Gillingham match thread

WTF - I only went to the bathroom just after Argo scored - came back and WTF!!!!
Anyway its only the League cup. Concentrate now on the Devon Bowl.

Seem to recall 97-98 game every gills player was 6foot 8. Littlejohn at left back corrazin at right back. Illman and wilson leading the line?
Think we took the lead defeated late on.

Remember the 3-1 v brighton too.....

Life very different then.

Edit for spelling/make sense

Jethro wrote:

I blame fat twat in the commentary box.
Hopefully he swore on air get rid of him

did anyone listen to him?

Cornish Chris wrote:

John Hawkins wrote:

As sport after sport leaves the freeview terrestial media and hops off to sky/internet/PPV, most end up ghettoising themselves with the wrinkly set. I don't know any youngster who is remotely interested in test cricket. The Sky thing must have had a big effect. I certainly don't watch test cricket anymore.

The most frustrating thing about losing Test cricket to Murdoch is that it came immediately after the incredible 2005 Ashes. I heard Graeme Swann say on TMS that 13 million people watched the 2005 Ashes live, and less than 1 million watched the 2009 series.

Now the only way to watch live Test cricket is to pay £90 for a ticket, £40+ a month for a Sky subscription or one of those one-off packages from Now TV. It's not conducive to building an audience.

You can get the cricket free by streaming it from sites like crictime, cricfree and streamking.

Player ratings and a little report from me.

McCormick - 5 - Can't really fault him for the goals but wasn't exactly a wonderful performance. Shaky in the air at times, dropped the ball too much and punches the ball more than Jake Cole. Kicking, again, not up to standard.
Mellor - 7 - Actually thought he was much better today. More defensively sound than he has been at times and was certainly lively to get forward. Nothing groundbreaking from him today, but solid enough against a superior side. He was certainly one of the more positive outcomes of today.
Nelson - 7 - A fairly middle of the road performance from him today. Not as good as we know he can be but was in general relatively strong. Decent in the air and not bad on the ground either. Until the goals, where everyone seemed to muck up, he had had a genuinely good game, and we need to see those replays teamwork out just quite what went on.
Hartley - 6 - Distribution was very poor today, a little too hoofy for my liking as soon as he gets put under any sort of remote pressure. Majorly at fault for the first goal conceded as well. He was decent defensively for most of the game but the distribution and hugely being at fault for the first goal means I've marked him down.
Sawyer - 7 - A very positive performance from him. Strong defensively and is now overlapping very well. He's usually very much a middle of the road, unspectacular type but tonight I thought he was genuinely very good. Certainly the much needed full-time left back after a host of different players on loan and short contracts, who never really fully worked out. A shame he was at fault for the second goal, so have had to reduce his mark.
Boateng - 8 - MOTM - If he keeps going as he has done so far then we can start to get really excited, I just hope we can keep him past January based on his time with us. He sits deep, either wins the ball fiercely in the air or the ground or will collect it from the defence before bringing it out and finding more attacking options. I hope he uses his power to drive forwards more as well, because he has all the technical skill to go with it. His passing was a little hit and miss at times and occasionally was a little careless with the ball, but overall it was another good performance from him.
McHugh - 6 - After a good performance against Wimbledon, McHugh drifted in and out of this game. At times he was vital, making key headers, blocks and passes before a large phase would come along where he barely found the ball. I do think him in midfield can work but he still needs to work a bit more on his positioning, and his usually excellent distribution was a little off today.
Jervis - 6 - I'm not sure he got into the game enough in the time he was on but didn't do anything very bad of note, but nothing good of note either. Very difficult to judge so wouldn't look too much into this rating, I just hope he's injury free, the last thing we need to this squad is injuries, and I hope it was just a little tweak that Adams sensibly did not risk because it's simply just a cup game and not worth it.
Carey - 6 - I don't really see why the fuss about him today. I though he was excellent against Wimbledon but the Carey today was much more miss than hit, as opposed to Saturday where he was hit more than miss. Long aerial balls don't suit his style at all so I've no idea why we persisted with them, and when he got the ball on the ground bar the odd good bit of skill or decent pass I felt he gave possession away far too cheaply. However, his set-pieces were very good and it's wonderful we have a player who can pull set-pieces off like he can. I do think he'll be important for us, but wasn't too keen this evening.
Wylde - 7 - A low 7 realistically but did alright. Good in the first half and even in the second he could really terrorise the Gillingham full back. Would like to see him creating more chances than he did and he could and maybe should have scored in the first half, but another decent performance with yet again more positive signs from him. He really will excite and frustrate in equal measures, but if he can get consistently playing at a good standard then we're in for a real treat.
Reid - 7 - The service up to him was pretty poor but overall I can't fault his performance too much. Strong and held the ball up well, alongside his excellent link-up play, a goal would have really topped off his performance. I'm genuinely interested to see what Frank Harper has to say about 'Lazy Boy Reuben' today because he chased everything and followed the defence up and the keeper too.. Not that he's never done it before, but he was certainly very keen to close down space today. A job well done for him from me.

Tanner - 6 - Another who was so hit and miss. On one side he could beat a man brilliantly with skill or pace, or other times he would bottle it and lose the ball too cheaply. I was impressed by how strong he can be and how willing he was to win the ball back but his poor crossing and lack of end product have led me to giving him the rating I have. Still, positive signs for sure and there's a cracking player in there if Adams (or whoever) can nurture him effectively.
Brunt - 5 - Didn't really do anything.
Simpson - N/A - Not enough time to get a rating but poor nonetheless. Didn't look remotely match fit and got completely passed by as well. Hope everything with him is ok fitness wise because to me he didn't look good at all.

