Post by bet welching prick on Aug 14, 2010 5:02:14 GMT
gillingham.clubfans.co.uk/2010/08/13/fomblog-norwich-city-a/
What the hell Brad?
FOMblog: Norwich City (A)
Published by Lee Clifton on August 13, 2010
I made sure I had the following on me before leaving the house (Money, Keys, Mobile Phone, Ticket For Norwich Game, Light Weight Coat, Packet of Polo’s, Spare Lids, My Gillingham Scarf, Radio Adaptor, Spare Battery for Mobile Phone, Medway Messenger, Saturday’s Match Day Programme, Spare Can of Lynx, Pad and Pen and a 500ML Bottle of Coca Cola) – and double checked I not forgotten anything before I set off and left home at 1.40 and walked down to the Cricketers Pub is and I walked to the bus stop in just over ten minutes with time to spare.
With a four by four parked in the bus lane, the 132 couldn’t park up properly and this lead to one passenger and the owner of the four by four having a bust up with several un-printable words being used – you do get some drivers who think the road is exclusively to them and don’t even think about anyone else, am not a driver myself but do get to see what my road is like on a school day as I live close to The Howard School and you get to see some reckless driving and there is a accident waiting to happen – I wouldn’t be surprised if Salisbury Avenue becomes a one way road with a exception to residents.
The Kings Ferry Coach arrived at the bus stop and I got on the coach at 2PM, and sat near the back of the coach, next pick up point was Priestfield Stadium and the coach was noticeably fuller, Ben got on and sat in the seat behind me and we talked about a variety of Gillingham Related Topics such as Jake Hessenthaler playing for Gillingham tonight against Margate in what we expected to be a very youthful line up, I said that Cody McDonald might be given forty five minutes in that match as Cody steps up his fitness levels.
We also spoke about how we are going tonight in hope rather than expectation because Gillingham are underdogs and all the pressure is piled onto Norwich City to get a result and even more so after their opening day defeat to Watford, But IF we do pull off a shock and a potential shock of the first round then we can all say that I was there and celebrate like we won a cup final because what a confidence booster this will be for the players if we win our first away game of the season and at Norwich City of all places.
Without being offensive to League Two but Carrow Road will be the best stadium we goto this season, unless we go on a cup run and draw a Top Eight Premiership Side away and while Norwich are favourites to win that doesn’t necessary mean they will win tonight but the odds are stacked heavily in their favour.
Also we had to speak about that over head kick by Akinfenwa on Saturday, just to even attempt it was impressive but had he scored it be shown again and again and talked about for months, one comment mentioned on the coach that Akinfenwa had done more in two weeks then he had done in two years – as Ben spoke about my FOM BLOG for the Cheltenham game he mentioned that Alan Julian was having ago at Stefan Payne for being out of position and not at the back four which is what I felt Julian’s comments were being directed, Stefan is a young player and he will get better with more game-time so it be harsh to judge the lad on one appearance.
Once everyone was on the coach we eventually got moving, a few supporters were abit late, We hit a few traffic problems approaching Dartford Crossing, nothing like the 14 mile pile up of traffic the Friday before but we took our time and moved at a slow pace before eventually going through the toll booth at Dartford Crossing at 3.25 – On Kings Ferry the travel is different to the Reliance in that Peter Lloyd mentions about not wearing a seat belt can-be a arrest-able offence, the carrying of alcohol is the same regardless of what method of transport you use but all I had on me drink wise was a 500ML bottle of Coca Cola so no worries there.
Peter Lloyd came round to collect travel money and travel to and from Norwich is £20 and that isn’t too bad and I was listening to the radio with the radio adaptor I brought with me swinging my phone to try and pick up a better reception, looking outside it was beginning to chuck it down and not great at all and we were hoping that it remains dry by the time we get to Carrow Road.
We stopped off at Birchanger Services at 4.10 which is just at the end of The M25 for a toilet break and grab food and drink – as we stopped I waited for everyone to get off the coach and as it was chucking it down I made a quick dash from the coach to the services, I went in the newsagents and brought The Sun, A Ham and Cheese Sandwich and a 500ML Bottle of Coca Cola for £5.40 – food and drink is always expensive in a service station and not that much better in a football stadium either.
After buying what I needed and with it still raining I made a dash from the service station back to the coach and got on the coach and back to my seat again, as I was hungry I was going to eat the Ham and Cheese Sandwich straight away – I listened to the radio as I was one of 5 -6 supporters on the coach and there was still plenty of time before we moved again.
Once everyone was back on the coach again we got moving at 4.45 and Ben was speaking about the England game and how players moan that they get tired despite the fact the Premiership play far less games then The Football League which has 46 league games, add the League Cup and FA Cup where lower league sides start off in the First Round, The Football League Trophy for teams in League’s One and Two and the potential of your team entering the playoffs and we play far more matches and just get on with it.
For me the tiredness, playing matches during the winter –(which has lead to calls for a winter break) -and the amount of games our players supposedly play is a 100% cop out from the real reason and that is we were not good enough and what was so successful in getting us to the World Cup in the first place, solid 4.4.2 with a target-man and Capello’s discipline were being questioned once things were not going our way and once we been beaten by a well organized Germany side.
I am glad that Fabio Capello is still England Manager because you look at his managerial CV and it is very very impressive, we have had Fabio Capello, Sven-Göran Eriksson and Steve McClaren in charge of what has been dubbed by the press as “the golden generation” of England players and we have had the same set of players for 2002, 2006 and 2010 and eventually something has to click to make you think well we have changed the manager a few times and nothing has worked so maybe it is the players.
I listened to the radio going through radio stations as I picked up a signal and then lose it again which was frustrating but at least the rain was starting to ease off and there were hopes that it should remain dry by the time we get to Norwich, mostly for these kind of trips you have to find ways to pass the time, I tend to listen to the radio, others read the newspaper or do a crossword, some like their chit chat and others prefer to sleep and save all their energy for the match.
As we could see Carrow Road Peter Lloyd mentioned that for those who have not been to Carrow Road before we have to go past the ground and upto the car park to park up then make our way to the ground, Carrow Road is a fantastic stadium and it is the type of stadiums we like to be going to on a regular basis whenever we are on our travels, but in a less then glamorous League Two that is not going to be the case.
Once we parked up I waited till everyone was off the coach then checked to make sure I have everything I needed and took some spare lids with me as well and the time was 6.15 which gives us plenty of time till kick off to do whatever we wanted and soak in the pre match atmosphere.
I got off the coach and saw a few Norwich Supporters who said “Look a Gillingham Fan” as they made their way to the ground, often I have found that if you’re not looking to cause trouble then trouble doesn’t come in your direction as 99% of football supporters are genuine and here for the same reasons as you, to watch a game of football and hope their team wins but you always get that 1% that goes over board and do want to cause trouble or aggravate genuine supporters.
I was on my way to the ground when Stewart rang as he was doing his fantasy football team and wanted my help as you have 100 million to spend on a 15 man squad and I said a few players I have got in my squad and who I have brought and some other players like Kevin Doyle and Ricardo Fuller who don’t cost alot of money but you know that if there fit then Doyle and Fuller will start for Wolves and Stoke City respectively – I was still talking to Stewart when I was crossing the road and I knew where to go as I went to the league match last season and stood outside the ground and kept helping Stew with his squad, I had to go so I could get inside early enough and Stew wished me luck for the match, though the odds were stacked in our favour a Gillingham win tonight will do wonders for the players confidence and we could get a decent tie in the Second Round.
Saw Lisa and Gary and rather travel there and back Lisa, Gary, James and Tom have travelled up the day before and decided to stay in a hotel which is only the same hotel that Simeon Jackson is staying in, the players have been re-united with Simeon and been given abit of stick and banter about tonight’s game, some Norwich Supporter walked pass us and said “your kits rubbish” and he was wearing a dark yellow shirt compared to every other Norwich support who was wearing a much cleaner kit – yours isn’t much better sums up his kit perfectly.
Saw Gary Piper, Katie and Jamie all make their way into Carrow Road while Bruce was limping because of his ankle – still no time frame on when Bruce’s ankle is back to 100% again and fingers crossed on a quick recovery, fingers were also crossed for a upset and a victory tonight, the odds were stacked in Norwich’s favour but with this being a cup game and a result decided on the night anything can happen – The Champions League and Europa League have group stages but I think supporters prefer a result on the night that say’s one match your through or one match your out and that is the appeal of a knock out competition.
But group stages do allow the more consistent team to progress but also in The Champions League the big teams favour a group stage as it means that even if they lose a game there not out and can still go through so a group stage is a way of protecting your own investment.
But Gillingham are not going to experience group stage football anytime soon but we could well have a large article in Wednesday’s newspapers if we do happen to cause the potential shock of the first round – apparently Curtis Weston has picked up a virus which has been going round the training ground and he won’t be in the squad tonight which is a shame and just goes to show that our luck with injuries and viruses is terrible.
We made a move to the turnstiles and Bruce has not been to Carrow Road since The Championship Days and I gave my ticket to the turnstiles operator and I was inside the ground, I saw Mike and said that I had came up via Kings Ferry Coach as Reliance don’t run a coach on a Tuesday night and had also said I come here at of hope rather than expectation, also I said to Mike that had we won and I was stuck at home I would be kicking myself because the atmosphere here tonight is bound to be something special.
I queued up to buy something to eat and drink and brought a sausage roll and 500ML Bottle of Coca Cola and went up the stairs and saw Gary Piper, with Weston and Mark McCammon both ruled out and if you add that Fuller, Richards, King, Oli and McDonald are also out we are very light in-terms of players we can play – Cody McDonald cannot play under the terms of the loan agreement while Stanley Aborah is still waiting for international clearance.
There were also concern’s over the fitness and conditioning of our players as we seem to have players breaking down with injuries and getting viruses, Mark Stimson believed in fitness and when we were last at this level we started pre season in June and players worked on additional fitness levels and also we had pace to cause alot of teams problems – now Andy Hessenthaler isn’t going to win 5 out 5, it will take time for Hessy to put his point across and it will take time for him to field his strongest side as we have so many players out with injuries and I am sure that everything will be addressed eventually just that it is going to take time and we will need to be patient – you don’t win two promotions in a row and almost win three promotions without having some knowledge of what is required for a promotion pushing team.
Gary Piper and Bruce went to their seats while the steward next to me said we have to goto our seats but near kick off you can sit where-ever you like – I was speaking with this Norwich Steward in depth about a number of football related topics and I mentioned that Simeon Jackson will come good for you eventually just that he needs time to adapt to this level because it won’t happen over-night for Simeon as he has to get used to how Norwich City play, how they move on and off the ball and also Simeon will be playing with better players but against better players as well so if he is given the ball at his feet or the ball over the shoulder Simeon is going to capitalize and thrive on that service, give him a high ball and he come off second best.
