Match Reports
Lincoln (H): Gills felled in stoppage time
Published by Simon Head on January 27, 2009
Gillingham fell to their second defeat in ten matches, with goals from Geoff Horsfield and Dany N’Guessan doing the damage. But that doesn’t tell the full story of the game.
The first half was dominated by the Gills, with Mark Stimson’s side playing some slick passing football, while keeping Lincoln at arm’s length. After Adam Miller was barged off the ball in the penalty area, the referee pointed to the spot. Simeon Jackson stepped up, put the ball in the top left hand corner and gave the Gills a richly-deserved one-nil lead.
The second half, however, was a completely different affair.
Virtually everything the Gills did well in the first half, they did poorly in the second. Misplaced passes littered the second period as Gillingham’s confidence drained away in front of our eyes.
The major turning point of the game, however, couldn’t be blamed on any single player. Gillingham were undone by a rank bad official, plain and simple.
The assistant on the Medway Stand touchline was consistently caught out of position and missed a series of clear offside calls early in the second half. But despite the wailing and gnashing of teeth coming from the fans behind him, his ineptitude continued, leading directly to Lincoln’s equaliser.
Firstly, let’s take the finish from Horsfield. It was stunning. Twenty five yards, on the angle, off the underside of the crossbar. It was one of the best strikes seen at Priestfield in many a season. It was one of those goals that was so good, even the fans of the team who concede it tend to applaud. It really was that good.
But nobody around me applauded it. I certainly didn’t. I, along with half the Medway Stand and half the Gordon Road Stand, saw Horsfield was a good yard offside when the long ball was played forward. The assistant, crucially, didn’t. The flag stayed down, and despite huge appeals for offside from that end of the ground, play continued and Horsfield scored his wonder goal.
It wasn’t the first offside decision that assistant missed and it wasn’t his last, either, though he was noticeably sharper after the goal. I suspect he knew he’d dropped a clanger.
So, after the goal that never should have been, the Gills needed to reassert their first half dominance, but it never happened. Instead they were drawn into matching Lincoln’s physical long-ball approach and as a result the Imps came right back into the game.
With time running out the Gills started to pin Lincoln back in their half, but the chances wouldn’t go in. Jackson, Oli and Southall all had chances, but the ball wouldn’t go in. Then disaster struck.
Adam Miller made a strong run from midfield that took him from the centre circle to the edge of the penalty area, where a pair of Lincoln defenders sent him crashing to the turf. The referee, in a departure from his form throughout the game, didn’t blow up and Lincoln broke. A through ball by sub Adrian Patulea found Dany N’Guessan, who outstripped Stuart Lewis and evaded the onrushing Simon Royce before stabbing the ball into an empty net with just two minutes remaining.
Gillingham had been mugged. Firstly by a shocking non-decision from the assistant, then by a sucker-punch counter-attack. It was harsh on Stimson’s side, who had worked hard throughout the match. They allowed the level of their performance to drop in the second half and it cost them dear, but overall they certainly deserved at least a point.
Considering Lincoln’s vastly improved second half showing, a point would probably have been a fair result, but football’s not always fair, and the Gills ended up on the wrong end of the result.
The final whistle blew to a few boos. You’d like to think that they were simply boos of frustration at the result, or boos at the officials, but sadly that wasn’t the case for everyone. One fan decided to have a pop at Stimson after the final whistle, while I overheard another fan blaming Adam Miller for the winning goal, despite the fact that the ball travelled 80 yards after he was dispossessed/fouled.
Gillingham have been on a superb run of form of late, and a win at Chester this weekend will keep that run going. Two defeats from ten games is good form. It could have been better, but in reality we probably only dropped one point today. We just weren’t quite good enough to win it today.
Simon Head
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