[ 29 Dec 18 ] GILLS v Doncaster Match Thread

[Garawa]

- Gillingham have an impressive record against Doncaster. The Gills have won 32 of the 62 meetings whilst Rovers have won 12. The last 4 games have all ended level.
- The last 5 home games against Doncaster have seen 1 win each for both sides and 3 draws.
- Doncaster's 3-0 defeat at Fleetwood brought to an end a run of 6 league games without defeat (4 wins) in which they scored 14 goals and conceded 3. They have 1 win in 5 away however.
- The Gills win against Portsmouth was their 3rd in 5 league games (1 defeat) and their 6th in 10 games in all competitions.
- All 5 of Doncaster's away wins in the league this season have seen them score at least 3 goals in the match - 3-2, 4-1, 3-2, 3-2, and 4-0. Their other 7 returned a combined total of just 3 goals.

15.02 Kick Off [ 4 - 1 - 3 - 2 ]

15.30
GOAL! Gillingham 0-1 Doncaster Rovers: Marquis
Doncaster are unbeaten when scoring first, winning 9 out the 12 games. The Gills have recovered 5 points after conceding first - all in home games.

15.52 Half time 0-1 (50:00)
Both sides have identical records when leading at half time in the league - both have won 5 and drawn 2 from their 7 leads. The Gills are winless from 9 when behind (losing 8) whilst Rovers are winless from 5 (losing 4).

16.07
The second half kicks off. Tom Eaves will start the second half. The Gills have scored 6 goals (3 by Eaves) in the 139 minutes Eaves has featured as a sub. This averages as a goal every 23.2 minutes compared to one every 71.9 when he starts.

16.13
The Gills are most vulnerable in the 10 minute period between the 51st and 60th minutes. They have conceded 11 of the 50 goals then and 9 in the league. Doncaster are the team that score most then with 10 of their 39 league goals scored then.

16.16
GOAL! Gillingham 0-2 Doncaster Rovers: Wilks

16.23
GOAL! Gillingham 0-3 Doncaster Rovers: Andrew

16.51
GOAL! Gillingham 1-3 Doncaster Rovers: Reilly
Callum Reilly scores from the rebound after Eaves hit the bar with a header.

16.57 FULL TIME 1-3 (99:34)

Attendance: 4,791 (272)
Position: 18th
Referee: Neil Hair
Match Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwSLn_HDNhI
BBC Match Report: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46656419

[gillsfan1066]

One step forward two steps back. So what is the reason Eaves didn't start but came on for the entire second half , anyone know ? I am all for giving a manager a three year grace period, but I think managing GFC is a thankless task when the owner is just interested in hanging around in the Third Division.
Just finished watching the Brighton /Everton game, guess thats the same Brighton we were playing at home in front of 8,000 only 8 years ago, even then they were a forward thinking team with 9 or 10 international players on there roster.
While were playing Southend or Doncaster in front of less than 5,000, they have played a local derby against Brighton, Arsenal and Everton with West Ham coming up, and Liverpool and Manchester United games just around the corner, while we have Burton and Walsall to look forward to, wwoooww hhooo GO SCALLY. your doing a great job as the owner.

[fan_of_mulligan]

For all the praise and plaudits the players rightfully deserved for a magnificent 2-0 home win against Portsmouth (Granted, Portsmouth were wasteful in-front of goal, but nonetheless, Gillingham took there chances and kept a clean sheet against The League One League Leaders) I have to say that our performance against Doncaster Rovers was horrific, Mis-Placed Passes, Nervous and Desperate Clearances and everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for Gillingham, three very poor goals conceded with Tomas Holy at fault for two of the goals cleared and for the second goal which was a mis up between Connor Ogilvie and Tomas Holy, Connor Ogilvie should have kicked the ball into row z, The three injuries to Brandon Hanlan, Dean Parrett and Barry Fuller meant that Steve Lovell couldn't make any tactical substitutions, and with Regan Charles-Cook and Max Ehmer both on the sidelines because of injury, it means that Gillingham go into the matches against Southend United and Cardiff City with our squad depth being tested to the limit.