I spoke about the size of Norwich City Football Club and we are under no illusions or false dawns here, we know that Norwich is a big football club and when you sell over 20,000 season tickets and have a capacity of 27,000 as Norwich have been busy over the summer expanding the stadium capacity then that is not only a pronominal achievement but also reflects on what we have to do to reach this level – we looked in the programme and a ticket for Scunthorpe V Norwich was £24 pounds and Glanford Park isn’t exactly the most glamorous of football stadiums with seats bolted onto terracing but with only a 9,000 doesn’t that reflect on Scunthorpe that they have to expensive ticket prices so they can afford to pay Championship wages.
Speaking of stadiums, we spoke about Priestfield and how it has been a fantastic home for us, but we like to be a Championship side in about 10+ years – but to compete in The Championship you need the info structure in place to compete at that level – with Newcastle and West Brom promoted there is no-one in the Championship with serious money in their pockets to spend, maybe Middlesbrough but no-one looks a out and out candidate in what is proberly the hardest league in Europe because anyone out of 15 – 16 sides will feel that this is their season and with Blackpool promoted into The Premiership everyone else is thinking well if Blackpool can go up then so can we.
Speaking with this steward and how he rates Norwich City’s chances this season, he thinks that the playoffs is a big big ask this season and a season of consolidation will do the club some good and just get some footing and used to playing Championship Football again, Leicester achieved a playoff place last season after getting promoted and that will be what Norwich City Supporters will be inspiring to but maybe a solid mid table finish will help the club long term rather than have a good first season back in The Championship then struggle the following season.
I pointed out where Adebayo Akinfenwa is and at 17 stone and with a wide frame Akinfenwa is not a player you can miss and it is all muscle as well, I mentioned what Akinfenwa’s strength’s are and holding the ball up is clearly one of them but also Akinfenwa has a great goal-scoring record at League Two Level, I mentioned that in League Two you are bound to find players go route one or try and kick your most creative players to the floor, there are some exceptions like Rochdale who do play good football but often teams have a big lump or two in their side and you need someone strong enough to handle the physical element of lower league football.
We spoke about Cody McDonald and I mentioned that he is still injured and should return in-time for the Hereford Match, I said that Cody could join us permanently because with Grant Holt, Chris Martin, Simeon Jackson and Ollie Johnson Norwich have a impressive quota of strikers available and with Cody’s family being from Kent, Cody might want to sign for us though finances dictate that and so does this season – if we go up then we are in a more attractive position to sign him and other better quality players but we got a long long way to go before we can even talk about promotion.
I asked for where-abouts is my seat and went to where my seat was but could move before the start of the match, I spoke to this Gills fan and his two lads who were sitting in exactly the same seats as they were for the league game last season while I pointed out I was only a few rows in-front of this seat but least we could move to where-ever we wanted to sit this time.
This Gillingham Supported in-formed me that he lives in Norwich and how he and his two lads would love to see a Gillingham win just for the bragging rights and also because we know we could get a very decent tie in the second round, tonight we will at least not come up against Fraser Forster who made a out-standing stop against Dennis Oli one v one while I also gave my own account on The Cheltenham game and how we played and also mentioned the players we have out through injury, on another day we would of won but a draw under the circumstances isn’t a bad result and we have much to be positive about.
I said that we can now move so I went up the steps for a higher and better view and went right to the back of the stand and I sat with Tom, James, Callum and Jordan – they asked me how I got to the game and I mentioned via coach and both Jordan and Callum were stunned as they were on the same coach – I didn’t even see them get on the coach and as I am sitting at the very back of the coach and their sitting at the very front we cannot see where we are seated.
On The Reliance I be in my usual seat and as I have the radio on and am usually quiet but am amazed we didn’t at least bump into each other at the services and this has to be a complete fluke.
We spoke about the game and the odds are stacked against us but this being a cup game the chance to cause an upset and be in The Second Round, we spoke about no Fraser Forster between the sticks and former Gillingham Duo Andrew Crofts and Simeon Jackson are not in the squad tonight but Grant Holt and Chris Martin are likely to lead the attack and Wes Hoolahan in the hole.
Eventually we heard the team-sheet and Gillingham Lined-Up as follows….. Julian, Sinclair, Gowling, Bentley, Nutter, J.Payne, Spiller, Weston, Palmer, Barcham, Akinfenwa SUBS: Cronin, Essam, Maher, Jackman, White, S.Payne.
With Weston and McCammon both injured and the youth team playing Margate it meant that we couldn’t name a full quota of subs, I suppose Nicky Southall could of been named as a sub as we have registered Southall as a player.
It does look like the same formation as we played on Saturday with 4.5.1 / 4.3.3 with Palmer wide right and Barcham wide left and Akinfenwa down the centre – I wasn’t expecting the big guy to start and expected Akinfenwa to have another cameo role from the bench but clearly Akinfenwa is keen to start and though not fully fit the only way he will get fit is to play football games.
I took a few pics of the ground on my camera and a look around the ground suggested that Carrow Road should be around half full at the very least, nothing like the explosive atmosphere we witnessed when we went to Carrow Road last season where all four sides were packed full and a 25,000 attendance and we did well to hold Norwich that day for as long as we did, just a shame Dennis Oli didn’t score that one on one chance.
The chanting had began before the players were out onto the pitch as “Andy Hessenthaler’s Bramy Army” “Gillingham, GILLINGHAM” and “The Last Waltz” were sang at full voice, confidence wasn’t high but I wouldn’t say it was low either and we knew that if we cause Norwich the sort of problems Watford caused them on Friday night then we are in with a chance, just that we have to wary that Norwich have got some exceptionally talented players in their squad and if we don’t watch them closely then they can punish us, The players came out of the Turnstile’s to a loud atmosphere with Gillingham in Blue and Black, Alan Julian was wearing his usual green goalkeeper jersey but red shorts, wonder if he couldn’t wear green because of Norwich’s home kit or black because of the referee, that is one to check the rulebook for.
ANYWAY ONTO THE MATCH……..
And Norwich almost made the perfect start when Chris Martin was played through and his audacious chip went over Alan Julian but also cleared a crossbar, a heart in mouth moment for many Gillingham Supporters including myself and just a huge sigh of relief to see the ball go the right side over the bar from our prospective.
Tony Sinclair went down the right hand side and his cross was charged down by a Norwich player, the resulting throw on from Jack Payne went to Luke Rooney, Rooney dummied a cross, got the ball out under his feet and chip in a quality cross which John Ruddy did really well to pluck out the air, better from Gillingham and we looked to be causing Norwich City some cause of concern.
Norwich City were given a debatable free kick when Andy D’Urso deemed that Jack Payne’s challenge on Wes Hoolahan was a foul and that got all of us in the away end agitated because we thought Payne had got stuck in with a hard but fair tackle, David Fox tried to take the resulting free kick too quickly and Andy D’Urso booked him for it but at the second attempt David Fox went for goal with a brilliantly curled effort and Alan Julian’s despairing dive across his goal and Fox’s effort clipped the outside of the post though I chanted “SAVE” thinking Alan got across to make contact on the ball.
The chants were being sang in the away end with “Hessenthaler’s Barmy Army” being belted out at full voice while “Gillingham, GILLINGHAM” was also being belted out – Norwich Supporters responded with a chant of their own as the action in the terraces was dominating more than the action on the pitch.
Norwich won a corner in the eight minute and this got us nervous because Norwich are a serious threat from set plays and Adam Drury whipped in a superb corner and Chris Palmer got that all important touch to header the ball away from danger – the resulting throw on by Korey Smith saw Russell Martin take a touch but his cross was charged down by John Nutter and Norwich had another corner for us to contend with, Korey Smith’s corner was flighted in perfectly and Alan Julian had to tip the ball away at the expense of another corner as Norwich will making all the pressure tell in the opening ten minutes – David Fox whipped in another excellent corner which Mark Bentley headered away from goal superbly and Tony Sinclair blocked the follow up and a foul by Korey Smith on Chris Palmer relived the pressure and our defence needed a break as Norwich were all over us in the opening ten minutes, if we keep Norwich quiet for the next ten minutes we will be doing really well for ourselves.
But we did even better then that as we stunned the home supporters on twelve minutes as John Nutter’s throw on to Palmer who jabbed the ball to Barcham who cut past two players before he was brought down on the edge of the box REF!!!! Was my response but my anger was turned to delight very quickly as Chris Palmer lashed the ball home on the edge of the area, YES, YES – GET IN THERE!!! as everyone in the away end went absolutely mental – “Hessenthaler’s Barmy Army”, “Championship, your having a laugh” and “We’re going up, Your Coming Down” were being sang from the away end as we may well be lacking numbers but we were certainly winning the vocal battle and we were winning the battle on the pitch as well.
John Ruddy was being called into action as a cross by Chris Palmer was well claimed by the Norwich keeper and good play in midfield saw Spiller play the ball wide to Tony Sinclair who’s cross into the box at the vest least forced John Ruddy to claim another high ball into the box.
While there was a long way to go we were dreaming the dream and who we like in the Second Round if this so happens to be the score-line at full time and the likes of West Ham, Newcastle and Fulham were all mentioned, we cannot play any of The Premiership sides in Europe till The Third Round but even so a nice tie against a Premiership side will do nicely, providing that we can win tonight’s match.
Norwich wanted a quick response and Adam Drury’s ball into the box was headered away from danger by Mark Bentley who is going to win those type of balls all day long, the follow up was slotted through nicely for Wes Hoolahan but the creative midfield was flagged for offside.
The Norwich onslaught continued with Josh Gowling headering crosses from Simon Lappin and Russell Martin clear from danger one had to be headered behind at the expense of a corner but Simon Lappin’s in-swinging corner was headered clear by Mark Bentley and the follow up blocked by Tony Sinclair as we had to resort to desperate defending from times and it did look like a set piece will get Norwich back into this match because the crossing from Norwich City is very precise and you can tell that Paul Lambert works on this at the training ground.
One comment from a Gills Supporter behind me was that we were not this together or united under Mark Stimson on the road last season and this passion or commitment for the cause just wasn’t there, but at home we were out-standing and no-one is entirely sure why it didn’t work on the road, was it a mental issue, was it physiological, were we playing the wrong tactic’s, should we played more uglier football, did the players care or were individual mistakes costing us matches, it could be any number of these things.
Gillingham had a fantastic chance to make it 2 . 0 just after the twenty minute mark as Korey Smith fouled Danny Spiller, Spiller got up from the deck, pulled himself together and whipped in a top notch free kick between the keeper and the defenders, Adebayo Akinfenwa did fantastic to get in-between the gap and with his back to goal Akinfenwa headered the ball goal-wards and the ball crashed off the under-side of the cross-bar and Norwich were able to clear their lines, before anyone was able to nip n and tuck in the re-bound – Akinfenwa’s header was top draw and when we consider that he is not fully fit yet and what he did for us on Saturday then I cannot wait to see what Akinfenwa can do for us when he is at 100% and firing on all cylinders.
