Fan Blog
fomblog: Norwich City – JPT (H)
Published by Lee Clifton on October 8, 2009
Having looked outside the window I knew the weather for tonight’s game against Norwich wasn’t going to be pleasant so after getting my belonging’s together (My Mobile Phone, Money, and my Match Tickets) I put my coat on and left the house at 5.40 and made my way down towards Rainham Train Station, As I walked down Station Road I saw the barriers on the level crossing go down and started to run towards Rainham Train Station and much to my relief the train leaving was on Platform Two and heading towards Sittingbourne / Faversham.
I queued up to buy my return ticket to Gillingham before walking up the platform and had a few minutes to spare before the 6.05 service pulled into the station, I got on the front carriage and looked down the carriage to see a small group of Gillingham supporters on the coach so maybe just maybe we could expect a decent attendance for tonight’s match. (I was thinking we might get 2,500 for the match tonight)
The Train pulled into Gillingham station and I got off and saw KFG behind me – I knew he was going to the game as I had a spare ticket just not sure if he was on this train or the train afterwards and straight away we talked about tonight’s match and this would be KFG’s first Johnstone’s Paint Trophy match and KFG asked me what the atmosphere is like in these matches, I mentioned that too some people’s credit they try to rally the players onto victory and try get a atmosphere going but with such a low attendance that is always a tall order.
We made our way towards the ground stopping off at the newsagents as I brought a 500ML bottle of Coca Cola and a bite to eat while KFG didn’t want to buy anything and as we continued walking towards the ground I gave my two sense on how I felt the Southampton game went and I mentioned how great the atmosphere was on Saturday just that class and defence lapse’s proved to be the difference in that game.
We got to the ground at 6.30 and went into the Club Shop to buy our match day programme’s and I asked if the Playoff DVD was in stock but still no luck so far and I am going to keep asking and hopefully that persistence will pay off.
I gave Porkpie100 a ring to see if Seb wanted the spare ticket because I promised him the spare ticket for tonight’s match and I don’t like going back on my word but with it being so near to kick off we eventually went inside the ground and took to our seats and had a look to see who was out their and it was great to see Stuart Lewis warming up as I wasn’t expecting Lewis to be out their, Rashid Yussuff was also warming up and he impressed both of us against Faversham Town and took his goal really well that day.
We heard that their could be around 500 Norwich supporters inside the ground for tonight’s game which would be a fantastic achievement from Norwich prospective and KFG mentioned how Norwich can pull in a lot of support from Norfolk and unlike in Medway where you would see a lot of Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal shirt’s, apparently in Norwich there are Norwich flags, shirt’s and scarf’s and while I am sure there are a lot who support the big four sides in Norfolk I am sure their frowned upon for not supporting Norwich City – Speaking of Scarf’s I realized I left my Gillingham Scarf at home and was gutted because I am willing to believe in any superstition for a Gillingham win.
Finally I saw Cameron and Seb’s dad and I asked if Seb wanted the ticket in the end because I got the spare ticket for him and KFG was able to claim it at the 11th hour and I was told that for one adult you could get FOUR child tickets and I didn’t knew that and thought it was 1 child with one paying adult, if that is the case that 4 children can go with 1 paying adult then why didn’t the club advertise this and how comes their was no article in The Messenger on Monday, I do think the club missed a trick their and should of advertised that but should we go through then I wouldn’t have to worry about getting Seb a ticket for the southern quarter final – just a shame we failed to capitalize on good publicity because any good news is something to shout about.
The weather wasn’t ideal but the rain wasn’t being blown into our direction so we were not getting soaked and the closer to kick off we got we saw a lot of Gillingham supporters packed into The Medway Stand and I wonder if it would have been ideal to open up the Rainham End for this match because a number of supporters were standing around and blocking everyone getting to their seat or anyone who wanted to goto the bar to buy food and drink – a quick glance to the Gordon Road Stand and several Norwich supporters made their way into the ground and credit to them for bringing that level of support on a Tuesday night and for a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy match – this is a competition that many look down on and consider this a pointless competition where as I feel that is a poor attitude and I take a ““In It To Win It”” Mentality, not everyone will have that kind of attitude but it does present a chance of playing at Wembley and a chance to win some silverware and that is something worth competiting for.
