Colchester v Gillingham-Match Thread

[Garawa]

Thought I would start this now given the busy week ahead! After earning a win at Doncaster this looks a more winnable game. A lot of that hard work was undone in the Chesterfield match so we need to put it right to avoid going on another slump, so easy to get sucked into the relegation zone over a busy Christmas.

Some facts for the game can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1509

[gillsfan1066]

What the hell have you been sipping, the egg nog in the baby's bottle ?? COVENTRY,when the hell do we play them ? So I assume you think our next win comes against Coventry, no hope at all against Colchester, Bristol, Port Vale,or Crewe ,not even one lousy point ??

[Garawa]

Ha ha, cheers for the heads up Chicago I shall edit the title now in a state of shame!!!

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

Hopefully we wont be too stuffed from all that Turkey,and look to stuff Colchester ourselves .After Saturday`s home defeat to Chesterfield,we have put a bit of pressure on ourselves to get something from this game.We will have a big following in Essex,so hopefully we will perform.

What would be your Gills Team? I wasn`t impressed with Norris on Saturday,I felt he didnt chase the keeper down which is needed.I think he has a good future,but I would play Kedwell and Cody upfront on Friday.I would play a 4-4-2,Egan needs to return to CB,And Hoyte should return to RB.

Nelson
Hoyte,Egan,Legge,Martin
McGlashan,Doughty,Loft,Dickenson
Kedwell,McDonald

Subs: Bywater,Ehmer,Lennon,Hessenthaler,Dack,Linganzi,Norris

[fan_of_mulligan]

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

----------------------------------Nelson-------------------------------------
------------Legge----------------Egan-------------------Ehmer-------------
Hessenthaler----------------------------------------------------------Martin
-----------Dack------------------Loft------------------Doughty-------------
-------------------McDonald-------------Dickenson--------------------------

Subs: Bywater (GK), Hoyte, Lennon, Pritchard, McGlashan, Kedwell, Norris

Not having John Egan at centre back for The Chesterfield Game proved to be a costly error, I know it worked against Doncaster Rovers but then John Egan only played at right back for forty five minutes and I can see Gillingham reverting back to our tried and tested 5.3.2 formation, Joe Martin playing left wing back isn't something I agree with, but with the three centre backs all playing well in recent weeks (with the exception being the 3 - 2 defeat to Chesterfield) then I can see Gillingham playing a formation that accommodates the three centre backs into the starting eleven.

After scoring from the bench on Saturday, Cody McDonald is likely to start against Colchester United with Luke Norris likely to be dropped to the bench, Luke Norris was one of a number of players who put in a impressive performance against Doncaster Rovers who struggled to put in a similar performance against Chesterfield on Saturday.

I can see there being over 1,000 supporters in the away end at Colchester United and tomorrow's match is defiantly a match we cannot afford to lose and a match Gillingham really need to win, before The Christmas Matches started I was hoping that Gillingham would win against Chesterfield and Colchester United so that we went into The Bristol City Game knowing that we could potentially treat The Bristol City Match as "a bonus match" Now, Gillingham need to win against Colchester United and Bristol City if we're to pull clear of the relegation zone.

Hopefully Gills can go into The Bristol City Game off a morale boosting win against Colchester United tomorrow - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!!

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

550 Tickets had been sold on Boxing Day,so we could have around 800 fans up there.

[gillsfan1066]

Did we play, did we win,did anyone go, did anyone listen or read the scrolls, has the world ended and I am the only one alive...Is that you mother ??
A great win at Colchester today,we " whipped " the bottom team in the division but according to the report on ESPN we had only 28% of the play,8 shots to their 19 and three times the number of fouls and bookings ,three yellows can that be right ??
Anyway who cares a win is a win is a win, and perhaps we can nick a point against Bristol,then go on to grab another point against Port Vale and slowly climb out of the relegation zone.

