Gills View of Nine Goal Thriller

Below is a report from 'the View from Medway'

Gillingham 5 – 4 Hereford United

There is never a dull moment when you follow the Gills, and last night’s heartstopping thriller at home to struggling Hereford was testament to that fact.

Indeed, Gillingham was trending on Twitter after going 2-0 down less than ten minutes into the match and again facing a two-goal deficit at 4-2 before spectacularly winning 5-4.

My Twitter followers may have noticed a couple of irreverent comments as I was forced to tone down my usual verbal outbursts whilst sat for only the second time this season in the Family Enclosure.

However, my tweets were nothing compared to the abuse Hereford’s goalkeeper faced from The Rainham End after dragging one of his players back onto the pitch after he tumbled behind the goal. It was symptomatic of a side which committed 14 fouls, though only received one yellow card (compared to Gillingham’s four yellow cards from just six fouls).

Gillingham’s first came just two minutes in when a less-than-impressive Jack Evans pulled Hereford’s man down in the box, which Robert Purdie coolly put behind Paulo Gazzaniga to open the scoring on four minutes.

Three minutes later Tom Barkhuizen made it 2-0 for Hereford after taking no trouble passing Jack Evans and taking his first goal of the match.

For most of the first half, Gillingham played like they were on valium, but they started to wake up towards to break and Chris Whelpdale gave the despondent home fans some hope when he pulled it back on the stroke of half time.

Captain Danny Kedwell needed just 30 seconds after the second half kicked off to level the scoring and Gillingham kept up the pressure almost making it 3-2 on several occassions.

However, their lacklustre defence soon gave way when Barkhuizen took his second goal of the game on the 70th minute and Will Evans restored their two-goal lead ten minutes later.

Once again it was Hereford’s 45 fans who were jubilant, having faced several games without a victory. In their eyes, they were coming away with all three points.

But, clearly, they have never seen Gillingham when they are down. Defender Charlie Lee raised their spirits just a minute after Evans’ goal to make the score 4-3 and again seven minutes later with a second remarkable equaliser for the Gills.

Another shoddy piece of defending left Gazzaniga alone to face an oncoming striker, and was lucky to receive just a yellow card when he brought him down inside the box just before the 90th minute. However, he redeemed himself immediately when he saved the resultant penalty and it was once again Gillingham with the momentum.

The hero of the hour was Gavin Tomlin who, three minutes into stoppage time, finally put the Gills ahead and caused such a jubilant response from fans that most didn’t realise who had actually scored.

Just over six minutes in to stoppage time, the referee finally brought proceedings to a conclusion, and most fans remained where they were, saluting the resilience of the Gills with chants, cheers and applause which echoed around the MEMS Priestfield

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