Eventually we heard the team sheet over the PA system and this was the team we named for the Norwich match…..
Julian, Palmer, Richards, Bentley, Nutter, Payne, Rooney, Weston, Miller, Barcham, McCammon – SUBS – Wynter, Maher, Lewis, Yussuff, Erskine
Considering McCammon had only just made his comeback on Saturday I thought that Jacob Erskine would be given the nod upfront with McCammon maybe coming on for 25 – 30 minutes while I thought Fuller might have played at right back considering he played in the first round against Colchester United – No Royce or Oli in the squad for tonight’s game and should Julian pick up a injury we got no substitute goalkeeper while I thought Oli might be on the bench and brought on for 25 – 30 minutes.
As far as arm and leg room is concerned it was pretty tight where I was sitting and I accidentally elbowed KFG because it was that cramped in the Medway Stand and KFG felt the Rainham End should have been open for tonight’s game just to try and up the attendance and with everyone coming through the one turnstile it meant that their was some over crowding – plus we could of done with more room.
So here we all were, Myself, Porkpie100 and KFG, three members of Gills 365 all sitting next to each other and all hoping that Gillingham can do the business and progress to the quarter finals of the Southern Section of the JPT because I am sure if Gillingham do cause abit of a shock and beat Norwich then we will have the headliner in tomorrow’s newspapers.
ANYWAY ONTO THE MATCH…….
And we kicked off, kicking towards The Brian Moore Stand like we usually do for home matches with Norwich of course kicking towards The Rainham End – score predictions around me were mostly draws with the match mostly decided by spot kicks, while I thought we could beat Norwich because without Grant Holt I don’t think Norwich will be as threatening as they were ten days ago.
The early stages were very much both teams getting used to the conditions and the fact that the ball was zipping off a very wet surface with 1-2 fouls given duo to both teams, the wind was certainly playing it’s part throughout the match.
But with just 6 minutes on the clock Luke Rooney intercepted the ball and played a nice ball down the wing for Curtis Weston to run onto and Weston’s ball across the face of goal was nearly turned in at the far post by Andrew Barcham, a very well worked move by the Gills and it had Norwich keeper Fraser Forster having a few stern words to say to his back 4 ( I thought a straight red meant Forster was given a 3 match ban unless Norwich had the red card 10 days ago rescinded ???).
Within a minute Norwich managed their first effort on goal as Norwich worked themselves into a shooting position but Lee Martin drilled his effort over Alan Julian’s bar and into The Rainham End, so one chance each and both have failed to test either keeper but if this pace continued throughout the match then we be in for some game – Looking round where I sit and other then Porkpie100 the usual regular’s around me were not in the ground and instead we saw a lot of younger fans and a lot of people I not seen at games before and hopefully the match against Norwich will entice people to come along on a regular basis and support The Gills because we do need to look at the next generation of supporters.
The match was being played like a feisty cup tie and more like a FA Cup match rather then The Second Round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy as a few challenges were flying in and this raised the tempo of the match and the roar of anticipation raised the atmosphere inside the ground.
A few fouls were given in the early stages that distorted the Patten of the game and Adam Miller was harshly given a booking early on and I think the temptation to knock the long ball to Mark McCammon was their to see and though this isn’t necessary Mark’s fault that long balls were knocked towards him and at times McCammon was a useful outlet as he used his strength very effectively and was causing Norwich a lot of problems.
Garry Richards had the ball in our own half and whacked the ball off a Norwich player and we won a corner from nothing though we were not able to capitalize on the resulting corner, we at least were edging this tie out but again we showed defensive frailties soon afterwards as Palmer played a decent ball and the return from Payne was over hit and sent Norwich through on the counter but Palmer made a outstanding recovery tackle and all Norwich won was a throw on for their efforts and a loud cheer from The Medway Stand because Palmer’s challenge was well timed.
Tom Adeyemi had the best effort of the match so far as his effort flashed past Alan Julian’s far post and having a look at it again I think Alan Julian might have made contact with the ball, though any contact would have been minimal – Adeyami’s effort clipped the outside of the post just and was the closest that either team had come to breaking the deadlock – a huge sigh of relief and a big let off from our point of view.