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

I only listened to the game,but for the first 20 minutes Colchester sounded the better side,but we took the lead against the run of play through Joe Martin,and not too long after we were 0-2 up when Dack scored.Both goals were created by McDonald which was nice to see.It would have been nice to have gone on and got a third to kill it off,but as usual we sat back and invited Colchester onto us.They pulled one back and made it a really nervy second half.They had two goals ruled out for offside,and Nelson made some important saves.From listening to the game we were lucky to get all three points,but these are three important points against a relegation rival.If we can get something against Bristol City then we will be pleased.

[Garawa]

Chicago, I know you live in America but why do you persist in using ESPN as a source? I sit with the press guys and ESPN have no representatives at all. In this country Sky Sports and the BBC are the leading authors and they get their data from the Press Association (now linked with Opta). Andy Cramp is the guy that provides most of that data yet ESPN MAKE IT ALL UP every match!!!!!!! There is little point reading stats for a company that make it all up because they had no one in attendance nor pay to be associated to the Press Association!

Gills had 6 shots, Colchester 18 (4 and 7 on target). Fouls was 10 - 5 with the Gills conceding most and possession was 47 - 53 in favour of Colchester. Quite different and these will be the official stats used by the Football League and the clubs themselves.

[gillsfan1066]

Listen Chumley my old darling, I use ESPN....roll of the drums.... THE WORLD WIDE LEADER IN SPORTS for two reasons, one to piss you off, and secondly because they get there information straight from God himself,they don't need to have people in the press box of tin pot teams like Gillingham FC,they have plenty of Apostles, Archbishops, Cardinals and the odd priest or two and his Majesty Sir Lord John Simpson,the greatest goal keeper ever to pull on a green shirt.who watch the games through the clouds and call in on their mobiles the score and stats.
Thirdly I can push one button and up comes the live English football on the scrolls, our collage games, pro football, basketball and everything thats happening with just one click of my rheumatic finger, so there, put that in your pipe and smoke it, lol, GO ESPN, .....THE WORLD WIDE LEADER IN SPORT. LOL.

Part 2, Now I have ticked you off it's time for me to grovel, I have made my alterations to the puddy pal league under the Doncaster update thread,can I leave that in your capable hands ?? Many thanks.

[Garawa]

Ha ha Gillsfan, you think the Gills won 2-1 yesterday and lost 3-2 before that but those were made up as well, lol.

I have passed on your predictions to Bobbyspal.

[fan_of_mulligan]

My Thoughts on Colchester United V Gillingham....................

With two matches in three days Peter Taylor decided to name Leon Legge, Jake Hessenthaler, Jermaine McGlashan and Brennan Dickenson among the substitutes bench with Gillingham lining up as follows..... Stuart Nelson, Aaron Morris, John Egan, Max Ehmer, Harry Lennon, Joe Martin, Michael Doughty, Bradley Dack, Josh Pritchard, Luke Norris and Cody McDonald with Peter Taylor sticking with the tried and tested 5.3.2 formation which has seen Gillingham put a decent run together until our 3 - 2 defeat at home to Chesterfield - I thought Doug Loft was being rested for The Bristol City Game, but Doug Loft picked up a knock in training and I only found out about this after the game.

And Colchester United should of opened the scoring in the fifth minute as Gavin Massey was one v one with Stuart Nelson inside Gillingham's Penalty Area and Gavin Massey's powerful shot came crashing off the crossbar and between Max Ehmer and John Egan, Gillingham were able to clear there lines - what a massive let off that was because Gavin Massey should of scored.

Freddy Sears and George Moncur were caught standing in offside positions inside the opening ten minutes of the match and Colchester United were very good at picking out passes between Aaron Morris and John Egan or Joe Martin and Harry Lennon, and those passes between full back and centre back were causing us a lot of problems, especially when Gavin Massey was getting on the ball because he was looking a real threat with his pace.

Referee Trevor Kettle was completely clueless when it came to awarding corner kicks in the first half, Max Ehmer played the ball off Gavin Massey but Trevor Kettle awards a corner kick, and Max Ehmer headers Freddy Sears cross out for a corner kick and yet Gillingham were awarded a goal-kick, some very strange decisions which only got more baffling during The Second Half.

