Gillingham FC vs Ipswich Town Preview & Matchday Thread
Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2019 10:18 pm
Gillingham FC vs Ipswich Town
Saturday 21st September 2019 – 15:00
Preistfield Stadium
Pre-Match Thoughts - Mike
The Tractor Keeps Rolling On......
Anyone starting to believe yet ? Eight games in and still unbeaten, Second in the table with a game in hand, Four clean sheets on the bounce and still a few gears to move through where performances are concerned, yes at the moment things are looking good for Town. Tuesday's trip to MK Dons was the proverbial game of Two halves, totally dominant in the first Forty Five where we could have been out of sight by half time but had only a Jon Nolan counter to show for our efforts, quite how Jackson & Vincent-Young didn't both score is anyone's guess but having seen the chances again on the highlights they have to go down in the guilt edge category but aside from that some of the Football we played was really good and the Dons hardly broke into our half at times never mind our Box.
I still don't understand why we switched our formation to counter theirs, it makes no sense to me as we were completely on top during the early stages and they weren't hurting us at all but following our switch they gradually began to ease themselves into the game and as we all saw the second half saw us defending for much of it, I think sometimes it is easy to forget that defending is part and parcel of the game and to do it will should be recognised too and for me we did defend well, Holy made Three decent saves, Chambers & Wilson stood firm throughout and Vincent-Young continues to impress both defensively and going forward, Garbutt for me is wasted at LB and he won nothing in the air at the back post which was a concern. I was impressed with Nolan & Downes and Nolan could really be a big player for us once he's in full swing.
Clearly the big negative from Tuesday night was seeing James Norwood limping off with what turned out to be a Groin strain during the First half, at the time of writing we have no news as to the severity of it but the way Lambert spoke after the game it was suggested Norwood will be keen to play on through the pain barrier which indicates it's a niggling injury rather than anything to serious, fingers crossed and time will tell.
I don't think it should go unmentioned just how fantastic our support was once again, 3,360 Tractor Boys and Girls all playing their part to make it a victorious evening and even when we were somewhat holding on in the second half I didn't hear anything negative at all, in fact there was good appreciation of the way we were standing firm with what they were throwing at us, tension was in the air for sure but no nastiness as in the recent past so each and every one of those fans should take a bow, that for me is what true support is all about and we are reaping the rewards at the moment, long may it continue.
Gillingham Next Up
So can we make it Nine unbeaten ? Can we get back to the top of the table ? What's the chances of Five clean sheets on the bounce ? All we revealed as we head to Kent to take on Gillingham. The Gills find themselves in Mid Table with Ten points from their opening Eight games, they do score goals and their Fourteen league goal to date have been shared around the squad, so far their stand out result was a home win against Wycombe Wanderers who have started the season in decent form so they cannot be underestimated, their line up doesn't have anyone familiar to me again so it's hard to know where the threat may come from but leading the scoring charts for them so far is Alex Jakubiak with Four goals so he will need o be kept quiet but with our defence being so mean right now I am confident we can do just that.
No game can be taken for granted but I do fancy us in this one and I think we can keep the good start going, Three more very welcome points ahead of a home game with Tranmere Rovers would be a super position to be in and with Coventry not playing this weekend even a draw would see us back on top of the table. So it's another win for me with Town bagging their Fourth away win of the season and with over 2000 fans cheering them on thanks to another sell out it could yet be another fab away day to celebrate Saturday evening. COYB'S!
The Opposition – Gillingham
The local success of a junior football side, Chatham Excelsior F.C., encouraged a group of businessmen to meet with a view to creating a football club which could compete in larger competitions. New Brompton F.C. was formed at the meeting, held on 18 May 1893.
The founders also purchased the plot of land which later became Priestfield Stadium. The new club played its first match on 2 September 1893, losing 1–5 to Woolwich Arsenal's reserve side in front of a crowd of 2,000. New Brompton were among the founder members of the Southern League upon its creation in 1894, and were placed in Division Two. They were named Champions in the first season (1894–95) going on to defeat Swindon Town in a test match to win promotion.
In the seasons that followed, the club struggled in Division One, finishing bottom in the 1907–08 season, avoiding relegation only due to expansion of the league. Whilst the club's league performance was disappointing, the side did manage a famous cup victory over Football League First Division Sunderland and held Manchester City to a draw before losing in the replay. In 1912 the directors passed a resolution to change the club's name to Gillingham F.C., and the team played under this name throughout the 1912–13 season, although the change was not officially ratified by the shareholders until the following year. The team finished bottom of Division One in the 1919–20 season but for a third time avoided relegation, due to the subsequent elevation of all Southern League Division One clubs to form the new Football League Division Three.
In the first season of the newly created Football League Division Three, the 1920–21 season, Gillingham again finished bottom, and in the years to follow there was little improvement on this, the club continually finishing in the lower reaches of the bottom division.
In 1938 the team finished bottom of the Third Division (South) and were required to apply for re-election for the fifth time since joining the league. This bid for re-election failed, with Gillingham returning to the Southern League and Ipswich Town being promoted in their place.
Gillingham quickly established themselves as one of the stronger sides in the league, winning a local double of the Kent League and Kent Senior Cup in the 1945–46 season. In the 1946–47 season the team won both the Southern League Cup and the Southern League championship, during which they recorded a club record 12–1 victory over Gloucester City. The Gills also won the league title in 1948–49.