Soon afterwards Mark Bentley had to time his header to perfection as we were under the cosh abit and Norwich were keen to up the tempo and score first, the Norwich supporters in the Gordon Road Stand were very vocal and though we tried to get that kind of vocal support going in The Medway Stand it just wasn’t as loud or as vocal but credit to those who kept singing though.
We then had our best chance of the match when Mark McCammon won the flick on and Cammo headered the ball into the path of Curtis Weston who in-turn played a neat ball inside to Luke Rooney who forced Fraser Forster into a very good save, Barcham was calling for it but the form Luke Rooney is in you cannot blame him for going for goal.
The match really livened up for the remaining 5 minutes plus stoppage time of the first half as good work by Norwich winger outwide – (I think it was Lee Martin) who worked his way down our left hand side and ran up the by-line keeping the ball in play and his cut back was drilled towards goal by Tom Adeyemi, who’s effort was brilliantly kept out by Alan Julian and now both keepers had been forced into one decent stop each.
The match was really open and exciting despite the score remaining 0 . 0 as Jack Payne was brave taking one for the team and that really must of hurt but his block prevented Paul McVeigh from getting a shot off on goal while at the other end Curtis Weston’s effort wasn’t far away and had Fraser Forster flapping at thin air.
The match was very end to end and Norwich should of scored first when Hughes cut the ball back and behind Cureton who sort of mis-cued and Lee Martin came rushing in and drilled his effort wide of the near post when it looked far easier to score, how on earth did Norwich miss we will have no idea but could we capitalize on these misses???
There is no doubt that Grant Holt would of scored if it was him running onto the end of a chance like that…
Then the first real big call of the evening and Adam Miller was fouled by Gary Doherty inside the Norwich penalty area, did Miller go down, was he pushed or should Miller have stayed on his feet and got a shot off towards goal???, I can only go by what I seen and sometimes their given and sometimes their not given and the ref was clearly not going to give us that one.
And as far as first half action went that was it and we were perhaps greatful to go in at half time with the scores still goal-less and now Mark Stimson can give the players words of encouragement and just tell them what we needed to do better and give it a real go in the second half.
HALF TIME: GILLINGHAM 0 . 0 NORWICH CITY
Speaking with KFG I asked him what he thought of the competition, KFG felt that this is a competition we should take seriously and at the end of the day there is a trip to Wembley in the final and a chance to win some silverware – I felt that a win against Norwich in The Johnstone’s Paint Trophy could well boost our confidence in the league because winning is a habit and it is a habit you want to hang onto because when we beat Colchester United in Round One we recorded back to back wins against Exeter and Millwall in the league so a win against Norwich could work wonders and give the players a massive confidence boost.
Looking at who we had on the bench we had a number of midfield options to call upon and if you win the midfield battle then you’re in with a decent shout of winning the match as well.
We just about heard the attendance announced as the PA System was very poor but the attendance was announced as 2,814 which is very good considering this is the Second Round Of The Football League Trophy and I thought we might well see 2,500 tops but full credit to the huge travelling support that Norwich City brought with them but also credit to the Gills fans who turned out as well because the weather wasn’t great and this competition doesn’t always get the respect it deserves so to see nearly 3,000 inside the ground for this match has to be a good thing and hopefully 1-2 like what they saw and come back to Priestfield on a regular basis.
SECOND HALF…
Norwich were out onto the pitch first and the Gillingham players were out onto the pitch soon afterwards, perhaps more words of encouragement from Mark Stimson as he will no doubt demand more from our players and hope to progress to the next round in The Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
Right from the off Norwich put us under pressure and from Paul McVeigh’s free kick Tom Adeyemi’s header was glanced wide of our far post and had Adeyemi got a firmer connection then Norwich could have been 1 . 0 up – I said to KFG “Hopefully we can keep it quiet for the next ten minutes or go ahead ourselves” and we very nearly did go ahead from a set piece of our own as Chris Palmer whipped in a superb free kick and Andrew Barcham found some space at the far post and he sliced the ball wide with just Fraser Forster to beat, a stronger connection and Gillingham could have been 1 . 0 up so both teams have had their chances and both chances have been created from set plays.