I also thought that Stuart Nelson played the role of "sweeper keeper" very effectively, covering the space in and behind John Egan, Max Ehmer and Harry Lennon when Colchester United were playing these passes between the full backs and centre backs, it defiantly helps our defence knowing that Stuart Nelson is covering every blade of grass inside his penalty area, diving at full stretch to prevent the ball going out of play for a corner kick and providing Max Ehmer, John Egan and Harry Lennon with a passing option if they need to pass the ball back to him.

But against the run of play in The Twenty Fifth Minute Gillingham Took the lead, Stuart Nelson passed the ball out to Max Ehmer from the goal-kick, who played the ball to John Egan and John Egan and Aaron Morris combined nicely down the right flank before John Egan played the ball forward to Luke Norris, who held the ball up after being challenged from Kaspars Gorkss and Luke Norris span back inside before laying the ball off to Josh Pritchard, who passed the ball down the line to Cody McDonald, and Cody McDonald got to the byline and his cross took a deflection which sat up nicely for Joe Martin to smash the ball into the bottom right corner of the net and there was nothing Sam Walker could of done about that.

A very good team goal with Gillingham passing the ball about patiently and building from the back as well, but Joe Martin's goal also highlights just how many goals Gillingham are scoring from defence recently as Leon Legge and John Egan have been chipping in with a few goals in recent weeks, and now Joe Martin has opened the scoring away at Colchester United.

Thirty Two Minutes into the match and Elliott Hewitt collides with Stuart Nelson as Stuart Nelson just gets on the end of a cross from Gavin Massey and Stuart Nelson stayed down long enough for a free kick to be given towards Gillingham - you should of given the look that Stuart Nelson gave us when he was on the floor, maybe Stuart Nelson has a career as a comedy actor when his playing days are behind him

Somehow Gillingham are two goals to the good considering that Colchester United have started the game much better then we have and again Gillingham build from the back and this time we score from going route one as Stuart Nelson's long kick down-field is chested down from Cody McDonald - maybe because we were behind Stuart Nelson's goal and quite some distance away from the other end of the pitch, but I thought that Cody McDonald had fouled Ben Gordon - anyway the move continues and Cody McDonald plays a one / two with Bradley Dack and Cody McDonald slips at the crucial moment but gets to his feet quickly and clips the ball back into Bradley Dack's path, who 's first time finish is dispatched past Sam Walker to give Gillingham a all important two goal cushion.

I also thought that Bradley Dack gave our midfield a lot of quality and creativity but also a lot of tenacity as well and you saw the difference in our midfield when Bradley Dack was substituted at half time when Amine Linganzi came on.

2 - 0 was almost 2 - 1 in The Thirty Eight Minute as Gillingham fall asleep at the quickly taken free kick was played down the line to Elliott Hewitt who has time and space to bring the ball down and pick out a low cross and Elliott Hewitt's low cross is flicked straight into Gavin Massey's path by Max Ehmer and Gavin Massey should of scored to bring Colchester United back into the game and he would of done had Stuart Nelson not instinctively tipped the ball over the crossbar and Gillingham had only conceded a corner when Gavin Massey should of scored again, and that's twice that Gavin Massey has not taken a clear cut goal-scoring opportunity.

The "Leave One Up Taylor, Leave One Up" Chant is sung every-time we bring players back for corner kicks, A lot of teams bring players back to defend corner kicks now, the big difference between Gillingham and sides like Chelsea and West Ham is that we don't have enough players with pace to hit the opposition on the counter attack, Cody McDonald and Bradley Dack are the only two players we have got who can hit the opposition on the counter attack, I would personally leave those two players on the halfway line as they are the weakest defensively, and leaving those two on the halfway line means that Colchester United have to keep 3-4 players back on the halfway line to deal with the two of them.

Some of Gillingham's passing in the first half when we were keeping possession of the ball was very nice on the eye, Michael Doughty, Bradley Dack, Josh Pritchard, Aaron Morris, Harry Lennon and Luke Norris were passing the ball about and each completed pass got a "whey" although it was far too early to be cheering passes, but some of the football Gillingham were playing, even if it meant passing the ball backwards and sideways was very good to watch.