And we were made to pay for that miss as Alan Julian’s poor goal-kick went out for a throw on, Norwich reacted quickly and Grant Holt’s dink over the top was perfect for Chris Martin to run onto and the Norwich man used his head and showed great composure to tuck the ball past Alan Julian who was left badly exposed as the back four were beaten with the ball over the top and we just couldn’t get back in-time, the score was 1 . 1 with Norwich City celebrating and a few of their supporters giving us stick in the away end, a few of our fans mocked their celebrations and Norwich sang there song in reference to Ipswich – cannot say precisely what the song is as it breaks house rules but we sang back “one song, you only got one song” and “Hessenthaler’s Barmy Army” was being sung loud and proud as we continued to back the lads on the pitch.
Andy D’Urso is never too far away to antagonizing the Gillingham Supporters as he harshly and very harshly in-fact penalized Adebayo Akinfenwa for a supposed foul on Michael Nelson, this is going to be a regular feature as referee’s will see Akinfenwa’s size and think oh he has shoved him to the floor when that isn’t always the case.
Norwich do like the long balls forward or to the flank and they use these type of balls brilliantly but I cannot see how Simeon Jackson is going to thrive on this when the service he is getting is high and he has to jump to bring the ball down or jump for a header, that just isn’t his game – but the players Norwich have on the pitch know exactly what to do when they knock it long and a cross wide right by Russell Martin was mis-kicked by Mark Bentley but high and over our own crossbar and Norwich won a corner by whipping in a dangerous cross and they contuined to ask questions of our defence.
Simon Lappin whips in another quality corner and Wes Hoolahan works himself into a decent shooting position before his snap shot goes narrowly wide of the far post, breathing a sigh of relief and we just hoped that Norwich had a off day and we could at least go in at half time 1 . 1.
But those hopes were dashed with Norwich’s next attack as Grant Holt and Chris Martin combined with Holt given way too much time to thread a ball out-wide and Martin’s cross is excellent and Holt’s finish is from a player who you know is going to score when a chance is presented to them like that, you cannot allow quality players that sort of time to whip in a cross otherwise they punish you and that is precisely what Norwich did, I don’t know why Nutter stood off and backed off, he should of been scrapping to win that ball or at least put himself between the player and the goal so that cross never happens.
Akinfenwa and Rooney have shots blocked / charged down in quick succession and Norwich breaked on us quickly because they wanted the game over as a contest as quickly as possible, Josh Gowling fouled Grant Holt so that at least slowed the game up abit – Simon Lappin whips in another fantastic ball and Grant Holt’s header is blocked by Tony Sinclair at the expense of a corner but Alan Julian comes out to show his appreciation because Sinclair did well to block Holt’s header.
David Fox whips in another dangerous corner and Alan Julian comes out and gets a strong two handed punch on the ball and Norwich supporters chant for a shot but they keep the ball nicely and a well timed challenge by Mark Bentley see’s the ball take a ricochet of John Nutter and it looks like Norwich got a very fortunate deflection and Jack Payne has no choice but to go in and Andy D’Urso awards Norwich City a debatable free kick and we are furious with the decision.
Chris Martin stands over the ball and he curls a beauty which crashes against the top of the bar and out to safety, I very much am observing the game with focused look on my face, others want half time so they can get food and drink.
Then we had the best chance to equalize as Jack Payne evaded one challenge cut inside and was clearly fouled, Payne got a shot off which John Ruddy parried and into the path of Akinfenwa who somehow missed with a glancing header, only he can explain why he missed that chance, the other header was difficult but that was a home banker and Akinfenwa should of scored, Norwich cheered and gave Akinfenwa the usually fat chants, Callum behind me said “it’s muscle” and it is muscle, Akinfenwa may weigh 17 stone but he is big built and always been on the big side but you can tell that Akinfenwa keeps himself in excellent condition otherwise he wouldn’t be a professional footballer if that was mostly fat on him.
Jack Payne was injured in the build up to that chance and had to be subbed off for Kevin Maher, there were a few groans that Kevin Maher was brought on but Maher plays in that position and hopefully Maher’s experience can allow the likes of Barcham and Rooney to bomb forward and give these two the license and freedom to join up in attack.
Akinfenwa had one foul given for and against him and that was it for the first forty five minutes and the score on the basis of play could and perhaps should be 3 . 3.
HALF TIME NORWICH CITY 2 . 1 GILLINGHAM
Talking about the first half and those two chances from Akinfenwa immediately sprang to mind and the first one was great centre forward play, the second he should of scored there is no question about it, Callum and Jordan still couldn’t believe that they didn’t notice me on The Kings Ferry Coach while I took a few pics at half time.
But what was getting our attention was the beach ball being hit around the away end with every contact made receiving a loud HEY, till the beach ball hits the ground and you start booing, we just wanted the beach ball to come over here so that we could join in.
The beach ball rolled down the piece of cloth that was separating the home and away supporters with everyone joining in with a WOAH – and HEY when someone picked the beach ball up and we continued where we left off – even the steward at the back of the stand joined in when he kneed the beach ball and chants of “we want our ball back, we want our ball back” – a few Norwich supporters looked across and were envious because they wanted to join in as well.
But I am saving the best till last one man got the beach ball and accidently punched the beach ball into someone’s face and that got the loudest cheer at half time, after checking to see the person he had accidently hit was alright he took a bow for a poor attempt of a punch.
We didn’t even want the players to come out for the second half that is how much fun we were having and least the beach ball was being passed back, at Wycombe they confiscated them.
The players were out of the tunnel for the second half and if we get the next goal to equalize then we could well be back in this and give Norwich a proper cup tie, speaking about the first half I mentioned that for the first twenty / twenty five minutes we have given Norwich City a really good game and had Akinfenwa’s two chances go in we could well be in-front but also we could be 3 . 1 down as Norwich have looked very threatening from set plays.
SECOND HALF……….
The first five minutes of the first half was very stop and start with several throw on’s and a few fouls given for and against both sides as both Norwich and Gillingham knew that the next goal, assuming that there is another goal in this match is going to be massive.
Mark Bentley fouls Chris Martin, David Fox takes the resulting free kick and passes out-wide to Wes Hoolahan but Tony Sinclair is in the right place to block his first time cross, Norwich have us penned in and two throw on’s see us header the ball out of play.
Adam Drury takes the resulting thrown on and Russell Martin’s cross is half cleared by Josh Gowling, the ball still is in play by the by-line but Norwich work the ball into a crossing position with some good movement but we were off the pace giving Norwich far too much space and Korey Smith’s cross is tucked into the back of the net by Grant Holt with a instinctive goal-scorers goal, a well worked move from Norwich’s point of view but we made things far too easy for that goal – Alan Julian was furious with our poor defending and he has every right to be furious because that was a simple goal and one we could and should of dealt with.
“We’re going to win 4 . 3” and “You only got one song” were being sung while “you only sing when your winning was also sung” moments later, we had a slim chance as there was thirty five minutes plus stoppage time but how often do Gillingham come back to win 4 . 3 when 3 . 1 down and how often do we do that on the road, for many of us it was starting to look like Norwich will progress to the second round but if we could get the next goal we be back in this match and the game will be a contest again.
Chris Palmer received the ball out-wide and whipped in a excellent cross which had to flicked away from goal by Elliott Ward with a decent defensive header, we didn’t even get a corner and had a throw on deep in the Norwich half – the throw on didn’t come to anything in-particular but Russell Martin fouled Josh Gowling on the halfway line and Norwich Supporters were furious with the decision while we clapped and applauded Andy D’Urso and there won’t be many times we do that tonight.
Hopes were raised in the away end when Gillingham won a corner GO ON, GILLS COME ON!!! And if we can bury this chance we be right back into the match and that is what we were hoping, Chris Palmer’s corner was into the right area but Chris Martin was dropped back to help his team mates out defensively and it was Chris Martin who flicked the ball away from danger, a few minutes later and we had won another corner after some excellent play by Andy Barcham and again Palmer’s corner was into the right areas but Russell Martin headered the ball away from danger with a diving header.
Grant Holt was subbed off for Ollie Johnson after sixty three minutes and he was given a superb reception by The Norwich Faithful, a real pain in the backside for us all night and perhaps saved for Saturday’s match against Scunthorpe United.
But with Grant Holt no longer on the pitch Gillingham were having a good sustained period of play, first Danny Spiller at least tested John Ruddy with a decent attempt on goal which was a routine save for The Norwich City keeper but moments later we had our best chance to pull ourselves back into the game as Chris Palmer’s cross was held up superbly by Akinfenwa who rolled the ball across to Luke Rooney and Rooney let fly with a rising drive which John Ruddy parried and turned out to be a decent save, a head in hands moment from myself and a few others around me as had that gone in it might have given us the momentum and confidence booster we need to really go all out for a equalizer.
Norwich were still stunned when Andy Barcham went on a incredible run down the left hand side and Barcham took on one player but his cross was cleared by Russell Martin who was having a fantastic game for Norwich in a more defensive role.
Norwich made their second change of the match when Matthew Gill came on for David Fox as Paul Lambert now has the luxury of subbing players off and giving his fringe players a runout, we still had belief that we could get back into this but I think we were starting looking at a first round exit which was becoming increasingly more likely.
Wes Hoolahan brought Danny Spiller down in a promosing position, Spiller got up and whip another top notch free kick, Akinfenwa got his head on the ball and headered the ball over the bar, the big guy just couldn’t climb high enough to get over the ball so he could header the ball downwards but after that passage of play Luke Rooney was subbed off to “Rooney, Rooney” chants and Stefan Payne came on in his place – Stefan didn’t have a great debut against Cheltenham but considering he played as alone striker he didn’t do too badly and with better coaching and more games he become a better player.
Norwich could and perhaps should of been out of sight and made the score-line 4 . 1 as another hoof up-field cause us potential problems at the back and having seen Norwich attack I do feel that Simeon is going to struggle with that sort of service, going up for aerial challenges isn’t his game and if Norwich keep the ball on the floor they will get the best out of Simeon Jackson – but eventually the ball fell to Martin who played in Simon Lappin who’s left foot shot went just wide of the far post.
Norwich started to sing “you’re not singing anymore” which prompted us to start singing “Gillingham, GILLINGHAM” and “Hessenthaler’s Barmy Army” – by now my voice was starting to go with all the singing and chanting and I think we just started to accept that a first round defeat is ever looming and it is disappointing, I heard a comment which was “oh well, least we can concentrate on the league” and while that maybe the case it is still a disappointment to be knocked out because a win at Carrow Road may have looked unlikely but even so the chance to get into The Second Round isn’t something to be sniped at.
