Gillingham Town 3 v 0 Bridport – Tue 09/09/14
With only three points to show for their previous six league outings it was getting increasingly important for the Gills to start getting some points on the board. There was a debut for Dariush Noonan and places on the bench for fellow new signings Ryan Gay and Jonathan Bithel.
This message and the improved performance in the last two games must have made an impression on the players because they started the game in a determined and confident mood. It took only 2 minutes for the Gills to get their first good chance when a Will Pike cross was headed towards goal by Benjani Ben Salem. The looping header seemed goal bound but the Bridport keeper, Ashley Weeks, just managed to tip the ball over the bar. When the resultant corner was cleared to the edge of the area the ball fell to Nick Compton who, with lots of time, drilled a shot at goal which flew just over the bar.
The Gills continued with their fine play and they opened the scoring on the quarter hour mark when Steve Smith blocked a defender’s clearance on the right wing and then delivered the ball into the area. Despite being marked by two defenders Benjani Ben Salem made it to the ball first and volleyed the ball past Weeks from the edge of the six yard box to give the Gills a 1-0 lead.
Bridport rallied and shortly after came their first good chance when a shot from distance had Scott Armstrong beaten but the effort clipped the bar. Bridport again went close when the ball fell to Tom Richardson inside the area but he somehow contrived to put his shot over the bar.
The drama continued when, with 21 minutes on the clock, the Gills’ scored a second goal. Benjani Ben Salem nicked the ball from a hesitant defender inside the right hand side of the area and then blasted a shot that Weeks got a hand to but couldn’t stop because of the power in the shot.
Benjani got his hat-trick just 3 minutes later when a clever Dan Cox backheel left him through on goal and this time he opted for accuracy rather than power by slotting the ball just out of reach of Weeks but inside the post.
Compared to this opening period the rest of the half was quite mediocre with no real chances being created by either side, so the Gills went in at halftime with a 3-0 lead.
Bridport came out in a determined mood for the second half and after just 5 minutes Scott Armstrong had to tip a Tom Richardson header over the bar. The Gills were matching them though and just 2 minutes later Steve Smith saw his effort strike the post. Just after this the Gills broke out of defence in numbers and Benjani Ben Salem played the ball through to Steve whose effort this time was just wide of the mark
Just after this Steve had another shot go just the wrong side of the post and then a shot from the edge of the area by Ashley Clarke also went about a foot wide of the mark.
With 11 minutes left Ryan Gay played a ball into the area that, despite his best efforts, Steve Smith could only get minimal contact with and once again the ball flew wide of goal.
The game then settled down as the Gills sat back on their lead and they ran out 3-0 winners.
The attendance was 87 and, unsurprisingly, the Man of the Match was Benjani Ben Salem.
Next up for the Gills is a trip to Bitton on Saturday 13thSeptember.
Gills’ line up: Armstrong, Noonan, Thomson, Compton, Hewlett, Sansom, Cox, Clarke, Smith (Bithel 83), Ben Salem (Gay 65), Pike (Murray 83). Unused subs: Davis, Pawley
Terry Lucas