HALF TIME: COLCHESTER UNITED 0 - 2 GILLINGHAM

Colchester United had more of the ball, they created more clear cut goal-scoring opportunities and at times our defending was fortuitous and very lucky, but goals from Joe Martin and Bradley Dack (both assisted by Cody McDonald) was the difference between the two sides, although had Gavin Massey had his shooting boots on then it would of been 2 - 2.

I wrote down a few notes at half time on things that caught my attention through-out the first forty five minutes, but seeing Amine Linganzi warm up caught me by surprise and I was even more surprised to see Bradley Dack was the player being substituted - at the time I thought we were resting Bradley Dack for The Bristol City Game, I did not know that Bradley Dack had picked up a hamstring injury.

Sammie Szmodics also comes on for Craig Eastmond for Colchester United so both teams had made one substitution each with one eye on our respective matches on The 28th of December, I mentioned to Patchy that there is a real possibility of Gillingham making at least eight changes for The Bristol City Game, simply because Gillingham are playing two matches in a short period of time - it is true that it is the same for everyone, but this is where the likes of Bristol City, Sheffield United, Preston North End and MK Dons have the edge because they have the stronger squads and can probably rotate quality with quality.

[fan_of_mulligan]

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

Colchester United come flying out of the traps at the start of The Second Half knowing that if they can score early then it is game on again, Gavin Massey cuts in and hits a shot so wide of goal that it goes out of play for a Gillingham Throw On, but Colchester United do score five minutes into The Second Half and like Gillingham's First Goal, Colchester United build this attack patiently from the back.

Kaspars Gorkss passes the ball out-wide to Ben Gordon who plays the ball inside to George Moncur who plays the ball forward to Freddy Sears, who plays a first time pass out-wide to Sean Clohessy and Sean Clohessy is give far much time to decide what he wants to do with the ball but Sean Clohessy's first cross hits Joe Martin - who turned his back on the ball - Gavin Massey then gets to the ball first and Massey plays the ball to Sean Clohessy who's first time cross is deflected on to the post by Harry Lennon and Sammie Szmodics taps in the re-bound and now it is game on again.

But the defending for Colchester United's consolation / fight back goal was very very poor (because a consolation goal is scoring when there is no chance of getting anything out of the game) but this goal from Sammie Szmodics brings Colchester United right back into the match and although Gavin Massey had two great chances in the first half, I felt that Colchester United would struggle to score based on what we saw in the first half, yes they had all the possession, but Bradley Dack and Joe Martin took there chances brilliantly to give Gillingham a comfortable but not unassailable two goal lead, now it was game on again.

And talk about goals changing games because Colchester United instantly hit Gillingham on the counter attack and Joe Martin took one for the team by bringing down Elliott Hewitt - and Me and Diane were thinking "here we go again" and just expected Trevor Kettle to show the red card - a yellow card was the correct punishment, thankfully the resulting free kick from George Moncur went over the crossbar, but this was the start of sustained and relentless attacking pressure from Colchester United and Me, Patchy and Diane started looking at the substitutes bench thinking who we could bring on to try and turn the tables back into Gillingham's favour ???

I also thought that Luke Norris's booking for his challenge on Kaspars Gorkss was especially harsh and now with Luke Norris and Joe Martin on yellow cards we might be looking to make substitutions to protect those players who are already on a yellow card rather then replacing players who are fatigued and need to be substituted because of tiredness.

Elliot Hewitt's low cross was gathered by Stuart Nelson at his near post and Gillingham had one chance to restore there two goal advantage but Cody McDonald did well to even header Joe Martin's cross on target, a better cross and perhaps Cody McDonald could of scored a identical header to the one he scored against Chesterfield.