In 1950, plans were announced to expand the Football League Division Three (South) from 22 to 24 teams and, taking into account their local success in the interim, Gillingham were re-elected to the Football League with a landslide vote.
The team spent eight seasons in Division Three (South) before the restructuring of the league system for the 1958–59 season saw them placed in the newly created Fourth Division. They remained in this division until 1964, when manager Freddie Cox led them to promotion, winning the first championship in the club's history. The team finished the season level on 60 points with Carlisle United, but with a fractionally better goal average (1.967 against 1.948), which was the tightest league title finish in Football League history.
After relegation back to the Fourth Division in 1970–71, the Gills were soon promoted back to the Third Division in the 1973–74 season. After this the club seemed to find its level in Division Three, regularly mounting a challenge for promotion which ultimately fell short each time, never more so than in 1986–87 when they reached the play-offs only to lose in the final to Swindon Town. During this period the club produced future stars Steve Bruce and Tony Cascarino, who was famously bought from non-league Crockenhill in exchange for a set of tracksuits.
In 1987, the Gills hit the headlines when, on consecutive Saturdays, they beat Southend United 8–1 and Chesterfield 10–0, the latter a club record for a Football League match. Just a few months later, however, manager Keith Peacock was controversially sacked, and within 18 months the club had fallen into Division Four. The ensuing spell in the lower division brought little success, and in the 1992–93 Division Three campaign the Gills narrowly avoided relegation to the Football Conference.
Beset with financial problems, the club went into administration in January 1995, and by the end of the 1994–95 season faced the threat of being expelled from the Football League and closed down. In June 1995, however, a London-based businessman, Paul Scally, stepped in and bought the club. He brought in new manager Tony Pulis, who led Gillingham to promotion in his first season, finishing second in the old Division Three (now Football League Two).
In 1999 the Gills made the play-offs but lost in the Division Two play-off final to Manchester City. The Gills were 2–0 up with less than two minutes left only to see City score twice, the equaliser in injury time, and go on to win 3–1 in a penalty shoot-out. Soon after the play-off loss, Pulis was sacked for gross misconduct, and Peter Taylor appointed manager. In the 1999–00 season Gillingham qualified for the play-offs again, where they faced Wigan Athletic in the final at Wembley Stadium. The game finished 1–1 after 90 minutes, but, thanks to goals in extra time from substitutes Steve Butler and Andy Thomson, the Gills won 3–2 and were promoted to Division One for the first time.
Taylor then left to manage Leicester City, and Andy Hessenthaler was appointed as player-manager. He led the club to their best ever league finish of eleventh in the 2002–03 season, but the following season saw the club narrowly avoid relegation on goal difference. Hessenthaler resigned as manager in November 2004, and new boss Stan Ternent was unable to prevent the Gills' relegation to League One.
At the end of the 2007–08 season the club was relegated again, this time to League Two, but an immediate return to the third level was secured via the play-offs after beating Shrewsbury Town.
In the 2009–10 season, however, the Gills slipped into the bottom four on the last day, and were relegated back to League Two, having failed to win a single away game in the league all season. This resulted in manager Mark Stimson having his contract terminated, and Andy Hessenthaler was appointed as manager of the club for the second time. At the start of the 2012–13 season Hessenthaler was replaced by Martin Allen, who led the club to promotion as League Two champions in his first season in charge. However, shortly after winning League Two, Martin Allen was sacked in what many saw as a "surprise sacking" after a poor start to the season.
Peter Taylor returned for a second spell in charge, but following his sacking in December 2014 he was replaced by Justin Edinburgh which saw the Gils finish in 12th place.
The 2015–16 was his first full season in charge, Edinburgh led the Gills to a second-place position at Christmas, after a 3–0 victory against Millwall. Gillingham had also managed to defeat League favourites Sheffield United, with a 4–0 victory on the first day of the season. However, after a run of bad injuries to crucial players, Gillingham slipped to a ninth-place finish in League One, after losing on the last day of the season, against Millwall.
Edinburgh was sacked on 3 January 2017, along with his entire coaching team, with the club placed 17th in League One.
Last season Gillingham finished in 13th place.
On 21 May 2019, Steve Evans was announced as the new manager of Gillingham and began his role on 1 June 2019.
The Manager – Steve Evans
Form Guide
Gillingham Last 5 Matches – currently in 15th place with 10 points
24 Aug Coventry City 1 - 0 Gillingham
31 Aug Gillingham 5 - 0 Bolton
7 Sep Tranmere 2 - 2 Gillingham
14 Sep Gillingham 2 - 0 Wycombe
17 Sep Bristol Rovers 1 - 1 Gillingham
Ipswich Last 5 Matches – currently in 2nd place with 18 points
20 Aug Ipswich Town 2 - 1 Wimbledon
24 Aug Bolton 0 - 5 Ipswich Town
31 Aug Ipswich Town 3 - 0 Shrewsbury
14 Sep Ipswich Town 0 - 0 Doncaster
17 Sep Milton Keynes 0 - 1 Ipswich Town
Marko’s Caption Competition -THE DON CUP
Unfortunately, Marko has family matters to attend to this week, so have a crack at the following picture – cheers Dave.
Match Referee – Christopher Sarginson
GILLINGHAM 1 IPSWICH TOWN 1