Soon after that Mark McCammon was very harshly penalized as Gary Doherty was grabbing Mark McCammon’s shirt and I like many Gills supporters in The Medway Stand was disappointed with the referee’s decision as the free kick was given against McCammon when that clearly wasn’t the case.
Just a minute later and Paul McVeigh’s corner was causing all sorts of problems and Barcham managed to head the ball clear only for the second ball to be won by Norwich and a clever flick saw Jamie Cureton 1 on 1 with Alan Julian and Cureton lobbed the ball over Julian but also cleared the crossbar as well, credit must goto Alan Julian for standing and making himself look very big as I think Alan Julian did enough to put Jamie Cureton off.
The match was still played like a proper cup tie and Curtis Weston intercepted the ball brilliantly only for the ref to give Norwich a free kick, I didn’t think that Weston’s challenge was that bad but Curtis was booked for back chatting to the referee and not for the challenge – Stuart Lewis was warming up and he stood in the dug out which got a loud cheer and Rashid Yussuff was also warming up but Norwich brought on Cody McDonald for Chris Martin while Lewis and Yussuff came on for Payne and McCammon – I thought Erskine and McCammon would play upfront together but perhaps we were looking to save Mark for Saturday’s match against Wycombe and a hour’s football under Cammo’s belt will do wonders for Mark’s fitness and the first match after a lengthy injury spell is always rusty.
Sadly Norwich were to score and a long boot up-field by Fraser Forster should have been won in the air by Garry Richards but Cody McDonald won the aerial challenge and a neat lay off and return saw McDonald cut inside and his shot is deflected off Richards leaving Alan Julian with no chance – cue the celebrations in the Gordon Road Stand as the Norwich supporters were jumping, singing and chanting and were delighted to go infront, we had roughly 25 minutes plus stoppage time to score to take the tie into a penalty shoot out.
Norwich nearly made it 2 goals in 2 minutes and again it came from the long ball route and Garry Richards header back to Alan Julian feel short and Cody McDonald nipped in and skied it over the bar from close range and thankfully because McDonald missed it meant that we were still in the tie and still in with a chance of scoring that equalizer to take the game into penalties.
We looked to the bench to see if Jacob Erskine was going to come on because surely this is the ideal match to give him some game-time and if Erskine doesn’t play in The Johnstone’s Paint Trophy then when is he going to play ???
Luke Rooney tried to add to his tally of spectacular goals for Gillingham when he tried one from distance which went over the bar by some distance – I mentioned “well there is no harm is having a go for goal” – still it doesn’t stop someone behind us pretending to be a expert of the game and moan at Rooney for shooting and shouted for Luke to pass the ball instead, honestly you do hear some bizarre comments by 1-2 people.
Norwich brought on David Stephens for Gary Doherty as Norwich were looking to hang onto the lead and with still 20 minutes left in the match the tie was still alive and though Norwich were in-front their large away following were starting to get nervous because they were not as vocal as they were in the first half.
Then we had our best chance of the match so far as Nutter did all the hard work down the left hand side and his pull back was struck first time by Stuart Lewis but Andrew Barcham got in the way and blocked Lewis’s shot and had Barcham not been their then I am sure we would of equalized and Lewis would of scored on his return from injury, next it was Rooney’s turn and Rooney’s free kick was too high to trouble Fraser Forster but we were turning the screw and were on top of things and if we can score while we had this little spell then it would be game on.
Paul McVeigh is subbed off and Josh Dawkin joins the action as McVeigh’s replacement and it is a relief to see Paul McVeigh leave the field because Paul is still a top quality player and has got great awareness and I am sure if funding was available then we love to have someone like McVeigh in our squad.
Then the second big call by the referee as Adam Miller played a neat pass forward and Curtis Weston did well to have the ball under control and flipped the ball over the defenders head and worked his way into a shooting position but instead of blasting the ball Weston rounded Forster and tapped the ball into the back of the net only for the linesman to have his flag up and though I cannot comment on the penalty decision there is no doubt in my mind that Weston was onside and the goal should of stood.