But in The Sixty First Minute, I along with every other Gillingham Supporter thought that Colchester United had scored to make it 2 - 2, George Moncur plays the ball back to Gavin Massey and Gavin Massey plays the ball inside to Freddy Sears who has three players around him before playing the ball out-wide to Sean Clohessy, who's first time cross is headered clear by Harry Lennon and the ball goes only as far to Ben Gordon (who is basically playing as a left winger now) and Ben Gordon tries to run his way through Gillingham's Defence before being crowded out, still Gillingham cannot get the ball away from danger and rushed clearances just give the ball away cheaply and Kaspars Gorkss plays a first time pass out-wide to Sean Clohessy who's low cross skips past Harry Lennon and Freddy Sears scored for 2 - 2 - except that The Linesman's Flag sparred us from any embarrassment.

Shocking defending from Gillingham, we're just all over the place, there needs to be 2-3 players communicating on when Gillingham should pass and retain possession of the ball, not slicing clearances and getting all over the place at the back, John Egan has the armband on but the players need to be talking and communicating with each other, I guess one of the problems we have is that only Stuart Nelson, Joe Martin and Cody McDonald are older then 24 in the starting eleven, everyone else is under 24.

Another problem is that Aaron Morris is making his come-back appearance against Colchester United, Harry Lennon is making his debut and we have got two young central defenders on loan in the back five, and while we can use that as a excuse, these players were all playing well (in spells I might add in the first half) and can our entire teams collapse be down to one player ??? - I mentioned Bradley Dack's quality, creativity and tenacity in the first half and Amine Linganzi just looks like a player who lacks confidence, lacks belief and is a completely different style of player to Bradley Dack ( being a different style isn't a criticism, because I thought Michael Doughty would push forward), but Amine Linganzi just looks like a player who knows his time is up at Gillingham Football Club - Injuries have not helped Linganzi, but maybe Amine Linganzi needs to know he is going to start 5-6 games in a row and I just don't see that happening at Gillingham with the number of central midfielder options we have got available to call upon.

Colchester United are dominating this Second Half, George Moncur see's his shot deflected out of play for a corner kick, but Colchester United have a even better goal-scoring opportunity in The 64th Minute as Ben Gordon plays the ball inside to Gavin Massey who is at least charged down by Michael Doughty but Gavin Massey skips past Michael Doughty's challenge and as Michael Doughty lunges in Gavin Massey skips past his challenge again and Gavin Massey's shot takes a slight deflection off Harry Lennon's foot and the ball bounces awkwardly in-front of Stuart Nelson who blocks and claws the ball out and Harry Lennon was in the right place to take a touch and smash the ball clear and away from danger - unfortunately we have no-one up-front to stick the ball to and the ball keeps coming back again and again, but the nervousness in our defence means that Harry Lennon, John Egan and Max Ehmer are taking the safety first option of getting the ball away from our goal when really Gillingham can do with a five minute spell of keeping possession of the ball just so that we grow back into the match and stop this relentless pressure building on our own goal.

Sixty Six Minutes into the match and I thought Cody McDonald's challenge on Sean Clohessy was a fair challenge but Referee Trevor Kettle controversially gave Colchester United just when we thought for a moment that Cody McDonald restored Gillingham's two goal advantage with a perfectly good goal - I thought Cody McDonald read the bounce of the ball a lot better then Sean Clohessy and Gillingham needed that goal because 3 - 1 would of been undeserved and a real sucker punch, and it would of killed any momentum that Colchester United were building, a bit like Chesterfield's third goal against Gillingham because the atmosphere changed completely from 2 - 2 when we were 3 - 2 down.

Sixty Seven Minutes into the match and Luke Norris is substituted and Danny Kedwell comes on in his place, Luke Norris is on a yellow card and Danny Kedwell will give Gillingham the option of sticking the ball to someone in the final third who can hold the ball up, flick the ball on and bring others into play, so the substitution is right tactically, but we also are protecting one of our players who could be sent off and be out of the match against Bristol City.

Seventy Minutes into the match and I thought Gavin Massey scored the equaliser for Colchester United, Sean Clohessy was playing as a right winger now and with Ben Gordon down the left it felt like Colchester United were playing a 2.6.2 formation, Sean Clohessy played the ball inside to George Moncur who played the ball out-wide to Gavin Massey and Gavin Massey had too much time and space to pick his spot as neither Aaron Morris or Josh Pritchard closed Gavin Massey down and Gavin Massey's shot flashed across the face of goal and only just went wide of Stuart Nelson's left hand post - I thought Colchester United had equalised and every-time they ventured forward I was expecting them to score.

