From The Archive - Nine Goal Thriller At Gillingham

Given it's a slow news day, a chance to look back to February 28th 2012 when Hereford lost a nine goal thriller at Gillingham.

First watch the video at: https://www.facebook.com/GillinghamFootballClubOfficial/videos/1943618122377889

Secondly read the BN report.

 

The Bulls dropped dangerously close to the drop zone when they lost two-goal leads twice at Priestfield this evening to finish on the wrong end of a 5-4 result.

Pitman sprang one surprise naming Danny Williams in a starting XI that included a return for Michael Townsend with Featherstone failing to make the squad.

The Bulls were quickly off the mark when Barkhuizen broke into the box in the second minute and was felled by Jack Evans.  Purdie stepped up and coolly stroked the ball in from the spot. 

Gills fans had barely recovered before Barkhuizen doubled the lead when he cut in from the left to meet Facey’s flick from Clist’s searching forward ball and finished from close range on seven minutes.  Cornell made a fine save from Tomlin and Towner got in a saving challenge as Kuffour prepared to shoot.

Jack Evans broke away and crossed for Tomlin to sweep the ball into the net but the strike was disallowed as the referee’s assistant made a timely flagging interception to the proceedings.  Lunt dinked a through ball into the path of Barkhuizen but King was quickly across to launch a clearance into the stand.  Then Facey produced a similar cross to the one that resulted in the goal at Bradford but Taylor’s header was saved.

Whelpdale and Evans combined to craft a chance for Kedwell but Anthony got the block in and Purdie, busy ratting in midfield, whipped the ball away from the former AFC Wimbledon man as he closed on the penalty area.

The hosts pulled a goal back when Jackman drove a cross to Whelpdale who volleyed home from 12 yards with 44 minutes on the clock.  As the half drew to a close, Kuffour fired wide and Whelpdale saw his header go over.

HT Gills 1  Bulls 2

The second period started disastrously when a long throw found the Bulls’ defence too deep and Kedwell nipped in to poke home with just 35 seconds played.  Taylor sent a rising shot over the bar as Hereford strove to regain control but the home side were quick to restore pressure on Cornell’s area with a barrage of dipping crosses as they looked to push The Bulls onto the back foot.

Another Facey flick almost put Barkhuizen in on goal but Essam was quick to get in the clearance.  Townsend, Anthony and Evans all conceded free kicks as The Bulls made hard work of clearing their lines but a Facey/Barks combination drew a fine save from keeper Gazzaniga.

Lunt played a ball up to Facey who laid off to Evans but his shot was high.  Then Kaffour missed a chance when through on goal.  Then The Bulls regained the lead against the run of play when Kenny Lunt fed Purdie down the left and his clever pass put Evans in to shoot and when the keeper was only able to parry the shot Barkhuizen was on hand to force the ball home.

Almost immediately, Towner conceded with a clumsy challenge on the edge of the box but some desperate defending kept the ball out.  Clucas came on the replace the injured Danny Williams who went down under a crunching challenge from Weston.

Then Facey produced another fine cross for Evans to thump a header home to give the Bulls a fourth goal but Charlie Lee was allowed to run at Cornell’s goal unhindered to fire home the hosts third straight from the restart.

Lunt and Facey linked up to win a corner but Gazzaniga got in a punch to clear.  Barkhuizen broke away and fed Evans whose shot was finger tipped away for a corner by the home keeper.  Then with just minutes remaining The Bulls deep defending cost them another goal when Lee grabbed a late equaliser.  With everyone thinking that nothing more could happen, Gazzaniga who should have been dismissed upended Barkhuizen in the box but he stayed on to save Purdie’s spot kick when he should have been in the showers.  Then in a final show of suicidal defending The Bulls conceded right at the death when Tomlin swept home from just outside the six-yard box.

FT  Gills 5  Bulls 4

Hereford; Cornell, Williams (Clucas 74), Townsend, Anthony, Clist, Barkhuizen, Lunt, Evans, Purdie, Taylor (Colbeck 82), Facey.  Unused subs – Bartlett, McQuilkin, Elder.

Gillingham: Gazzaniga, King, Jackman, Essam, Evans (C Lee 46), Whelpdale (O Lee 77), Kuffour, Kedwell, Tomlin. Unused subs – Hawkes, Davies, Montrose.

Attendance 3784 with around 50 diehards.

The Bulls will no doubt cite the failure of the referee to send off the Gills’ keeper when he was clearly the last man but to lose a two-goal lead twice in the same match is about as careless as it comes.  Too many times the defence backed off and dropped deep into their own box to allow chances to the home side in an area that gave Cornell little time to react.

What next?

 

And finally the reaction of one Hereford supporter who was at the game:

 

For the Gills fans, obviously the former – last night’s game had everything – 9 goals, penalties scored and missed, all that was missing was the sending off – and for us that was the catastrophe.

At the end of the game last night I felt shell shocked - sick, sad and desperately disappointed. How many Hereford fans have seen us score 4 and still lose? Well the 45 or so of us at Gillingham went through every emotion possible during the game and the frustration felt by some at the end was understandable. We were up, down, up, down and eventually out. The post mortem will not change the result. Why can’t we hold onto a lead? Why didn’t the referee send off the Gills keeper? Should Purdie have taken that final penalty when he was injured? The questions keep coming but the only comfort to be found when I got home was that we were still 22^nd in the league. If, at the end of the season, we are still above that dotted line, I’ll see Tuesday night as one of heroic failure, a classic I was privileged to see. However, at the moment I’m not that optimistic.

There were some positives out of the night – we scored 4 goals (a first in the league this season), Tom Barkhuizen was magnificent (where would we be if we hadn’t had him with us this year), we held on for 41 minutes before conceding, there was no lack of effort ... but then I’m struggling.

I so desperately wanted Pitman to succeed this year but I think I underestimated the contributions people such as Lennie Lawrence and Dave Kevan made last year to our survival. Such an experienced and cool head has been lacking this year and I’m not convinced about Gary Peters. Keyte and Russon have done well off the pitch – the revamp of the Starlite rooms and community involvement particularly with local schools stand out, but the decisions made on the pitch have been naive in the extreme. The reality is a lot of the players who tried so desperately last night, will still be with us next year but sadly Barkhuizen won’t. While signing up young prospects such as Pell and Evans makes sense, I’m amazed how many others have been signed up when we have no idea where we’ll be come 5^th May.

Sadly I have no answers, just endless questions. The reality is Tuesday’s game could make or break us. The confidence we gained going forward or the doubts at the back. Every team we play will know how vulnerable we are and yet there are a lot of relegation rivals who are also struggling who we face in the next few weeks. Plymouth can’t see out a game (thankfully), Barnet are on the slide(but I really don’t want them to go down), Dagenham are as likely to implode as we are and Northampton are yet to be consistent under Adie Boothroyd.

So it’s back to Edgar Street on Saturday, with one eye on the score board to see how our rivals are faring. I subscribe to a website that sends me verses from the Bible on a daily basis and today’s came from Psalm 120 – “I call on the LORD in my distress, and he answers me”. Respectfully I suggest we all start praying!

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