Chris Martin was caught in a offside position and he started to play keepy uppy with the ball and wouldn’t give the ball back and Alan Julian gave The Norwich Striker a big shove in the back, Andy D’Urso didn’t book The Norwich Striker either for time wasting though we wouldn’t be surprised if D’Urso decided to book for Julian for the shove in the back.
Just a few minutes later and a loose ball was there to be won and Kevin Maher went in with a hard but fair sliding tackle and Andy D’Urso signalled that was a foul, Maher has done OK upto that point, nothing fancy but spreading the ball to either flank really well and that tackle was timed to perfection with Wes Hoolahan making a complete meal of it.
The resulting free kick was top draw by Chris Martin and Alan Julian was equal to it at full stretch palming the ball behind for a corner as Julian was taking no chances in trying to hang onto that strike and risk slipping the ball into the path of a Norwich player for a tap in, top save by Julian – Norwich showed the depth and quality they had in their squad with their final tactical change as Wes Hoolahan was subbed off and Anthony McNamee came on in his place and that is the type of tactical change we would love to be able to make though injuries are restricting the amount of players we can call upon for tonight’s game.
Norwich penned us in our own half with three throw on’s by Russell Martin even though one of those throw’s was clearly ours and how the linesman or Andy D’Urso didn’t see it I have no idea but when these minor decisions go against you then you hope that on another day they go for you as decisions balance themselves out over the course of the season which means we are duo a fortunate decision or two.
Danny Spiller’s cross was well claimed by John Ruddy and though we not tested him with a attempt on goal since Rooney’s rising drive it is good that we are continuing to ask questions from their keeper – that was Adebayo Akinfenwa’s number up and the big guy did extremely well to last 82 minutes and he got a excellent reception when he was subbed off, the big guy had some harsh decision’s go against him and those 80 odd minutes will do him some good as Akinfenwa edges closer to full fitness, Andy White came on in his place to make his Gillingham Debut and the young striker is on just for a runout as much as anything else and least he beef up our striking options for Saturday.
Another long ball for Chris Martin to chase and The Norwich striker was through on goal and clipped by Tony Sinclair, that’s it and I thought as did many others that Sinclair will be sent off as he did look to be the last man, Andy D’Urso showed some leniency by only showing Sinclair a yellow card – the resulting free kick by Anthony McNamee was class and just went over the bar with Alan Julian well beaten.
At least Chris Palmer kept trying to force something, his first cross was charged down by Adam Drury and his second saw John Ruddy split the ball but gather at the second attempt and really that looked to be it.
Still Norwich went for the long ball and Anthony McNamee showed fantastic skill on the by-line, his shot was blocked by Mark Bentley and Norwich could easierly walk the ball into the back of the net and Anthony McNamee’s pull back was blocked by Alan Julian and Julian stopped a corner by keeping the ball the right side of the line and this antagonized the Norwich Supporters behind the goal who thought it was a corner – still Norwich persisted and we looked liked we were running through treacle now as Norwich superior class and fitness told in the latter stages and Chris Martin’s tame effort was straight at Alan Julian.
But he wouldn’t be denied again as a long ball caught Josh Gowling out, Ollie Johnson raced onto the ball got their first and Chris Martin rounds Alan Julian and tucks the ball into the back of the net to make it 4 . 1 and Norwich were defiantly through to The Second Round of The Carling Cup.
With just one additional minute that really was that and we could feel proud of our efforts but all in all class, quality and ability told and Norwich have that in abundance and we could least hold our heads up high, to those at home this looked liked we were thrashed but I think we gave Norwich a real scare and had Akinfenwa’s header gone in it could of been another story.
FINAL SCORE: NORWICH CITY 4 . 1 GILLINGHAM
Everyone applauded the team and cheered for Hessenthaler and the lads, the players came over to applaud all of us in the away end and this unified approach and togetherness will be needed throughout the season home and away, today there was a acceptance that if Norwich win it be expected while if we win it be a fantastic shock but on Saturday at Hereford if we defend like we did tonight then we will ship goals and hopefully Hessy will address that with a signing or 1 – 2 injured players come back because we did look off the pace defensively.
There won’t be players like Grant Holt, Anthony McNamee, Ollie Johnson, Chris Martin and Wes Hoolahan in League Two so we need to take this result with a pinch of salt but even so there is much to improve on.
Speaking with the steward at the end of the game I said that class told in the end while he was impressed with Mark Bentley and Jack Payne saying that both players had excellent games for us, it could of been another story but as the stewards were cleaning up the away end I had to make a move and he wished us a safe trip and all in all the stewards at Norwich were very welcoming, very pleasant and didn’t make a fuss if we stood though we had to remain seated during the game.
I saw Gary Piper and we spoke about the game and how class told in the end and how we won’t face that sort of quality at Hereford on Saturday, there were concerns over our defensive options because Josh Gowling looked all over the place tonight while Mark Bentley is no centre back but he does his best and that is all you can ask for.
I spoke with Bruce and he mentioned how at Yeovil and Stockport last season we drew 0 . 0 and the team was booed off the pitch, we lose 4 . 1 against Norwich and the team get cheered off the pitch, we spoke about how that level of support is needed 100% all of the time and when we go through the good times that level of support is appreciated but when it is tough and we go through the rough times can we back the players on and off the pitch, whoever is manager Mark Stimson, Andy Hessenthaler or whoever needs to be backed on a match day, that doesn’t mean we applaud for the sake of it as supporters have their right to be dis-satisfied with a result or if the players are not trying but support is support and it should be 100% backing behind the manager, the staff and the players on a match day.
We also spoke about the players fitness and conditioning because under Mark Stimson we had additional fitness sessions, “Terror Tuesday’s” and clearly we used these sessions to make sure that players didn’t tire with 10 – 15 minutes to go and when the opposition were knackered we still had another gear to go upto, are we doing that under Andy Hessenthaler
– surely he has something in mind because you don’t achieve two promotions in three seasons at Dover Athletic without considering the players fitness and fatigue, it may be less so in non league football but even so I am sure fitness is being talked about and being dealt with on the training ground – regardless if it is at Dover Athletic or Gillingham Football Club.
Bruce thought The Kings Ferry Coach was close to the ground but I walked with Bruce, Gary Piper, Katie, Jamie and Jim up the hill and we were easierly out-numbered by Norwich City Supporters who were making their way out of the ground and speaking of Norwich City, the attendance was 13,000+ for that cup game, the ground wasn’t half full and yet 13,000 is more then what Priestfield can hold so that just reflects the size and support difference between the two clubs.
We started to list man of the match options, Barcham, Palmer and Spiller were all mentioned, Tony Sinclair didn’t do too badly, beach ball was mentioned as a laugh because that was entertaining at half-time.
We separated as Gary Piper came up via car and I said c ya at Hereford – I was the last one back on the Kings Ferry Coach and I was back on the coach around 9.50, Callum and Jordan said last one on again Lee and I took to my seat and rang Stewie to see if the draw was done for The League Cup tonight, eventually found out the draw is tomorrow and I sent my bro a text saying “no worries, the draw is tomorrow” – found out that Charlton were 3 . 0 up and lost 4 . 3 to Shrewsbury, Oxford United won 6 . 1 against Bristol Rovers and Accrington beat Doncaster Rovers.
We got moving around 10 and I was mostly listening to the radio and picked up Radio Norfolk and it is here where I must give credit to Paul Lambert and Chris Martin both were very respectful in what they had to say, Lambert said that this was a competition that he wanted to do well in and that he will treat any team with respect while Chris Martin was pleased to get on the score-sheet and said that winning is a habit and it can only be a good thing to win – the interviewer tried to make us sound like little Gillingham and could Lambert make whole sale changes but Lambert wanted to give players as many minutes as possible and keep the back five settled, poor journalism but least Lambert and Chris Martin were not trying to make us sound like opposition they should be beating 5 . 0 with their eyes closed and there response’s were from a player and manager who have been in football long enough to never under-estimate the opposition you go up against
I don’t like the whole oh we can concentrate on the league now, I knew our chances of winning were slim but even so I was disappointed we lost and IF only we scored that chance when Akinfenwa hit the bar and oh if this happened and had that happened, does make for grim reading.
I was mostly listening to the radio and looking on facebook and kent online to see what was being said, my Sony Eircsson K800I isn’t the most advanced phone and I am looking to get a new mobile, but on facebook there were alot of RIP Adam Stansfield status up-dates, and I checked BBC Football and the most shocking story of the night is that Exeter City Striker Adam Stansfield has died at the age of 31 and it really does put football into prospective and everyone was just stunned.
Everyone was doing their own thing to pass the time, I listen to the radio, some like to read, most were asleep by now, some like to chit chat and others like playing game consoles, I remember when there was Gameboy and that was it but now you got Nintendo DS and PSP and everything is handheld and portable, Gameboy used to masters of the handheld computer game with Mario, Tetris and Pokemon but now you can play any game and it is the sign of just how advanced technology has come over the past 10 – 20 years.
I still had some drink left over from the coca cola bottle I had in my bag and finished that bottle off very quickly as my throat was sore from all that singing and chanting before and during the match while speaking to Ben he asked “am I writing a blog for this game” I said yes but it will take ages to write as I do cram in the detail – I mentioned that I won’t put any swear words in my blog or anything offensive but they do take ages to write and clearly alot of supporters like my blogs but also I check my own blog for spelling mistakes but proof-reading your own material is the hardest thing to do because you know how it sounds like in your mind yet on paper it may not come across that way.
We were not going to stop as we intended to get back as quick as possible and I just rested my eyes for abit though I cannot sleep on a coach but kudos to those who can sleep on a coach because I just cannot do that.
Peter Lloyd came round and asked about travel arrangements for up and coming games but as I had already arranged travel with Pam before-hand I said I ring when I come again, also tipped the driver when the bag came round for tips as driving this late is tough on the driver as everyone else can sleep and relax and do whatever they want to, to pass the time.
We crossed Dartford Bridge at 12.55 and went through the toll booth in no time at all which was completely the opposite when we left Kent earlier in the day, first stop off point was outside Strood Sports Centre before we went round Finsbury near Strood and went through the Medway Tunnel and made our way to the ground, I was going to get off at the Cricketers and after a few more stop off points I double checked I had everything and got off the coach at 1.45 and checked to see if The Kebab place was open but that was shut and I walked home, past St Margaret’s School, across Broadview Avenue and Nursery Road before walking up my road and just as I was home I saw a Fox in our front garden, no doubt he moved before I got in but I was home at 2AM and well and truly knackered.
Overall it been a long day and we can take many positives out but there were some concern’s and things that we can improve on and things that we have to address, it won’t be sorted out over-night so we need to give Hessy a chance and give him time to get the squad where he wants it to be.
My MOTM – Chris Palmer – great goal to give us the lead, Palmer kept testing Norwich defensively with some decent crosses and some good corner’s as well, Palmer looks better this season the he did last season and if we can pin Palmer down to one position and play him week in, week out I am sure Palmer will improve as the season progresses.
