Gillingham FC Forum

After tonight's game I am feeling very angry indeed. Yes, we created little in the second half but I feel this game was decided before the first half even kicked off!! The incident revolved around the impressive debutant loanee Ryan Innis who could have scored twice before their goal. He was clearly significantly injured and lay inches outside of the 6 yard box playing everyone onside. Despite 4 or 5 opportunities (and with the Gills desperate to get hold of the ball to do so themselves) at no point did the opposition even contemplate putting the ball in order for him to receive treatment.

Realising he was playing everyone onside as Utd piled everyone forward, he had no option but to hobble to his feet and move away from the goal just as they drove the ball into the net!!! At least three instances of fouls, where I either saw no contact at all or from Gills players showing the ref how far away the nearest player was to the incident, were given their way and yet Cody was wrestled to the ground on the edge of the area and Bayo had his arm constantly pulled almost off his shoulders and neither warranted a free kick!!

Decisions have been going against us for a while now whereby a slight brush sees one conceded but blatant fouls don't go our way. I don't blame Utd for the way they played but throwing themselves down with nobody near them AND winning a free kick is galling. If these matches are decided from the start then what is the point of bothering to go?!

The ref done everything he could to make sure they won it seemed.Yes we were poor tonight,but some of his decisions were laughable.I thought it was Sheffield Utd are the big club lets make sure they win.

Blame the ref, blame who you like, Football 101,first rule of the game , Arden St school, PLAY TO THE WHISTLE. So while we stood around appealing for a whistle ,Sheffield played to the whistle and won the game, even though we tried to hack our way back with 18 fouls to their 3.

I don't buy this at all…there are plenty of crap refs around but not one who can stop you scoring a legitimate goal (at home !)over 90 minutes of play. Just look at our goal difference - we are a mediocre side in a mediocre league.

Totally agree, mediocrity seems to sum it up pretty well, only good thing about it is that you don't have to change a lot from one year to another to be successful. Two seasons ago Orient were on the verge of relegation, small crowds ,bad team , last year just missed promotion and this year looking pretty good for the jump into the division I would realistically be quite happy to see GFC in for years to come, and still they get smaller crowds than us, so someone must be doing something rite.

He was frightened of Cloughie of that I am certain! Nigel Clough stood on the touchline with FOUR "coaches" behind him, big men all looking menacing. I had another sitting next to me giving all manner of screaming instructions from the top row of the Medway stand to the bench!

Cody through on goal was pulled to the ground from behind...no foul.
Cody turned quicker to the ball, defender twice his size got caught out yelping in "pain"...foul.

Their man arches his back with nobody near him...foul (Gills players were furious holding their hands to the ref indicating how far away they were).
Bayo has a defender holding onto his arm pulling at him constantly...no foul.

This went on all night. As for the goal, "playing to the whistle" was irrelevant, the Gills desperately tried to get the ball in order to play it out for Innis to get treatment - a game ending injury just to the side of the 6 yard box with Innis unable to move. Realising they can't be flagged offside they piled forward and had 4 or 5 chances to put the ball out of play but didn't scoring just seconds after hitting the post. That is why they scored as Inniss tried to hobble out of danger, by then everyone other than their keeper was inside the box. The ref could have stopped it but didn't. I haven't seen another team or the Gills carry on playing round an injured player either! Not against the rules but unsporting to the worst degree.

Forget about goal difference and all that, that is irrelevant because of course we haven't been the best sides but last night the ref gave EVERY decision their way and the goal would not have happened had Innis lay injured anywhere else on the pitch. Yes we did fail to score but a 0-0 result wouldn't have been a bad result for us but an awful one for them. I hope I never witness such one sided refereeing again, I know we all moan about refs but this was different.

Always thought this sportsman ship bit was a load of cobblers, 11 grown men leading a bunch of 6 year old kids out onto the pitch, something I think is totally rubbish, and as for picking up a player after you have knocked him down I could just see his Royal Lordship Sir Norwood Stiles doing that, lol.
The one rule I find most strange is there seems to be no continuity to taking a free kick. Player gets knocked over bounces up grabs the ball places it kicks it game on, another time the ref insists on blowing the whistle before the ball is kicked, don't get, anyone help here please? LIDBID wake up and answer the question good grief man time you were up and doing her at works dinner.
If they had 5 or 6 chances to score and we could not even thump it out of bounds what were we doing running around like chickens with our heads cut off by the sound of it.
I would suggest if the ref was intimidated by Clough and his bunch of Hench men, Scally sends a letter of protest to the FA, flie a flag like in the Americas Cup Yacht Race.

She's on holiday this week so she's getting my dinner! I agree with Gary; the ref did seem intimidated by Clough etc. if it had been me I would have used my cards on the bench. Once he had made the first few decisions he had shown what would happen and Sheff Untd took full advantage. The Gills players must have felt helpless but I thought the Gills bench could have got more involved - why weren't they letting Clogh etc know how they felt? Standing passively with your arms folded doesn't really help PT!!!

I agree, Hessy would have been going crazy. It has been a long while since the crowd were that upset with a referee and before half time. I don't thing Taylor did enough to retrieve the game either with Piggott remaining on the bench as we chased the equaliser (not that he would have been allowed to score)!

Gillsfan, it is hard to describe without being there really and the TV cameras don't show enough. The only way to describe it was that all game they offered little and yet (imagine the final minute of the Champion League final from a team 0-1 down) their build up to the goal was intense. Imagine 10 players no further than the edge of the box all peppering shots or trying to force the ball towards the goal. The whole thing only lasted 15-20 seconds, long enough for them to have a few chances but too quick for the Gills able to clear the ball away.

It could be argued that a goal could have come from either of the times Cody found himself through on goal where instead he either "fouled" the defender or was fouled but not given. We have to make amends on Saturday and that means playing Piggott.