The first game of the 2013/14 campaign was against Slimbridge, who were an unknown quantity to the Gills as this is their first season in the Western League, having transferred in from the Hellenic League.
Adrian Foster was able to put out his expected team with the only noticeable absence being that of Dan Cox, who is out through injury. There were League debuts for Ryan Murray (again!), Gary Bowles, Dan Sansom and Jack Baker.
Both teams started the game playing some neat football and it was Slimbridge who had the first good chance. The Gills defence failed to clear a corner and the ball dropped to a Swans’ striker just outside the 6 yard box. Luckily Gills’ keeper Jamie Beale was alert to the danger and blocked the effort.
The first Gills’ chance came on 15 minutes when Ryan Murray drove down the right wing and the across the edge of the area. However, his left footed shot lacked accuracy and sailed about a yard wide of the left post.
In the very next minute Ryan went on another drive down the right wing, this time laying the ball off to Lee Gale whose tame shot from just inside the area was collected easily by the Swans’ keeper Dave Evans.
The Gills’ started to get into the game a bit more now and the breakthrough came in the 25th minute when Aaron Rodriguez went on a mazy run into the left hand side of the area beating three defenders. He laid the ball off to Ben Thomson who, in turn, fed it to Harry Baker just inside the area in front of goal. Harry put the ball onto his right foot and his shot screamed past the keeper into the right hand side of the goal to give the Gills a 1-0 lead.
The goal seemed to settle the Gills’ players down and they started to play in their normal style passing the ball and, as a result, slowly started to dominate the game. With 5 minutes left in the half a really good move involving several Gills’ players ended with Lee Gale taking a shot from the edge of the area, but he sliced his shot over and wide of goal.
So the first half ended with the Gills having slightly edged it and having a 1-0 lead
The Gills got a dream start to the second half when they scored within the first minute. Once again it was Aaron Rodriguez causing problems with another run into the left side of the box. He fed the ball to Ben Thomson and when his effort was blocked Lee Gale was in the right place at the right time to tap the ball over the line from a couple of yards out to make it 2-0 to the Gills.
Once again the goal seemed to give the Gills’ players confidence and they really started to control the game now. However, they couldn’t turn the pressure into good chances, although several half chances were created. The next good chance though didn’t come till the 78thminute when Ben Thomson beat a couple of players down the right wing and hit a good shot towards goal but this was well blocked by Evans.
The Gills’ goal wasn’t really threatened in the second half until the very last minute when, following a corner, Edward Ward had a shot at goal from inside the 6 yard box, but he spurned the chance by putting his shot about a foot wide of the post.
So a confident performance by the Gills in their first game of the new season ended with a victory and a clean sheet. A good all round performance with the defence, including the new central pairing of Jack Vallis and Gary Bowles, looking really solid.
Man of the Match was Nick Compton.
Gills line-up: Beale, Murray, Smeeton, Vallis, Bowles, Compton, Baker, Clarke (Thomson N 80), Gale, Thomson B, Rodriguez (Thompson 66). Unused subs: Sansom, Foster
Terry Lucas
