Match Day Thread versus Gillingham

Well here we have another one of those games that a lot would say we must win so what could go wrong. The fact is that currently league wise Gillingham are one of the form teams in the league and are undefeated in at least the last 5.

Plym already kindly pointed out that their away form is better than their home form. Combine that with our home form being worse than out away form and there is your answer to the always asked question. None of these games are going to be easy and they always get less easy the more you want the result. I'll just settle for the result over performance this time around and hope for a home win and 3 points.

 

I'd always back a result more than a classy performance....Barcelona might not allow the other side to play with the ball, it can get boring watching the ball going around and around....just give me the satisfaction of seeing the net bulge out when the ball hits the back of it.

 

Clear, bright and cold here today but no rain likely until well after the nets are taken down.

This will be the 3rd keeper I've seen at Home Park (McCormick twice, Matthews and Roos) from the 7 we've used. Three out of seven, part timer!

I'm hoping for:

Roos

Threlkeld
Edwards
Bradley
Sawyer

Songo'o

Aisworth
Fox
Carey
Grant

Taylor

Bet I'm disappointed!

 

A convincing win is much needed!

 

Not quite notDistant

Roos, Sawyer, Edwards, Bradley, Taylor-Sinclair, Fox, Diagouraga, Jervis, Carey, Grant, Taylor.

Subs.....Miller, Songo'o, Ainsworth, Threlkeld, Wylde, Cooper.

 

0-0 H/T.

 

1-1 on 84 minutes....Argyle defending deep again...giving to many corners away......chants of boring, boring Adams,

 

2-1 Diagouraga....phew

 

Argyle reach the dizzy heights of 22nd in the league.....Diagouraga scoring the winner in the 90th minute....chuffed to see my 1-1 prediction blown out the water.

 

Well, there you have 3 points on the board but were we worth it and was it the right result? No disputing the points as they are there on the board for all to see. Was it the right result though being the next part of the question. If I'm being brutally honest then the answer has to be no and no doubt Gillingham will be absolutely pee'd off at the result. The truth is they scored first. TheRef looked at the lino and the lino said no it hadn't gone in. Well news flash is that it totallly did go in and the lino got it very very wrong. Now had we gone one down yet again at home you would argue that we would have floundered once more. We have no record of coming back from being down this season.

Gillingham were so pee'd off with that decision that they lost their way a bit for a while after. Every fall down brought a demand for a card to be brandished and for a penalty or whatever was the severest decision possible at the time. They argued every decision the Ref made and began to get themselves booked for the effort. The Ref in my opinion had quite a decent game considering both sides appealed for everything going. He wasn't swayed by any of it and was quite consistent throughout. Taking away the goal that wasn't the game was quite even for a lot of it although I did think that Argyle just about shaded it for parts. We then scored even though it wasn't against the run of play as such. You can now guess what comes next. Argyle moved further and further back into their own half and punted the ball down the field at every opportunity. It kept coming back. Adams did what Adams does and took off one of the attackers, Grant, and put on Songo'o. Bradley whilst doing something other than defending let their No.9 have the ball and he went through the middle and banged it in. To be honest there only looked one winner after that and it wasn't us. Somehow at the death Toumi managed to get into their box and poked in the winner. The ground went bananas but deep down everyone must have known we were the most fortunate side in town. Not convincing at all. Also not convinced by the new Keeper who was ok in parts and shakey in others. Their goal that wasn't was all down to him letting a soft shot go through him. Does not filll me with confidence at all.

Adams will not have convinced anyone by today.

 

I sense a little negativity sensible?. I don't disagree with much of what you have said, but I am now fairly convinced that the ball didn't cross the line. I , like 10000+ was initially convinced it was a goal, but having seen a few replays, one or two from better angles,it is just possible that the lino got it correct. I thought Gillingham were nothing special , and they now join Northampton as two teams worse than us , so only 2 more to find. You are correct in that Gillingham lost their discipline which helped us, one or two of ours fell over a lot which was irritating, but otherwise I thought we were good value for the points. I actually think that ROOS had a pretty decent game;anyway, beggars cant be choosers! I would have given MOTM to any of Tayls/GRANT or Toumes-probably Tayls for his hold up play and getting us further up the pitch.
It ain't pretty but at the moment fairly effective..

 

Ironical isn't it that Kelle Roos kept a clean sheet against us at Wembley when he was on loan to AFC Wimbledon in the play-off final.

Derek Adams can't wait to get us playing in our penalty area when we take the lead.....why give Gillingham the ball all the time....so many corners given away.....and against a goal keeper who hardly new any of his defence or their names....and the inevitable happened they score.....but lady luck was playing for us for a change and Toumani got the winner......I haven't seen a video yet regarding the non-goal.

