Gillingham Town 2 v 3 Brislington – 07/09/13
This game got off to an explosive start when the Referee awarded the Gills a penalty in the 5thminute when Ben Thomson was brought down inside the area. This was duly converted by Ryan Murray who sent Brislington keeper, Chris Humphries, the wrong way.
Brislington nearly equalized 2 minutes later when Gills’ keeper Jamie Beale could only parry a wicked shot from just outside the area into the path of another striker. He managed to bundle the ball over the line but was adjudged to have been offside by the Assistant Referee
The Gills then had a period of sustained pressure and came close to doubling their lead after 21 minutes when a long ball out of defence by Gary Bowles was flicked on by the head of Ben Thomson into the path of his brother Nick, who was through on goal. Unfortunately Nick’s shot wasn’t the best and Humphries managed to block the effort with his legs.
Just before the half hour mark Ben beat his marker again and drove into the area along the bye line before laying the ball off to Dan Cox in the area of the penalty spot. Dan’s shot was heading for the top left corner of the goal when Humphries pulled off a superb one handed save to tip the ball over the bar for a corner. When the corner was taken it fell to Dan Cox again and his effort was thwarted by a last ditch block. This was followed by a goalmouth scramble that saw three or four other Gills’ efforts which were all blocked.
With 35 minutes played Dan Cox suffered a nasty cut to his face and had to be replaced by Jon Vance. Moments later some neat footwork by Brislington’s Frank Gingell allowed him to get past Ryan Murray and he then put his shot past Jamie Beale to make it all level at 1-1.
The Gills were still the better team though with Ben Thomson in particular making life very difficult for the Brislington defence. Their dominance was rewarded in the 2ndminute of first half additional time when Ben once again beat his marker and then brought the ball onto his left foot to blast it past Humphries and restore the Gills’ one goal lead at 2-1.
The second half started well for the Gills when a really slick move resulted in Ben Thomson laying the ball off to his brother Nick well inside the area but Nick’s shot was tipped over the bar by Humphries who was having a brilliant game.
7 minutes into the second half Brislington equalized when a totally unmarked Mike Rimmer headed home a corner. Following this the Gills didn’t look the same team and a lot of the composure went from their play. This allowed Brislington back into the game and they started to look the more likely to score, which they did just before the hour mark when Gills’ keeper Jamie Beale brought down Gingell just inside his area and the penalty was slotted home by Danny Barwood.
This goal seemed to spur the Gills on and once again they took control of the game but despite their best efforts to get back into the game they couldn’t convert the pressure into goals and Brislington held on for the win.
Man of the Match was Ben Thomson.
Gills line-up: Beale, Murray, Smeeton, Vallis, Compton, Bowles, Cox (Vance 35), Clarke, Thomson N (Gale 64), Thomson B, Rodriguez (Thompson 64). Unused sub: Foster.