Team Selection Wise, Steve Lovell was right to stick with the same team that won 2-0 against Portsmouth, But it was a catch twenty two situation on Saturday, Do you stick with the team that won 2-0 against Portsmouth, or, do you make changes and freshen the team up, had we made changes against Doncaster Rovers and lost 3-0, Supporters would have suggested that we should have stuck with the same team that won 2-0 against Portsmouth, and likewise, had we not made changes, which was the case, But Gillingham lost 3-0, then there would have been comments post match that Gillingham should have made changes to the team that started against Portsmouth, But how did we go from the performance we put in against Portsmouth to the performance we put in against Doncaster Rovers with the same starting line up I have no idea, because that performance against Doncaster Rovers was truly awful.

Doncaster Rovers have always been a decent passing team, and they are perfectly capable of passing the ball around you very easily, and in John Marquis, Doncaster Rovers have got themselves a striker who will score fifteen to twenty goals on a consistent basis in League One every season, And fair play to John Marquis for not celebrating the goal he scored for 1-0, But we got to half time 1-0 down and Tom Eaves came on for Brandon Hanlan, who suffered a head injury, and I thought - OK, Maybe Gillingham can fight back from 1-0 down to draw 1-1 and four points out of six against Portsmouth and Doncaster Rovers would be a very respectable points tally - But once Doncaster Rovers made the score-line 2-0 and 3-0 respectively, then that was game over and Doncaster Rovers fully deserved all three points.

Callum Reilly at least scored a consolation goal to make it two goals in two games for the central midfielder, and Tom Eaves was unlucky to see his header crash against the crossbar prior to Callum Reilly sticking the ball into the back of the net, But we could have done with Callum Reilly scoring twenty minutes earlier to set up the possibility of a unlikely come-back, Gillingham drew 3-3 at The Keepmoat Stadium earlier in the season, and had Gillingham fought back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3, that that would have been an incredible come-back, But Gillingham gave themselves to much to do and bad defending and poor goalkeeping has cost us, and a solid defensive unit was something Gillingham could rely on last season, and yet, this season, Gillingham have already conceded forty one goals when we conceded just fifty five in the league throughout the entire 2017 / 2018 campaign.

And Looking at The League One Table, I think Portsmouth, Sunderland, Luton Town, Peterborough United, Barnsley, Charlton Athletic and Doncaster Rovers will be the top seven this season, I think those seven teams will start to pull away from everyone else in the division and those seven teams will be battling for the two automatic promotion and four playoff spots, Now someone could go on a run and break into the top seven, and that is a very likely possibility, but the top seven has been the top seven teams for some-time now, As for Gillingham, I think if we can strengthen the squad in key positions and if we can go on another decent run, then a solid mid-table position is certainly within our grasps, But you can tell from the last two matches that there is a big difference in quality between Gillingham compared to the likes of Doncaster Rovers and Portsmouth, and yet, Gillingham have done the double over Portsmouth, so we can show that we can close the gap in quality with a lot of work ethic and good team work, but to match the performance we put in against Portsmouth where Gillingham didn't have a lot of the ball, to then go into the match against Doncaster Rovers where we were not going to have a lot of the ball was always going to be a tough ask.

However, I wasn't expecting our performance levels to be that bad and concede three very poor goals, If Gillingham can bounce back and win against Southend United, Then Gillingham will have picked up six points out of twelve against Charlton Athletic, Portsmouth, Doncaster Rovers and Southend United, and that's a respectable points tally from these four fixtures, obviously we would have wanted more points, But a loss against Southend United would mean only four points and we start to really look over our shoulders again, But what hurts the most about the defeat was the missed opportunity to build on the fantastic result against Portsmouth, A Draw on Saturday would have still been a decent result, But now we have gone from the high's of Portsmouth to the low's of Doncaster Rovers, and we now need to pick ourselves up for a tough match against Southend United.

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

Very much typical Gills.Beat Portsmouth,then lose a more winnable game.Doncaster are not a bad side,but we didn’t turn up for much of the game.Hopefully we can start the year better at Southend.