Adam Miller’s last contribution of the match could have been the equalizing goal as Miller collected Barcham’s pass and Miller worked his way into a shooting position before unleashing a shot that flew past Forster’s far post and Miller’s rising drive wasn’t far away and I had my head in my hands because I honestly thought that was going into the back of the net and I am sure I wasn’t the only one who thought that.
Jacob Erskine came on for Adam Miller and it is great to see Miller get a standing ovation when he was subbed off and I am sure Miller is glad to get 80 minutes of competitive football under his belt and hopefully force his way back into the side for Saturday’s match against Wycombe, With Erskine now on he would go upfront with Rooney on the right and Barcham on the left while Lewis, Weston and Yussuff would hold the middle of midfield.
And for the rest of the game (10 minutes plus stoppage time) we would put Norwich on the back foot and Palmer’s deep cross was well held by Fraser Forster and Norwich looked content to try and hang on and the Norwich Supporters in the Gordon Road Stand were holding their breath and 1-2 had their hands together hoping that they could hang on for a win.
Luke Rooney’s free kick went over, Curtis Weston dragged his shot wide, Rashid Yussuff’s effort wasn’t bad either and that flew just wide, John Nutter’s cross had to be tipped over by Fraser Forster and Chris Palmer’s free kick curled wide of the far post and sadly we couldn’t get that goal we needed and Norwich hang on to progress to the quart final’s of The Johnstone Paint Trophy while we are sadly been knocked out of the competition – Palmer’s free kick was really our last throw of the dice and once Palmer’s free kick went wide we knew that was it.
FULL TIME: GILLINGHAM 0 . 1 NORWICH CITY
Myself and KFG stayed behind and stood to applaud the players for their efforts and we gave it a right go and gave everything we had to try and get that goal we so badly needed to take the tie into a penalty shoot out but it just wasn’t to be and Norwich City should they go onto win the competition will look back at the final 10 – 15 minutes of this match because we pelted the Norwich goal with chances and we really tested Norwich with a under strengthened side.
Some will go “ oh well it is only the paint pot cup” or say “at least we can concentrate on the league” but a win boost’s confidence and I know that quite a few of us were gutted with that result on Tonight because we could of taken a morale boosting win into the match against Wycombe on Saturday.
We eventually left the ground at 9.20 and started walking towards Gillingham Train Station and on the way towards the station their were some Norwich supporters singing “We actually won away from home” and the odd few giving some stick to the home supporters but we kept on walking towards Gillingham Train Station and I thought the Barrier was closed and got my train ticket out but the barriers were open so didn’t need my ticket in the end.
We spoke about our disappointment with the result and how we badly need Simon King and Simeon Jackson back to full fitness and also spoke about the night time atmosphere at The Priestfield Stadium because it has been a while since KFG has seen a night time match and as we were talking about the atmosphere the 9.53 service pulled into the station on platform 3 (usually for 7.45 kick off’s I miss this train but seeing as we kicked off at 7.30 I was able to get on it this time).
I got off the train at Rainham and this is where I left KFG as he stops off at Faversham and we said our good bye’s before making our own way home, the match had built up a appetite and I was hungry but I am not fond of the chips in Best Fried Chicken and with George’s Plaice shut I decided to walk for 30 minutes across the A2 to Peters opposite the big Tesco’s on the roundabout and that is quite a walk from Rainham Train Station, I thought seeing as I am buying myself some dinner I mind as well get some exercise in at the sametime and after buying a small portion of chips and a jumbo plain sausage I then walked home and was back in doors around 10.40 – overall the match was a fiercely fought cup tie and fought more like a FA Cup game rather then a match in The Johnstone’s Paint Trophy but abit of class was the difference between the two sides and also had we scored in that 10 – 15 minute spell and taken the game to penalties I felt we could of progressed to the third round of The Johnstone’s Pain Trophy.
My MOTM – Curtis Weston – Another superb performance by Weston who played a key role in most of our attacking play and fully deserved his goal as the linesman’s offside call was in-correct and had we equalized at that point I think we might have gone onto win the game or at the very least taken the game to penalties.
Honourable mention’s to Adam Miller for putting in a decent shift for 80 minutes, Mark Bentley did a sound job in the heart of our defence while Mark McCammon did a far better job then Dennis Oli did as the lone striker.
Lee Clifton
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