10/02 Gills 2nd Half

By: Tony Butcher
Date: 11/02/2001

Town didn't make any changes in personnel at half time, though there was a tactical change. Town came out with all guns blazing, playing a fast ground based passing game. Everyone moved, and at pace. Gillingham just couldn't get the ball off Town for 10 minutes.

Gillingham 1 Grimsby Town 0
10 Feb 2001, Nationwide League Division 1

Within a minute Town had won a corner after determined play from Jeffrey. The ball was played in from the Town left and fell loose in the area. Groves, about 10 yards out with his back to goal, tried to lift the ball forward and Jeffrey, unmarked on the edge of the 6 yards box glanced a header towards the 'keeper's left hand corner. The goalkeeper fell low to his left and smothered the ball. Five minutes later Jeffrey was pushed in the back, about 25 yards out, centrally placed. After a long debate on the terrace, and between the Town players, Burnett pushed everyone else aside and whacked a low right foot curling shot around the wall. The goalkeeper dived full length at the foot of his left hand post and turned the shot aside. Jeffrey followed up and, from an extremely narrow angle, his attempted cross shot was blocked by the 'keeper for a corner. You can forget about Town attacks for the next 30 minutes, as the momentum swung back Gillingham's way after a little fortune. A Gillingham midfielder tried to release Southall down the Town left touchline. D Smith stretched to intercept, but the ball hit a divot and took an outrageous bounce over his leg, freeing Southall.

Grimsby Town Coyne McDermott Enhua Groves D Smith Donovan Burnett Coldicott Campbell Rowan Jeffrey   Subs Raven Butterfield Croudson Black Handyside   Attendance 8,633   Referee C J Foy (St Helens)

The failed left winger from a previous era whipped in a low cross to the near post and.. well nobody at the Town end was really sure what happened. It looked like Coyne was coming out to collect the ball when it suddenly looped over his head and rolled across the face of the goal (McDermott cleared it away eventually). There didn't appear to be a Gillingham player nearby, so the consensus was that Enhua may have sliced the ball over Coyne's head.

After that Gillingham were suddenly full of energy and confidence. With about 10 minutes of the half gone they replaced a midfielder with Asaba, going to a three man attack (with Shaw slightly behind Asaba and King). After 61 minutes Gillingham scored, which rather surprised many in the Town end. Nothing much seemed to be happening about 30 yards out from the Town goal, the usual stuff - knocks forward half blocked. The ball squirmed out from one challenge to Asaba, about 30 yards out, He knocked the ball forward, first time over and behind Groves (who was marking him) and into a space between Coyne and...I don't know. I presume Enhua, but no-one was there as KING sprinted on with just Coyne to beat, which he did with ease, placing a right foot shot low across Coyne and into the net off the inside of the right hand post. I will admit that I had lost a little concentration at this point as the game had drifted into a banal series of tackles and miss-placed passes. Well, me and the Town defence too.

The effect of this goal? Gillingham raced into tackles more quickly and swarmed all over Town players. Town? No response at all, in fact they lost urgency. The management response? After nearly an hour Rowan was replaced by Butterfield, which meant that the artist formerly known as Donovan joined Jeffrey in a truly terrifying strike partnership . Who could match them for pace, aggression, spirit, determination and sheer will-to-win? Neither of these paid employees contributed anything noteworthy in the remaining 30 minutes. One of them couldn't be faulted for effort. I'll leave you to guess which.

The ball was inexorably sucked towards the Town goal like a toothless granny. There were innumerable blocked shots, mainly from Southall. D Smith and Campbell will have sore shins tonight, but only a couple more saves for Coyne to make. King, again, was set free behind the Town defence, on the right. He charged into the penalty area and, again, Coyne stood up and blocked the shot with his chest. As Kevin Keegan once said "he's got a chest as big as those that pirates used to put their gold in". Yes Kevin. Yes.

Sometime near the end there was a mass shoving and pushing session after the ball got trapped under Southall. The melee started after a Gillingham player had lunged in two footed at Coldicott, Burnett then stamped across the same player. A barney then followed. The result was a booking for Burnett and Saunders

With about 10 minutes left, Coyne pulled off another outstanding save, pushing aside a low drive from the left hand corner of the penalty area that was hit low to his right. His parry travelled out to the Gillingham substitute, Browning, about 20 yards out and he sliced his right foot volley a couple of feet wide of Coyne's left hand post. At this point Town's nuclear button was pressed (also known as "the panic button"). Coldicott was replaced by Raven, who trotted upfield to centre forward. There were gasps and then sniggers amongst the wet two hundred.

Strangely enough Town had more of the play, with the midfield becoming almost non-existent. Raven won a couple of flick headers but plainly was unsure where to flick the ball to, or where to stand. And neither of the apparent strikers knew which runs to make, or where to stand. It was merely hit and hope football. And it almost brought some excitement. Almost. A long punt towards Raven rebounded back to Burnett, about 25 yards out, centrally placed. He rolled the ball forward with one touch and drilled a shot a couple of yards over the bar. In the last minute, in an exact re-enactment of the Battle of Austerlitz, sorry I mean, the aforementioned incident, Burnett volleyed a couple of yards wide of the 'keepers right hand post.

Two minutes of injury time, nothing to report. Game over.

Individually, Burnett had a superb second half, after a first half when he was bullied off the ball too often. Like wise Coldicot and D Smith improved markedly after half time. McDermott had a poor game by his usual standards, being caught in possession a few times and making a couple of wayward passes in dangerous positions, though he too played better in the second half. Coyne had his usual game - that is excellent and faultless. And that goes for Groves too. Towards the end he was everywhere in defence and attack. He seemed to be breaking up Gillingham attacks in the Town area, setting up a counter attack and then being in the Gillingham area for the resultant miss-directed cross.

The down side was Campbell, who looked disinterested; he certainly wasn't the human dynamo today, being peripheral and largely anonymous. Enhua was inconsistent, making some excellent last ditch tackles, but many elementary errors. His tackling technique is very poor, being simply to rush across the line of ball and man. I've already mentioned the nominal strikers. Rowan showed glimpses of promise but generally looked like a young boy being pushed around by men. He was still far more effective in general play than the senior strike partner, or his replacement.

It is difficult to make a case for a Town win, as they were so poor in the first half and listless for a large chunk of the second, and Gillingham had 4 or 5 excellent chances. However, it was one of those games which had 0-0 written all over it. It should have been a lucky draw, but Town being Town, we knew something stupid would happen. It did.

A game to forget. If you weren't there, think yourself lucky. And warm.

Nick0's Man of the Match - Groves was magnificent throughout, even pinging a couple of inch perfect 50 yard passes. Coyne was excellent, but Groves excelled.

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