Honourable mentions to – Andy Barcham – never stopped running all game and always looked to take a player on, his pace caused Norwich all sorts of problems and glad to see Barcham back on the left again.
Special mention to – Adebayo Akinfenwa – Not fit yet but a real handful for the Norwich Defence, Andy D’Urso gave some harsh decisions against the big man and his header against the crossbar was great awareness by Bayo and very unlucky not to have scored, should of scored when Jack Payne’s effort was parried but in the two games so far he has impressed despite not being at his best.
The Beach Ball – I just have got to mention The Beach Ball, just a real laugh at half time and great fun, we didn’t even want the second half to start that is how much fun we were having.
Read more at Gills365: FOMblog: Norwich City (A) | Gills365
Published by Lee Clifton on August 13, 2010
I made sure I had the following on me before leaving the house (Money, Keys, Mobile Phone, Ticket For Norwich Game, Light Weight Coat, Packet of Polo’s, Spare Lids, My Gillingham Scarf, Radio Adaptor, Spare Battery for Mobile Phone, Medway Messenger, Saturday’s Match Day Programme, Spare Can of Lynx, Pad and Pen and a 500ML Bottle of Coca Cola) – and double checked I not forgotten anything before I set off and left home at 1.40 and walked down to the Cricketers Pub is and I walked to the bus stop in just over ten minutes with time to spare.
With a four by four parked in the bus lane, the 132 couldn’t park up properly and this lead to one passenger and the owner of the four by four having a bust up with several un-printable words being used – you do get some drivers who think the road is exclusively to them and don’t even think about anyone else, am not a driver myself but do get to see what my road is like on a school day as I live close to The Howard School and you get to see some reckless driving and there is a accident waiting to happen – I wouldn’t be surprised if Salisbury Avenue becomes a one way road with a exception to residents.
The Kings Ferry Coach arrived at the bus stop and I got on the coach at 2PM, and sat near the back of the coach, next pick up point was Priestfield Stadium and the coach was noticeably fuller, Ben got on and sat in the seat behind me and we talked about a variety of Gillingham Related Topics such as Jake Hessenthaler playing for Gillingham tonight against Margate in what we expected to be a very youthful line up, I said that Cody McDonald might be given forty five minutes in that match as Cody steps up his fitness levels.
We also spoke about how we are going tonight in hope rather than expectation because Gillingham are underdogs and all the pressure is piled onto Norwich City to get a result and even more so after their opening day defeat to Watford, But IF we do pull off a shock and a potential shock of the first round then we can all say that I was there and celebrate like we won a cup final because what a confidence booster this will be for the players if we win our first away game of the season and at Norwich City of all places.
Without being offensive to League Two but Carrow Road will be the best stadium we goto this season, unless we go on a cup run and draw a Top Eight Premiership Side away and while Norwich are favourites to win that doesn’t necessary mean they will win tonight but the odds are stacked heavily in their favour.
Also we had to speak about that over head kick by Akinfenwa on Saturday, just to even attempt it was impressive but had he scored it be shown again and again and talked about for months, one comment mentioned on the coach that Akinfenwa had done more in two weeks then he had done in two years – as Ben spoke about my FOM BLOG for the Cheltenham game he mentioned that Alan Julian was having ago at Stefan Payne for being out of position and not at the back four which is what I felt Julian’s comments were being directed, Stefan is a young player and he will get better with more game-time so it be harsh to judge the lad on one appearance.
Once everyone was on the coach we eventually got moving, a few supporters were abit late, We hit a few traffic problems approaching Dartford Crossing, nothing like the 14 mile pile up of traffic the Friday before but we took our time and moved at a slow pace before eventually going through the toll booth at Dartford Crossing at 3.25 – On Kings Ferry the travel is different to the Reliance in that Peter Lloyd mentions about not wearing a seat belt can-be a arrest-able offence, the carrying of alcohol is the same regardless of what method of transport you use but all I had on me drink wise was a 500ML bottle of Coca Cola so no worries there.
Peter Lloyd came round to collect travel money and travel to and from Norwich is £20 and that isn’t too bad and I was listening to the radio with the radio adaptor I brought with me swinging my phone to try and pick up a better reception, looking outside it was beginning to chuck it down and not great at all and we were hoping that it remains dry by the time we get to Carrow Road.
We stopped off at Birchanger Services at 4.10 which is just at the end of The M25 for a toilet break and grab food and drink – as we stopped I waited for everyone to get off the coach and as it was chucking it down I made a quick dash from the coach to the services, I went in the newsagents and brought The Sun, A Ham and Cheese Sandwich and a 500ML Bottle of Coca Cola for £5.40 – food and drink is always expensive in a service station and not that much better in a football stadium either.
After buying what I needed and with it still raining I made a dash from the service station back to the coach and got on the coach and back to my seat again, as I was hungry I was going to eat the Ham and Cheese Sandwich straight away – I listened to the radio as I was one of 5 -6 supporters on the coach and there was still plenty of time before we moved again.
Once everyone was back on the coach again we got moving at 4.45 and Ben was speaking about the England game and how players moan that they get tired despite the fact the Premiership play far less games then The Football League which has 46 league games, add the League Cup and FA Cup where lower league sides start off in the First Round, The Football League Trophy for teams in League’s One and Two and the potential of your team entering the playoffs and we play far more matches and just get on with it.
For me the tiredness, playing matches during the winter –(which has lead to calls for a winter break) -and the amount of games our players supposedly play is a 100% cop out from the real reason and that is we were not good enough and what was so successful in getting us to the World Cup in the first place, solid 4.4.2 with a target-man and Capello’s discipline were being questioned once things were not going our way and once we been beaten by a well organized Germany side.
I am glad that Fabio Capello is still England Manager because you look at his managerial CV and it is very very impressive, we have had Fabio Capello, Sven-Göran Eriksson and Steve McClaren in charge of what has been dubbed by the press as “the golden generation” of England players and we have had the same set of players for 2002, 2006 and 2010 and eventually something has to click to make you think well we have changed the manager a few times and nothing has worked so maybe it is the players.
I listened to the radio going through radio stations as I picked up a signal and then lose it again which was frustrating but at least the rain was starting to ease off and there were hopes that it should remain dry by the time we get to Norwich, mostly for these kind of trips you have to find ways to pass the time, I tend to listen to the radio, others read the newspaper or do a crossword, some like their chit chat and others prefer to sleep and save all their energy for the match.
As we could see Carrow Road Peter Lloyd mentioned that for those who have not been to Carrow Road before we have to go past the ground and upto the car park to park up then make our way to the ground, Carrow Road is a fantastic stadium and it is the type of stadiums we like to be going to on a regular basis whenever we are on our travels, but in a less then glamorous League Two that is not going to be the case.
Once we parked up I waited till everyone was off the coach then checked to make sure I have everything I needed and took some spare lids with me as well and the time was 6.15 which gives us plenty of time till kick off to do whatever we wanted and soak in the pre match atmosphere.
I got off the coach and saw a few Norwich Supporters who said “Look a Gillingham Fan” as they made their way to the ground, often I have found that if you’re not looking to cause trouble then trouble doesn’t come in your direction as 99% of football supporters are genuine and here for the same reasons as you, to watch a game of football and hope their team wins but you always get that 1% that goes over board and do want to cause trouble or aggravate genuine supporters.
I was on my way to the ground when Stewart rang as he was doing his fantasy football team and wanted my help as you have 100 million to spend on a 15 man squad and I said a few players I have got in my squad and who I have brought and some other players like Kevin Doyle and Ricardo Fuller who don’t cost alot of money but you know that if there fit then Doyle and Fuller will start for Wolves and Stoke City respectively – I was still talking to Stewart when I was crossing the road and I knew where to go as I went to the league match last season and stood outside the ground and kept helping Stew with his squad, I had to go so I could get inside early enough and Stew wished me luck for the match, though the odds were stacked in our favour a Gillingham win tonight will do wonders for the players confidence and we could get a decent tie in the Second Round.
Saw Lisa and Gary and rather travel there and back Lisa, Gary, James and Tom have travelled up the day before and decided to stay in a hotel which is only the same hotel that Simeon Jackson is staying in, the players have been re-united with Simeon and been given abit of stick and banter about tonight’s game, some Norwich Supporter walked pass us and said “your kits rubbish” and he was wearing a dark yellow shirt compared to every other Norwich support who was wearing a much cleaner kit – yours isn’t much better sums up his kit perfectly.
Saw Gary Piper, Katie and Jamie all make their way into Carrow Road while Bruce was limping because of his ankle – still no time frame on when Bruce’s ankle is back to 100% again and fingers crossed on a quick recovery, fingers were also crossed for a upset and a victory tonight, the odds were stacked in Norwich’s favour but with this being a cup game and a result decided on the night anything can happen – The Champions League and Europa League have group stages but I think supporters prefer a result on the night that say’s one match your through or one match your out and that is the appeal of a knock out competition.
But group stages do allow the more consistent team to progress but also in The Champions League the big teams favour a group stage as it means that even if they lose a game there not out and can still go through so a group stage is a way of protecting your own investment.
But Gillingham are not going to experience group stage football anytime soon but we could well have a large article in Wednesday’s newspapers if we do happen to cause the potential shock of the first round – apparently Curtis Weston has picked up a virus which has been going round the training ground and he won’t be in the squad tonight which is a shame and just goes to show that our luck with injuries and viruses is terrible.
We made a move to the turnstiles and Bruce has not been to Carrow Road since The Championship Days and I gave my ticket to the turnstiles operator and I was inside the ground, I saw Mike and said that I had came up via Kings Ferry Coach as Reliance don’t run a coach on a Tuesday night and had also said I come here at of hope rather than expectation, also I said to Mike that had we won and I was stuck at home I would be kicking myself because the atmosphere here tonight is bound to be something special.
I queued up to buy something to eat and drink and brought a sausage roll and 500ML Bottle of Coca Cola and went up the stairs and saw Gary Piper, with Weston and Mark McCammon both ruled out and if you add that Fuller, Richards, King, Oli and McDonald are also out we are very light in-terms of players we can play – Cody McDonald cannot play under the terms of the loan agreement while Stanley Aborah is still waiting for international clearance.
There were also concern’s over the fitness and conditioning of our players as we seem to have players breaking down with injuries and getting viruses, Mark Stimson believed in fitness and when we were last at this level we started pre season in June and players worked on additional fitness levels and also we had pace to cause alot of teams problems – now Andy Hessenthaler isn’t going to win 5 out 5, it will take time for Hessy to put his point across and it will take time for him to field his strongest side as we have so many players out with injuries and I am sure that everything will be addressed eventually just that it is going to take time and we will need to be patient – you don’t win two promotions in a row and almost win three promotions without having some knowledge of what is required for a promotion pushing team.