Seventy Six Minutes into the match and Aaron Morris unsurprisingly is substituted and Brennan Dickenson comes on in his place, Gillingham have now changed there formation to a 4.3.3 formation with Amine Linganzi, Michael Doughty and Josh Pritchard playing in-front of the back four, Cody McDonald and Brennan Dickenson played as wingers with Danny Kedwell down the middle as the main central striker.

Diane mentioned that the two subs at half time shouldn't be included in the additional time and I eventually understood the point she was making, although one goal for Colchester United, four subs and three disallowed goals means that there is going to be quite a bit of additional time added on at the end of the match - there always is at least five minutes shown when Gillingham are trying to protect a slender lead - Rhys Healey has also come on for Elliott Hewitt as Colchester United look to score a equaliser and there is plenty of time left for them to do precisely that.

Goerge Moncur see's his shot go well over Gillingahm's Crossbar and Tony Humes rolls the last roll of the dice as Sanchez Watt comes on for Sean Clohessy in The Eighty Sixth Minute, and The First thing Sanchez Watt does is win a free kick in a promising position for Colchester United and John Egan is The Third Gillingham Player to be shown a yellow card.

[fan_of_mulligan]

Chants Of "COME ON GILLINGHAM" "WAKE UP GILLINGHAM", "GET IT FORWARD" And sigh's of frustration and aggravation could be clearly heard in the away end which by now was freezing cold, the performance from Gillingham in The Second Half has been unacceptable, but it will be a forgivable performance if Gillingham can somehow manage to hold on to three crucial points - IF at the moment was a key word because the way Colchester United were playing it just felt like it was only a matter of time before they equalised.

Eighty Nine Minutes into the match and it took a world class save from Stuart Nelson to preserve our slender lead, Sanchez Watt used his pace and trickery to go past Josh Pritchard before whipping in a low cross with pace and Amine Linganzi could only divert the ball into Freddy Sears path and The Former West Ham Forward saw his low effort (which should of gone into the bottom left corner of the net) brilliantly saved by Stuart Nelson and Harry Lennon cleared the second ball, Colchester United Players and Supporters could not believe that was not a goal and if your talking big saves / big moments at crucial stages in a match, then that was a crucial moment and a big save from Stuart Nelson.

Brennan Dickenson saw his shot go one yard wide of Sam Walker’s left hand post, but there was one big chance left for Colchester United in The Fourth Minute of added time, Ben Gordon plays the ball inside to Gavin Massey who plays the ball to Freddy Sears inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area and Freddy Sears passes the ball out-wide to Sanchez Watt who see’s his cross cut out by Amine Linganzi but Ben Gordon gets to the ball first ahead of John Egan and Max Ehmer bails out John Egan and Amine Linganzi with a important interception, but still Gillingham cannot get the ball away.

The ball falls to Sanchez Watt who see’s his shot take a massive deflection off John Egan and the ball loops up into the air and Freddy Sears headers the ball past the committed Stuart Nelson and Rhys Healey taps the ball in and with the way Colchester United were celebrating we just felt that Gillingham had conceded another injury time equaliser to draw the game 2 - 2, that was until we saw The Linesman’s Flag on the far side and a massive cheer erupted from the away end like Gillingham had scored a goal.

And that was that, Gillingham somehow managed to win at The Weston Homes Community Stadium and if Gillingham were a cat on Boxing Day then we will have used all nine lives, two offside goals, some fantastic saves from Stuart Nelson and so many chances for the home side, but that result will do nicely.

COLCHESTER UNITED 1 - 2 GILLINGHAM

Make no mistake about it, Gillingham were very very lucky and very fortuitous to win against Colchester United, but considering that we got nothing away at Sheffield United, Notts County and Coventry City then perhaps Gillingham were duo one of these wins where we deserved to lose or draw and yet managed to pick up all three points.

