit like the proverbial two edged sword, I assume were staying up and your not going up, lol, wasn't supposed to sound quite like that, lol, I hope you do go up and we follow you at the end of next season.
Happy new Year to you and yours .

[CadburyMan]

A pretty fair reflection from our guest from Vale - loved the comment about Kedwell - had the same conversation with one of the stewards so we can't all be wrong

[Garawa]

Thanks for taking the trouble Reuben, I remember the banter from both fans in the promotion season and neither covered themselves in glory so this was good to read.

Always seem to have a larger squad than most despite saying it would be reduced and then we end up making change after change after change which is possibly part of the problems. I felt we had a decent squad that, if they played enough games without much change could do well. I don't see away games and that set up can be quite different and for those that do go are well used to defeats so it can be tricky gauging a proper opinion unless told from a neutral. Hopefully its system rather than players and a new manager might focus on what we can do well.