Gary Piper and Bruce went to their seats while the steward next to me said we have to goto our seats but near kick off you can sit where-ever you like – I was speaking with this Norwich Steward in depth about a number of football related topics and I mentioned that Simeon Jackson will come good for you eventually just that he needs time to adapt to this level because it won’t happen over-night for Simeon as he has to get used to how Norwich City play, how they move on and off the ball and also Simeon will be playing with better players but against better players as well so if he is given the ball at his feet or the ball over the shoulder Simeon is going to capitalize and thrive on that service, give him a high ball and he come off second best.
I spoke about the size of Norwich City Football Club and we are under no illusions or false dawns here, we know that Norwich is a big football club and when you sell over 20,000 season tickets and have a capacity of 27,000 as Norwich have been busy over the summer expanding the stadium capacity then that is not only a pronominal achievement but also reflects on what we have to do to reach this level – we looked in the programme and a ticket for Scunthorpe V Norwich was £24 pounds and Glanford Park isn’t exactly the most glamorous of football stadiums with seats bolted onto terracing but with only a 9,000 doesn’t that reflect on Scunthorpe that they have to expensive ticket prices so they can afford to pay Championship wages.
Speaking of stadiums, we spoke about Priestfield and how it has been a fantastic home for us, but we like to be a Championship side in about 10+ years – but to compete in The Championship you need the info structure in place to compete at that level – with Newcastle and West Brom promoted there is no-one in the Championship with serious money in their pockets to spend, maybe Middlesbrough but no-one looks a out and out candidate in what is proberly the hardest league in Europe because anyone out of 15 – 16 sides will feel that this is their season and with Blackpool promoted into The Premiership everyone else is thinking well if Blackpool can go up then so can we.
Speaking with this steward and how he rates Norwich City’s chances this season, he thinks that the playoffs is a big big ask this season and a season of consolidation will do the club some good and just get some footing and used to playing Championship Football again, Leicester achieved a playoff place last season after getting promoted and that will be what Norwich City Supporters will be inspiring to but maybe a solid mid table finish will help the club long term rather than have a good first season back in The Championship then struggle the following season.
I pointed out where Adebayo Akinfenwa is and at 17 stone and with a wide frame Akinfenwa is not a player you can miss and it is all muscle as well, I mentioned what Akinfenwa’s strength’s are and holding the ball up is clearly one of them but also Akinfenwa has a great goal-scoring record at League Two Level, I mentioned that in League Two you are bound to find players go route one or try and kick your most creative players to the floor, there are some exceptions like Rochdale who do play good football but often teams have a big lump or two in their side and you need someone strong enough to handle the physical element of lower league football.
We spoke about Cody McDonald and I mentioned that he is still injured and should return in-time for the Hereford Match, I said that Cody could join us permanently because with Grant Holt, Chris Martin, Simeon Jackson and Ollie Johnson Norwich have a impressive quota of strikers available and with Cody’s family being from Kent, Cody might want to sign for us though finances dictate that and so does this season – if we go up then we are in a more attractive position to sign him and other better quality players but we got a long long way to go before we can even talk about promotion.
I asked for where-abouts is my seat and went to where my seat was but could move before the start of the match, I spoke to this Gills fan and his two lads who were sitting in exactly the same seats as they were for the league game last season while I pointed out I was only a few rows in-front of this seat but least we could move to where-ever we wanted to sit this time.
This Gillingham Supported in-formed me that he lives in Norwich and how he and his two lads would love to see a Gillingham win just for the bragging rights and also because we know we could get a very decent tie in the second round, tonight we will at least not come up against Fraser Forster who made a out-standing stop against Dennis Oli one v one while I also gave my own account on The Cheltenham game and how we played and also mentioned the players we have out through injury, on another day we would of won but a draw under the circumstances isn’t a bad result and we have much to be positive about.
I said that we can now move so I went up the steps for a higher and better view and went right to the back of the stand and I sat with Tom, James, Callum and Jordan – they asked me how I got to the game and I mentioned via coach and both Jordan and Callum were stunned as they were on the same coach – I didn’t even see them get on the coach and as I am sitting at the very back of the coach and their sitting at the very front we cannot see where we are seated.
On The Reliance I be in my usual seat and as I have the radio on and am usually quiet but am amazed we didn’t at least bump into each other at the services and this has to be a complete fluke.
We spoke about the game and the odds are stacked against us but this being a cup game the chance to cause an upset and be in The Second Round, we spoke about no Fraser Forster between the sticks and former Gillingham Duo Andrew Crofts and Simeon Jackson are not in the squad tonight but Grant Holt and Chris Martin are likely to lead the attack and Wes Hoolahan in the hole.
Eventually we heard the team-sheet and Gillingham Lined-Up as follows….. Julian, Sinclair, Gowling, Bentley, Nutter, J.Payne, Spiller, Weston, Palmer, Barcham, Akinfenwa SUBS: Cronin, Essam, Maher, Jackman, White, S.Payne.
With Weston and McCammon both injured and the youth team playing Margate it meant that we couldn’t name a full quota of subs, I suppose Nicky Southall could of been named as a sub as we have registered Southall as a player.
It does look like the same formation as we played on Saturday with 4.5.1 / 4.3.3 with Palmer wide right and Barcham wide left and Akinfenwa down the centre – I wasn’t expecting the big guy to start and expected Akinfenwa to have another cameo role from the bench but clearly Akinfenwa is keen to start and though not fully fit the only way he will get fit is to play football games.
I took a few pics of the ground on my camera and a look around the ground suggested that Carrow Road should be around half full at the very least, nothing like the explosive atmosphere we witnessed when we went to Carrow Road last season where all four sides were packed full and a 25,000 attendance and we did well to hold Norwich that day for as long as we did, just a shame Dennis Oli didn’t score that one on one chance.
The chanting had began before the players were out onto the pitch as “Andy Hessenthaler’s Bramy Army” “Gillingham, GILLINGHAM” and “The Last Waltz” were sang at full voice, confidence wasn’t high but I wouldn’t say it was low either and we knew that if we cause Norwich the sort of problems Watford caused them on Friday night then we are in with a chance, just that we have to wary that Norwich have got some exceptionally talented players in their squad and if we don’t watch them closely then they can punish us, The players came out of the Turnstile’s to a loud atmosphere with Gillingham in Blue and Black, Alan Julian was wearing his usual green goalkeeper jersey but red shorts, wonder if he couldn’t wear green because of Norwich’s home kit or black because of the referee, that is one to check the rulebook for.
ANYWAY ONTO THE MATCH……..
And Norwich almost made the perfect start when Chris Martin was played through and his audacious chip went over Alan Julian but also cleared a crossbar, a heart in mouth moment for many Gillingham Supporters including myself and just a huge sigh of relief to see the ball go the right side over the bar from our prospective.
Tony Sinclair went down the right hand side and his cross was charged down by a Norwich player, the resulting throw on from Jack Payne went to Luke Rooney, Rooney dummied a cross, got the ball out under his feet and chip in a quality cross which John Ruddy did really well to pluck out the air, better from Gillingham and we looked to be causing Norwich City some cause of concern.
Norwich City were given a debatable free kick when Andy D’Urso deemed that Jack Payne’s challenge on Wes Hoolahan was a foul and that got all of us in the away end agitated because we thought Payne had got stuck in with a hard but fair tackle, David Fox tried to take the resulting free kick too quickly and Andy D’Urso booked him for it but at the second attempt David Fox went for goal with a brilliantly curled effort and Alan Julian’s despairing dive across his goal and Fox’s effort clipped the outside of the post though I chanted “SAVE” thinking Alan got across to make contact on the ball.
The chants were being sang in the away end with “Hessenthaler’s Barmy Army” being belted out at full voice while “Gillingham, GILLINGHAM” was also being belted out – Norwich Supporters responded with a chant of their own as the action in the terraces was dominating more than the action on the pitch.
Norwich won a corner in the eight minute and this got us nervous because Norwich are a serious threat from set plays and Adam Drury whipped in a superb corner and Chris Palmer got that all important touch to header the ball away from danger – the resulting throw on by Korey Smith saw Russell Martin take a touch but his cross was charged down by John Nutter and Norwich had another corner for us to contend with, Korey Smith’s corner was flighted in perfectly and Alan Julian had to tip the ball away at the expense of another corner as Norwich will making all the pressure tell in the opening ten minutes – David Fox whipped in another excellent corner which Mark Bentley headered away from goal superbly and Tony Sinclair blocked the follow up and a foul by Korey Smith on Chris Palmer relived the pressure and our defence needed a break as Norwich were all over us in the opening ten minutes, if we keep Norwich quiet for the next ten minutes we will be doing really well for ourselves.
But we did even better then that as we stunned the home supporters on twelve minutes as John Nutter’s throw on to Palmer who jabbed the ball to Barcham who cut past two players before he was brought down on the edge of the box REF!!!! Was my response but my anger was turned to delight very quickly as Chris Palmer lashed the ball home on the edge of the area, YES, YES – GET IN THERE!!! as everyone in the away end went absolutely mental – “Hessenthaler’s Barmy Army”, “Championship, your having a laugh” and “We’re going up, Your Coming Down” were being sang from the away end as we may well be lacking numbers but we were certainly winning the vocal battle and we were winning the battle on the pitch as well.
John Ruddy was being called into action as a cross by Chris Palmer was well claimed by the Norwich keeper and good play in midfield saw Spiller play the ball wide to Tony Sinclair who’s cross into the box at the vest least forced John Ruddy to claim another high ball into the box.
While there was a long way to go we were dreaming the dream and who we like in the Second Round if this so happens to be the score-line at full time and the likes of West Ham, Newcastle and Fulham were all mentioned, we cannot play any of The Premiership sides in Europe till The Third Round but even so a nice tie against a Premiership side will do nicely, providing that we can win tonight’s match.
Norwich wanted a quick response and Adam Drury’s ball into the box was headered away from danger by Mark Bentley who is going to win those type of balls all day long, the follow up was slotted through nicely for Wes Hoolahan but the creative midfield was flagged for offside.
The Norwich onslaught continued with Josh Gowling headering crosses from Simon Lappin and Russell Martin clear from danger one had to be headered behind at the expense of a corner but Simon Lappin’s in-swinging corner was headered clear by Mark Bentley and the follow up blocked by Tony Sinclair as we had to resort to desperate defending from times and it did look like a set piece will get Norwich back into this match because the crossing from Norwich City is very precise and you can tell that Paul Lambert works on this at the training ground.
One comment from a Gills Supporter behind me was that we were not this together or united under Mark Stimson on the road last season and this passion or commitment for the cause just wasn’t there, but at home we were out-standing and no-one is entirely sure why it didn’t work on the road, was it a mental issue, was it physiological, were we playing the wrong tactic’s, should we played more uglier football, did the players care or were individual mistakes costing us matches, it could be any number of these things.