Colchester United was a match Gillingham had to win, not just because we can open a five point gap between ourselves and Colchester United, but Gillingham are now three points clear of the relegation zone (four if you take goal difference into consideration) and with Colchester United, Yeovil Town, Crewe Alexandra and Crawley Town in the relegation zone, Gillingham have taken ten points from those four sides in the league, if we can replicate that points tally in the reverse fixtures and pick up a few wins from the top sides, then Gillingham should be alright this season - although it will be close.

I was hoping that Gillingham would go into The Bristol City Game knowing we could treat The Bristol City like “a bonus match” but not winning against Chesterfield has put pressure on Gillingham to get a result against The League One League Leaders, at least we go into the match off the back of a win against Colchester United - I am still not sure how we managed to win but we gladly take the three points and hope that the players learn some valuable lesson’s from the way we played in The Second Half and acknowledge that Gillingham cannot put in those type of performances too many times this season and expect to get anything out of the match, let alone three points.

Max Ehmer, Harry Lennon, Michael Doughty, Bradley Dack, Josh Pritchard, Aaron Morris, Jake Hessenthaler, John Egan, Luke Norris & Brennan Dickenson, gives you a idea of the team Gillingham are trying to build, young players who are eager to play competitive first team football and players who can pass and retain possession of the ball, with Jake Hessenthaler, Bradley Dack, Michael Doughty and Aaron Morris, they are a group of young midfielders with a lot of energy who can control the middle of the park for Gillingham, and when we’re on the front-foot we look a really decent side.

I also thought that when Gillingham signed Josh Pritchard in the summer that Josh Pritchard was the player we were going to build the midfield around having played in The Europa League and scored against Beşiktaş away, I thought Josh Pritchard could be the lynchpin of Gillingham’s Midfield and we just have not seen those type of performances from Josh Pritchard so far, maybe it is because Josh Pritchard hasn’t had a regular run in the starting eleven and he needs 3-4 games to show us what he can really do ???

I also tweeted my thoughts and opinion’s on the game on Twitter and I also congratulated Harry Lennon for making his debut for Gillingham Football Club and I thought that the young defender played his part in making sure that Gillingham picked up all three points, it cannot be easy for a young defender to make there competitive debut away from home in a relegation six pointer, and also play as a left centre back in a three man central defence, Harry Lennon was unfortunate to deflect Sean Clohessy’s low cross onto the post which lead to Colchester United scoring and Leon Legge scored a own goal against Chesterfield, both defenders have tried to divert the ball away from goal and tried to do the right thing, but both defenders have ended up putting (or almost putting) the ball into the back of there own net.

I had to post My Match Report in Three Posts because of The Character Limit - Good thing I didn't post this report on Twitter.....

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

Chants Of "COME ON GILLINGHAM" "WAKE UP GILLINGHAM", "GET IT FORWARD" And sigh's of frustration and aggravation could be clearly heard in the away end which by now was freezing cold, the performance from Gillingham in The Second Half has been unacceptable, but it will be a forgivable performance if Gillingham can somehow manage to hold on to three crucial points - IF at the moment was a key word because the way Colchester United were playing it just felt like it was only a matter of time before they equalised.

Eighty Nine Minutes into the match and it took a world class save from Stuart Nelson to preserve our slender lead, Sanchez Watt used his pace and trickery to go past Josh Pritchard before whipping in a low cross with pace and Amine Linganzi could only divert the ball into Freddy Sears path and The Former West Ham Forward saw his low effort (which should of gone into the bottom left corner of the net) brilliantly saved by Stuart Nelson and Harry Lennon cleared the second ball, Colchester United Players and Supporters could not believe that was not a goal and if your talking big saves / big moments at crucial stages in a match, then that was a crucial moment and a big save from Stuart Nelson.

Brennan Dickenson saw his shot go one yard wide of Sam Walker’s left hand post, but there was one big chance left for Colchester United in The Fourth Minute of added time, Ben Gordon plays the ball inside to Gavin Massey who plays the ball to Freddy Sears inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area and Freddy Sears passes the ball out-wide to Sanchez Watt who see’s his cross cut out by Amine Linganzi but Ben Gordon gets to the ball first ahead of John Egan and Max Ehmer bails out John Egan and Amine Linganzi with a important interception, but still Gillingham cannot get the ball away.