 

You sense a lot of negativity lyndhurst because from what I saw that's what it warrants today. I sit on the goal side edge of block 10 more or less in line with the 18 yard line. The ball looked every inch over the line by a country mile. Not even close to not being in. I have seen it again a couple of times and nothing I've seen convinces me I'm wrong. Yes Roos made a few decent saves although a few were more for the camera than required towards the end. But he also made me nervous and he fluffed that easy take which caused the controversy. I would far prefer to have Remi Matthews back even though I know that isn't possible and beggars can't be choosers. We may have to have this one but I don't have to be impressed just because I should be grateful. I am far more concerned however with the sit back and hope to defend tactics Adams continually employs. It is poor to watch and frequently doesn't work in this league.

 

I'm not so negative in one way: apart from 2 Gillingham corners which they forced directly from the kick-off. we bossed the first 20 minutes and I thought we played the better football when we had the ball. On the down side, Gillingham really aren't very good, apart from their number 11 Martin and their number 14 Parker. We need to be surer with our passing. Two many times the ball was given away unnecessarily and especially when 1-0 up deep in the second half, all you need to do is keep the ball, not risk it all to get a second.

The full backs, Fox, Diagouraga, Jervis, Grant and Taylor all did well for us.

Carey's radar was misaligned again as a far as the accuracy of corners and free kicks is concerned although you couldn't fault his effort. The centre backs must stop letting the ball bounce, especially behind them. Bradley and Edwards dropped Roos in it yesterday on the edge of his box just as Bradley and Song'o did Matthews against Portsmouth. Basic stuff.

I was almost directly behind the linesman for the disputed "goal", with the same clear view through to the incident, but with the advantage of a few extra feet of altitude, The was lino exactly where he was supposed to be i.e. looking along the line but that' gave a 45 degree angle to the ball, which was so close to the post as to have its edge partially obscured. Now I and everyone around me thought the ball was in, but that's not enough to give a goal. The ref was on the opposite 45 degree angle, again exactly where he was supposed to be but not well placed to judge whether the ball was over and in addition, must have been looking through a crowd of players. It might have been in but I think the pair of them made the right decision as, despite being exactly where they should be, they couldn't be certain.

Now shock horror, the officials were excellent yesterday. The referee stood apart from a lot of the trivia but looked firm and authoritative when he did have to step in. He completely ignored the majority of quite a lot of diving from Gillingham. On one occasion, I think he gave Gillingham a foul but lectured their player for exaggeration, which is a very novel and confident way to referee.

You may be interested to know that Gillingham have the worst record for fouls committed this season, with an average of 14.55 per game as against our 10.10 and Bradford and Doncaster's table topping 9.55.

Whilst Gillingham may be aggrieved about the disputed goal, their number 9, who did virtually nothing all game, couldn't repeat the one they did score once in 100 attempts. It was like one of Carey's benders turned through 90 degrees, dipping so viciously you'd have thought it was radio controlled.. If a Brazilian international scored it, we'd be watching it for the next 20 years.

It wasn't Adams fault we got pushed back after we scored. Gillingham obviously pushed on and, going back to my earlier point, we gave the ball away too much. If you care to look, arms were windmilling in the home dugout trying to get the defence to move up the pitch. He had no choice but to bring Songo'o on to stem the tide, absolutely the right decision, and it was sheer bad luck that Eaves scored with what will be the best shot of his career if he plays until he's 40. He didn't dilute the attacking three because Carey moved from the middle to replace Grant and after the substitution, we established some sort of order and were able to go on to win it.

 

Thanks for your observations notDistant...good to get another view of proceedings.....not that I'm complaining about our regulars... 'sensible and Lyndy' who see every home game and of course Lyndy most away games as well.

PS.....Don't seem to be able to play the Sky video of the highlights.

 

We won but not very impressed by your comments and extremely lucky to get the 3pts. I feel. Carrying on like this we will struggle this season!

 

I think we're already doing the struggling bit... hp.

 

I've now seen the Sky Video....impossible to tell from the angle and distance shown... if it had crossed the line.

What I thought was more revealing was the Gillingham player putting his arms up towards the linesman...more in hope I thought than belief.....only for a moment as well, he than trotted back up field as the game went towards Gillingham's end, he didn't look enraged that an injustice had happened.

 

Winning is all that matters. We've had enough bad luck this season to entitle us to a hatful of disputed goals.

 

I will always take the 3 points so that bit isn't in dispute. However, I hope I'm also big enough to admit if we were not entirely deserving of them. We are due a bag full of luck if the gods do even things out over a season. We have a lot to catch up on. I still wasn't impressed with the standard of our play or the standard of the opposition yesterday mind.