Gillingham had a fantastic chance to make it 2 . 0 just after the twenty minute mark as Korey Smith fouled Danny Spiller, Spiller got up from the deck, pulled himself together and whipped in a top notch free kick between the keeper and the defenders, Adebayo Akinfenwa did fantastic to get in-between the gap and with his back to goal Akinfenwa headered the ball goal-wards and the ball crashed off the under-side of the cross-bar and Norwich were able to clear their lines, before anyone was able to nip n and tuck in the re-bound – Akinfenwa’s header was top draw and when we consider that he is not fully fit yet and what he did for us on Saturday then I cannot wait to see what Akinfenwa can do for us when he is at 100% and firing on all cylinders.
And we were made to pay for that miss as Alan Julian’s poor goal-kick went out for a throw on, Norwich reacted quickly and Grant Holt’s dink over the top was perfect for Chris Martin to run onto and the Norwich man used his head and showed great composure to tuck the ball past Alan Julian who was left badly exposed as the back four were beaten with the ball over the top and we just couldn’t get back in-time, the score was 1 . 1 with Norwich City celebrating and a few of their supporters giving us stick in the away end, a few of our fans mocked their celebrations and Norwich sang there song in reference to Ipswich – cannot say precisely what the song is as it breaks house rules but we sang back “one song, you only got one song” and “Hessenthaler’s Barmy Army” was being sung loud and proud as we continued to back the lads on the pitch.
Andy D’Urso is never too far away to antagonizing the Gillingham Supporters as he harshly and very harshly in-fact penalized Adebayo Akinfenwa for a supposed foul on Michael Nelson, this is going to be a regular feature as referee’s will see Akinfenwa’s size and think oh he has shoved him to the floor when that isn’t always the case.
Norwich do like the long balls forward or to the flank and they use these type of balls brilliantly but I cannot see how Simeon Jackson is going to thrive on this when the service he is getting is high and he has to jump to bring the ball down or jump for a header, that just isn’t his game – but the players Norwich have on the pitch know exactly what to do when they knock it long and a cross wide right by Russell Martin was mis-kicked by Mark Bentley but high and over our own crossbar and Norwich won a corner by whipping in a dangerous cross and they contuined to ask questions of our defence.
Simon Lappin whips in another quality corner and Wes Hoolahan works himself into a decent shooting position before his snap shot goes narrowly wide of the far post, breathing a sigh of relief and we just hoped that Norwich had a off day and we could at least go in at half time 1 . 1.
But those hopes were dashed with Norwich’s next attack as Grant Holt and Chris Martin combined with Holt given way too much time to thread a ball out-wide and Martin’s cross is excellent and Holt’s finish is from a player who you know is going to score when a chance is presented to them like that, you cannot allow quality players that sort of time to whip in a cross otherwise they punish you and that is precisely what Norwich did, I don’t know why Nutter stood off and backed off, he should of been scrapping to win that ball or at least put himself between the player and the goal so that cross never happens.
Akinfenwa and Rooney have shots blocked / charged down in quick succession and Norwich breaked on us quickly because they wanted the game over as a contest as quickly as possible, Josh Gowling fouled Grant Holt so that at least slowed the game up abit – Simon Lappin whips in another fantastic ball and Grant Holt’s header is blocked by Tony Sinclair at the expense of a corner but Alan Julian comes out to show his appreciation because Sinclair did well to block Holt’s header.
David Fox whips in another dangerous corner and Alan Julian comes out and gets a strong two handed punch on the ball and Norwich supporters chant for a shot but they keep the ball nicely and a well timed challenge by Mark Bentley see’s the ball take a ricochet of John Nutter and it looks like Norwich got a very fortunate deflection and Jack Payne has no choice but to go in and Andy D’Urso awards Norwich City a debatable free kick and we are furious with the decision.
Chris Martin stands over the ball and he curls a beauty which crashes against the top of the bar and out to safety, I very much am observing the game with focused look on my face, others want half time so they can get food and drink.
Then we had the best chance to equalize as Jack Payne evaded one challenge cut inside and was clearly fouled, Payne got a shot off which John Ruddy parried and into the path of Akinfenwa who somehow missed with a glancing header, only he can explain why he missed that chance, the other header was difficult but that was a home banker and Akinfenwa should of scored, Norwich cheered and gave Akinfenwa the usually fat chants, Callum behind me said “it’s muscle” and it is muscle, Akinfenwa may weigh 17 stone but he is big built and always been on the big side but you can tell that Akinfenwa keeps himself in excellent condition otherwise he wouldn’t be a professional footballer if that was mostly fat on him.
Jack Payne was injured in the build up to that chance and had to be subbed off for Kevin Maher, there were a few groans that Kevin Maher was brought on but Maher plays in that position and hopefully Maher’s experience can allow the likes of Barcham and Rooney to bomb forward and give these two the license and freedom to join up in attack.
Akinfenwa had one foul given for and against him and that was it for the first forty five minutes and the score on the basis of play could and perhaps should be 3 . 3.
HALF TIME NORWICH CITY 2 . 1 GILLINGHAM
Talking about the first half and those two chances from Akinfenwa immediately sprang to mind and the first one was great centre forward play, the second he should of scored there is no question about it, Callum and Jordan still couldn’t believe that they didn’t notice me on The Kings Ferry Coach while I took a few pics at half time.
But what was getting our attention was the beach ball being hit around the away end with every contact made receiving a loud HEY, till the beach ball hits the ground and you start booing, we just wanted the beach ball to come over here so that we could join in.
The beach ball rolled down the piece of cloth that was separating the home and away supporters with everyone joining in with a WOAH – and HEY when someone picked the beach ball up and we continued where we left off – even the steward at the back of the stand joined in when he kneed the beach ball and chants of “we want our ball back, we want our ball back” – a few Norwich supporters looked across and were envious because they wanted to join in as well.
But I am saving the best till last one man got the beach ball and accidently punched the beach ball into someone’s face and that got the loudest cheer at half time, after checking to see the person he had accidently hit was alright he took a bow for a poor attempt of a punch.
We didn’t even want the players to come out for the second half that is how much fun we were having and least the beach ball was being passed back, at Wycombe they confiscated them.
The players were out of the tunnel for the second half and if we get the next goal to equalize then we could well be back in this and give Norwich a proper cup tie, speaking about the first half I mentioned that for the first twenty / twenty five minutes we have given Norwich City a really good game and had Akinfenwa’s two chances go in we could well be in-front but also we could be 3 . 1 down as Norwich have looked very threatening from set plays.
SECOND HALF……….
The first five minutes of the first half was very stop and start with several throw on’s and a few fouls given for and against both sides as both Norwich and Gillingham knew that the next goal, assuming that there is another goal in this match is going to be massive.
Mark Bentley fouls Chris Martin, David Fox takes the resulting free kick and passes out-wide to Wes Hoolahan but Tony Sinclair is in the right place to block his first time cross, Norwich have us penned in and two throw on’s see us header the ball out of play.
Adam Drury takes the resulting thrown on and Russell Martin’s cross is half cleared by Josh Gowling, the ball still is in play by the by-line but Norwich work the ball into a crossing position with some good movement but we were off the pace giving Norwich far too much space and Korey Smith’s cross is tucked into the back of the net by Grant Holt with a instinctive goal-scorers goal, a well worked move from Norwich’s point of view but we made things far too easy for that goal – Alan Julian was furious with our poor defending and he has every right to be furious because that was a simple goal and one we could and should of dealt with.
“We’re going to win 4 . 3” and “You only got one song” were being sung while “you only sing when your winning was also sung” moments later, we had a slim chance as there was thirty five minutes plus stoppage time but how often do Gillingham come back to win 4 . 3 when 3 . 1 down and how often do we do that on the road, for many of us it was starting to look like Norwich will progress to the second round but if we could get the next goal we be back in this match and the game will be a contest again.
Chris Palmer received the ball out-wide and whipped in a excellent cross which had to flicked away from goal by Elliott Ward with a decent defensive header, we didn’t even get a corner and had a throw on deep in the Norwich half – the throw on didn’t come to anything in-particular but Russell Martin fouled Josh Gowling on the halfway line and Norwich Supporters were furious with the decision while we clapped and applauded Andy D’Urso and there won’t be many times we do that tonight.
Hopes were raised in the away end when Gillingham won a corner GO ON, GILLS COME ON!!! And if we can bury this chance we be right back into the match and that is what we were hoping, Chris Palmer’s corner was into the right area but Chris Martin was dropped back to help his team mates out defensively and it was Chris Martin who flicked the ball away from danger, a few minutes later and we had won another corner after some excellent play by Andy Barcham and again Palmer’s corner was into the right areas but Russell Martin headered the ball away from danger with a diving header.
Grant Holt was subbed off for Ollie Johnson after sixty three minutes and he was given a superb reception by The Norwich Faithful, a real pain in the backside for us all night and perhaps saved for Saturday’s match against Scunthorpe United.
But with Grant Holt no longer on the pitch Gillingham were having a good sustained period of play, first Danny Spiller at least tested John Ruddy with a decent attempt on goal which was a routine save for The Norwich City keeper but moments later we had our best chance to pull ourselves back into the game as Chris Palmer’s cross was held up superbly by Akinfenwa who rolled the ball across to Luke Rooney and Rooney let fly with a rising drive which John Ruddy parried and turned out to be a decent save, a head in hands moment from myself and a few others around me as had that gone in it might have given us the momentum and confidence booster we need to really go all out for a equalizer.
Norwich were still stunned when Andy Barcham went on a incredible run down the left hand side and Barcham took on one player but his cross was cleared by Russell Martin who was having a fantastic game for Norwich in a more defensive role.
Norwich made their second change of the match when Matthew Gill came on for David Fox as Paul Lambert now has the luxury of subbing players off and giving his fringe players a runout, we still had belief that we could get back into this but I think we were starting looking at a first round exit which was becoming increasingly more likely.
Wes Hoolahan brought Danny Spiller down in a promosing position, Spiller got up and whip another top notch free kick, Akinfenwa got his head on the ball and headered the ball over the bar, the big guy just couldn’t climb high enough to get over the ball so he could header the ball downwards but after that passage of play Luke Rooney was subbed off to “Rooney, Rooney” chants and Stefan Payne came on in his place – Stefan didn’t have a great debut against Cheltenham but considering he played as alone striker he didn’t do too badly and with better coaching and more games he become a better player.
Norwich could and perhaps should of been out of sight and made the score-line 4 . 1 as another hoof up-field cause us potential problems at the back and having seen Norwich attack I do feel that Simeon is going to struggle with that sort of service, going up for aerial challenges isn’t his game and if Norwich keep the ball on the floor they will get the best out of Simeon Jackson – but eventually the ball fell to Martin who played in Simon Lappin who’s left foot shot went just wide of the far post.