The ball falls to Sanchez Watt who see’s his shot take a massive deflection off John Egan and the ball loops up into the air and Freddy Sears headers the ball past the committed Stuart Nelson and Rhys Healey taps the ball in and with the way Colchester United were celebrating we just felt that Gillingham had conceded another injury time equaliser to draw the game 2 - 2, that was until we saw The Linesman’s Flag on the far side and a massive cheer erupted from the away end like Gillingham had scored a goal.

And that was that, Gillingham somehow managed to win at The Weston Homes Community Stadium and if Gillingham were a cat on Boxing Day then we will have used all nine lives, two offside goals, some fantastic saves from Stuart Nelson and so many chances for the home side, but that result will do nicely.

COLCHESTER UNITED 1 - 2 GILLINGHAM

Make no mistake about it, Gillingham were very very lucky and very fortuitous to win against Colchester United, but considering that we got nothing away at Sheffield United, Notts County and Coventry City then perhaps Gillingham were duo one of these wins where we deserved to lose or draw and yet managed to pick up all three points.

Colchester United was a match Gillingham had to win, not just because we can open a five point gap between ourselves and Colchester United, but Gillingham are now three points clear of the relegation zone (four if you take goal difference into consideration) and with Colchester United, Yeovil Town, Crewe Alexandra and Crawley Town in the relegation zone, Gillingham have taken ten points from those four sides in the league, if we can replicate that points tally in the reverse fixtures and pick up a few wins from the top sides, then Gillingham should be alright this season - although it will be close.

I was hoping that Gillingham would go into The Bristol City Game knowing we could treat The Bristol City like “a bonus match” but not winning against Chesterfield has put pressure on Gillingham to get a result against The League One League Leaders, at least we go into the match off the back of a win against Colchester United - I am still not sure how we managed to win but we gladly take the three points and hope that the players learn some valuable lesson’s from the way we played in The Second Half and acknowledge that Gillingham cannot put in those type of performances too many times this season and expect to get anything out of the match, let alone three points.

Max Ehmer, Harry Lennon, Michael Doughty, Bradley Dack, Josh Pritchard, Aaron Morris, Jake Hessenthaler, John Egan, Luke Norris & Brennan Dickenson, gives you a idea of the team Gillingham are trying to build, young players who are eager to play competitive first team football and players who can pass and retain possession of the ball, with Jake Hessenthaler, Bradley Dack, Michael Doughty and Aaron Morris, they are a group of young midfielders with a lot of energy who can control the middle of the park for Gillingham, and when we’re on the front-foot we look a really decent side.

I also thought that when Gillingham signed Josh Pritchard in the summer that Josh Pritchard was the player we were going to build the midfield around having played in The Europa League and scored against Beşiktaş away, I thought Josh Pritchard could be the lynchpin of Gillingham’s Midfield and we just have not seen those type of performances from Josh Pritchard so far, maybe it is because Josh Pritchard hasn’t had a regular run in the starting eleven and he needs 3-4 games to show us what he can really do ???

I also tweeted my thoughts and opinion’s on the game on Twitter and I also congratulated Harry Lennon for making his debut for Gillingham Football Club and I thought that the young defender played his part in making sure that Gillingham picked up all three points, it cannot be easy for a young defender to make there competitive debut away from home in a relegation six pointer, and also play as a left centre back in a three man central defence, Harry Lennon was unfortunate to deflect Sean Clohessy’s low cross onto the post which lead to Colchester United scoring and Leon Legge scored a own goal against Chesterfield, both defenders have tried to divert the ball away from goal and tried to do the right thing, but both defenders have ended up putting (or almost putting) the ball into the back of there own net.

I had to post My Match Report in Three Posts because of The Character Limit - Good thing I didn't post this report on Twitter.....

You would have probably needed 10,000 characters!