So, overall I don't think we did too badly, but don't think we did too well either, in the first half we were alright, and carved open some decent chances most notably from Wylde and Reid, but neither could convert. There were certainly signs of the link-up play seen at Wimbledon, but not as much as I'd have liked, because when we got going we were very good at finding and probing space, and our attacking players certainly did cause problems to members of the Gillingham squad. We could have come out of the first 45 having done better, but it was an alright start. Perhaps a little dull and to me it felt in danger of fizzling out.

In the second half there wasn't a world of difference. We were sloppy with our final ball again and Gillingham didn't really create much to threaten us. We looked pretty evenly matched which, while a positive due to their league status, is perhaps not overly comparable due to the fact of the competition the game was in. We could match the, even if both teams were sloppy and lacked much killer instinct. A good goal by Tanner looked to have put us into extra-time at least but two horrendous, catastrophic errors from Tanner and Hartley for the first, and Sawyer as I'm told from the second cost us the game. A real, real shame.

Overall I don't really feel we were particularly stand-out, I certainly haven't come away from the game feeling positive after a spirited defeat. Maybe that was just because there was nothing spirited about it, we just basically matched them and then lost because of sloppy individual errors and players just switching off. It's hard to feel positive about anything when you lose in such a way, irrespective of opposition.

I'm sure it'll all come good and there were definitely moments of good play and some good football, but we need to cut out these defensive errors. We saw them in pre-season, and we can't afford for them to happen to us in competitive games, certainly not in the league.

Ah well, onwards and upwards. Onto Pompey we march.. COYG!

New manager New players new system.but the end of the day its still the same old same old argo iam afraid

It's always a shame to lose, but on the bright side, we're out of the League Cup.

Fairly shite performance last night in a really dull match. Their player Dack was a joy to watch mind! Shame Jervis went off early. Tanner scored a cracking goal and had a couple nice flicks and runs, but mostly he was poor with his deliveries into the box and also general common sense when passing the ball simple - criminal for the equaliser. We lost that outlet without Jervis and Hartley should know better by now that Reid isn't a target man to try persistent hoof ball at. A few too many players were slightly off their games, but I'm confident they'll be up for Saturday. 

AFT might need to sell a few more calendars also for the maintenance pot as the PA in the Devonport is non-existent, TVs not on/working and lights in the bogs off - relatively minor points, but its all part of the cut-price Home Park experience...

Oh well, one cup down, two to go.

RegGreen wrote:

New manager New players new system.but the end of the day its still the same old same old argo iam afraid

It's another Argyle team re build, we won't hit the ground running hopefully we gel and kick on IMO it would be unfair on Adams to expect us to storm the league.

Iggy wrote:

RegGreen wrote:

New manager New players new system.but the end of the day its still the same old same old argo iam afraid

It's another Argyle team re build, we won't hit the ground running hopefully we gel and kick on IMO it would be unfair on Adams to expect us to storm the league.

so thats the plan then re build the team each year cheaper than the last one each year and hope to fluke it

The thing is, League 2 is so awful that by the law of averages we probably will fluke it eventually. Just imagine the Brent-centred bukkake party that would follow that.

RegGreen wrote:

Iggy wrote:

RegGreen wrote:

New manager New players new system.but the end of the day its still the same old same old argo iam afraid

It's another Argyle team re build, we won't hit the ground running hopefully we gel and kick on IMO it would be unfair on Adams to expect us to storm the league.

so thats the plan then re build the team each year cheaper than the last one each year and hope to fluke it

In a nutshell.

Cornish Chris wrote:

The thing is, League 2 is so awful that by the law of averages we probably will fluke it eventually. Just imagine the Brent-centred bukkake party that would follow that.

plus the sky cameras fixed on plebby & brent kissing and cuddling having sex with each other at the final whistle

This observation is not mine but was mentioned to me last night but I can't remember who it was that said it...

One nice touch was the advertising in the Gents. "Hospitality for the Gillingham game only £25!". Obviously of great interest to everybody able to see it and sure to generate business.

Generate business whilst you doing your business.....when your just hanging around of course.

Think on a little, Zyph...

How many fans use the gents for an away game? Cunning stunt if ever I saw one.

You've lost me there, Iggy.

Never seen a program seller

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

You've lost me there, Iggy.

The only match we played prior to last night was Wimbledon away, what's the point in advertising in an empty stadium?

Second round draw is after the Donny vs Leeds game tomorrow night...........snigger.

Iggy wrote:

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

You've lost me there, Iggy.

The only match we played prior to last night was Wimbledon away, what's the point in advertising in an empty stadium?

Oh I see.

There was a home game but it is easy to forget the game v Reading u21s.

The irony was that anybody seeing the ads for hospitality v Gillingham last night would already have paid and be in the ground and possibly halfway through watching said Gillingham game making them unlikely upgraders.

The buzz these days is all about targeted marketing and this couldn't really have missed the target any more badly.

Angry wrote:

Jethro wrote:

I blame fat twat in the commentary box.
Hopefully he swore on air get rid of him

did anyone listen to him?

Only briefly, and that was on the kitchen radio while doing some paperwork.

Cornish Chris wrote:

It's always a shame to lose, but on the bright side, we're out of the League Cup.

Yeah, no lucrative money spinning ties this season (again).

A team from League Two will go far in this competition this season, someone like Portsmouth or Luton Town or Oxford United. Not us though, typical.