Norwich started to sing “you’re not singing anymore” which prompted us to start singing “Gillingham, GILLINGHAM” and “Hessenthaler’s Barmy Army” – by now my voice was starting to go with all the singing and chanting and I think we just started to accept that a first round defeat is ever looming and it is disappointing, I heard a comment which was “oh well, least we can concentrate on the league” and while that maybe the case it is still a disappointment to be knocked out because a win at Carrow Road may have looked unlikely but even so the chance to get into The Second Round isn’t something to be sniped at.
Chris Martin was caught in a offside position and he started to play keepy uppy with the ball and wouldn’t give the ball back and Alan Julian gave The Norwich Striker a big shove in the back, Andy D’Urso didn’t book The Norwich Striker either for time wasting though we wouldn’t be surprised if D’Urso decided to book for Julian for the shove in the back.
Just a few minutes later and a loose ball was there to be won and Kevin Maher went in with a hard but fair sliding tackle and Andy D’Urso signalled that was a foul, Maher has done OK upto that point, nothing fancy but spreading the ball to either flank really well and that tackle was timed to perfection with Wes Hoolahan making a complete meal of it.
The resulting free kick was top draw by Chris Martin and Alan Julian was equal to it at full stretch palming the ball behind for a corner as Julian was taking no chances in trying to hang onto that strike and risk slipping the ball into the path of a Norwich player for a tap in, top save by Julian – Norwich showed the depth and quality they had in their squad with their final tactical change as Wes Hoolahan was subbed off and Anthony McNamee came on in his place and that is the type of tactical change we would love to be able to make though injuries are restricting the amount of players we can call upon for tonight’s game.
Norwich penned us in our own half with three throw on’s by Russell Martin even though one of those throw’s was clearly ours and how the linesman or Andy D’Urso didn’t see it I have no idea but when these minor decisions go against you then you hope that on another day they go for you as decisions balance themselves out over the course of the season which means we are duo a fortunate decision or two.
Danny Spiller’s cross was well claimed by John Ruddy and though we not tested him with a attempt on goal since Rooney’s rising drive it is good that we are continuing to ask questions from their keeper – that was Adebayo Akinfenwa’s number up and the big guy did extremely well to last 82 minutes and he got a excellent reception when he was subbed off, the big guy had some harsh decision’s go against him and those 80 odd minutes will do him some good as Akinfenwa edges closer to full fitness, Andy White came on in his place to make his Gillingham Debut and the young striker is on just for a runout as much as anything else and least he beef up our striking options for Saturday.
Another long ball for Chris Martin to chase and The Norwich striker was through on goal and clipped by Tony Sinclair, that’s it and I thought as did many others that Sinclair will be sent off as he did look to be the last man, Andy D’Urso showed some leniency by only showing Sinclair a yellow card – the resulting free kick by Anthony McNamee was class and just went over the bar with Alan Julian well beaten.
At least Chris Palmer kept trying to force something, his first cross was charged down by Adam Drury and his second saw John Ruddy split the ball but gather at the second attempt and really that looked to be it.
Still Norwich went for the long ball and Anthony McNamee showed fantastic skill on the by-line, his shot was blocked by Mark Bentley and Norwich could easierly walk the ball into the back of the net and Anthony McNamee’s pull back was blocked by Alan Julian and Julian stopped a corner by keeping the ball the right side of the line and this antagonized the Norwich Supporters behind the goal who thought it was a corner – still Norwich persisted and we looked liked we were running through treacle now as Norwich superior class and fitness told in the latter stages and Chris Martin’s tame effort was straight at Alan Julian.
But he wouldn’t be denied again as a long ball caught Josh Gowling out, Ollie Johnson raced onto the ball got their first and Chris Martin rounds Alan Julian and tucks the ball into the back of the net to make it 4 . 1 and Norwich were defiantly through to The Second Round of The Carling Cup.
With just one additional minute that really was that and we could feel proud of our efforts but all in all class, quality and ability told and Norwich have that in abundance and we could least hold our heads up high, to those at home this looked liked we were thrashed but I think we gave Norwich a real scare and had Akinfenwa’s header gone in it could of been another story.
FINAL SCORE: NORWICH CITY 4 . 1 GILLINGHAM
Everyone applauded the team and cheered for Hessenthaler and the lads, the players came over to applaud all of us in the away end and this unified approach and togetherness will be needed throughout the season home and away, today there was a acceptance that if Norwich win it be expected while if we win it be a fantastic shock but on Saturday at Hereford if we defend like we did tonight then we will ship goals and hopefully Hessy will address that with a signing or 1 – 2 injured players come back because we did look off the pace defensively.
There won’t be players like Grant Holt, Anthony McNamee, Ollie Johnson, Chris Martin and Wes Hoolahan in League Two so we need to take this result with a pinch of salt but even so there is much to improve on.
Speaking with the steward at the end of the game I said that class told in the end while he was impressed with Mark Bentley and Jack Payne saying that both players had excellent games for us, it could of been another story but as the stewards were cleaning up the away end I had to make a move and he wished us a safe trip and all in all the stewards at Norwich were very welcoming, very pleasant and didn’t make a fuss if we stood though we had to remain seated during the game.
I saw Gary Piper and we spoke about the game and how class told in the end and how we won’t face that sort of quality at Hereford on Saturday, there were concerns over our defensive options because Josh Gowling looked all over the place tonight while Mark Bentley is no centre back but he does his best and that is all you can ask for.
I spoke with Bruce and he mentioned how at Yeovil and Stockport last season we drew 0 . 0 and the team was booed off the pitch, we lose 4 . 1 against Norwich and the team get cheered off the pitch, we spoke about how that level of support is needed 100% all of the time and when we go through the good times that level of support is appreciated but when it is tough and we go through the rough times can we back the players on and off the pitch, whoever is manager Mark Stimson, Andy Hessenthaler or whoever needs to be backed on a match day, that doesn’t mean we applaud for the sake of it as supporters have their right to be dis-satisfied with a result or if the players are not trying but support is support and it should be 100% backing behind the manager, the staff and the players on a match day.
We also spoke about the players fitness and conditioning because under Mark Stimson we had additional fitness sessions, “Terror Tuesday’s” and clearly we used these sessions to make sure that players didn’t tire with 10 – 15 minutes to go and when the opposition were knackered we still had another gear to go upto, are we doing that under Andy Hessenthaler
– surely he has something in mind because you don’t achieve two promotions in three seasons at Dover Athletic without considering the players fitness and fatigue, it may be less so in non league football but even so I am sure fitness is being talked about and being dealt with on the training ground – regardless if it is at Dover Athletic or Gillingham Football Club.Bruce thought The Kings Ferry Coach was close to the ground but I walked with Bruce, Gary Piper, Katie, Jamie and Jim up the hill and we were easierly out-numbered by Norwich City Supporters who were making their way out of the ground and speaking of Norwich City, the attendance was 13,000+ for that cup game, the ground wasn’t half full and yet 13,000 is more then what Priestfield can hold so that just reflects the size and support difference between the two clubs.
We started to list man of the match options, Barcham, Palmer and Spiller were all mentioned, Tony Sinclair didn’t do too badly, beach ball was mentioned as a laugh because that was entertaining at half-time.
We separated as Gary Piper came up via car and I said c ya at Hereford – I was the last one back on the Kings Ferry Coach and I was back on the coach around 9.50, Callum and Jordan said last one on again Lee and I took to my seat and rang Stewie to see if the draw was done for The League Cup tonight, eventually found out the draw is tomorrow and I sent my bro a text saying “no worries, the draw is tomorrow” – found out that Charlton were 3 . 0 up and lost 4 . 3 to Shrewsbury, Oxford United won 6 . 1 against Bristol Rovers and Accrington beat Doncaster Rovers.
We got moving around 10 and I was mostly listening to the radio and picked up Radio Norfolk and it is here where I must give credit to Paul Lambert and Chris Martin both were very respectful in what they had to say, Lambert said that this was a competition that he wanted to do well in and that he will treat any team with respect while Chris Martin was pleased to get on the score-sheet and said that winning is a habit and it can only be a good thing to win – the interviewer tried to make us sound like little Gillingham and could Lambert make whole sale changes but Lambert wanted to give players as many minutes as possible and keep the back five settled, poor journalism but least Lambert and Chris Martin were not trying to make us sound like opposition they should be beating 5 . 0 with their eyes closed and there response’s were from a player and manager who have been in football long enough to never under-estimate the opposition you go up against
I don’t like the whole oh we can concentrate on the league now, I knew our chances of winning were slim but even so I was disappointed we lost and IF only we scored that chance when Akinfenwa hit the bar and oh if this happened and had that happened, does make for grim reading.
I was mostly listening to the radio and looking on facebook and kent online to see what was being said, my Sony Eircsson K800I isn’t the most advanced phone and I am looking to get a new mobile, but on facebook there were alot of RIP Adam Stansfield status up-dates, and I checked BBC Football and the most shocking story of the night is that Exeter City Striker Adam Stansfield has died at the age of 31 and it really does put football into prospective and everyone was just stunned.
Everyone was doing their own thing to pass the time, I listen to the radio, some like to read, most were asleep by now, some like to chit chat and others like playing game consoles, I remember when there was Gameboy and that was it but now you got Nintendo DS and PSP and everything is handheld and portable, Gameboy used to masters of the handheld computer game with Mario, Tetris and Pokemon but now you can play any game and it is the sign of just how advanced technology has come over the past 10 – 20 years.
I still had some drink left over from the coca cola bottle I had in my bag and finished that bottle off very quickly as my throat was sore from all that singing and chanting before and during the match while speaking to Ben he asked “am I writing a blog for this game” I said yes but it will take ages to write as I do cram in the detail – I mentioned that I won’t put any swear words in my blog or anything offensive but they do take ages to write and clearly alot of supporters like my blogs but also I check my own blog for spelling mistakes but proof-reading your own material is the hardest thing to do because you know how it sounds like in your mind yet on paper it may not come across that way.
We were not going to stop as we intended to get back as quick as possible and I just rested my eyes for abit though I cannot sleep on a coach but kudos to those who can sleep on a coach because I just cannot do that.
Peter Lloyd came round and asked about travel arrangements for up and coming games but as I had already arranged travel with Pam before-hand I said I ring when I come again, also tipped the driver when the bag came round for tips as driving this late is tough on the driver as everyone else can sleep and relax and do whatever they want to, to pass the time.
We crossed Dartford Bridge at 12.55 and went through the toll booth in no time at all which was completely the opposite when we left Kent earlier in the day, first stop off point was outside Strood Sports Centre before we went round Finsbury near Strood and went through the Medway Tunnel and made our way to the ground, I was going to get off at the Cricketers and after a few more stop off points I double checked I had everything and got off the coach at 1.45 and checked to see if The Kebab place was open but that was shut and I walked home, past St Margaret’s School, across Broadview Avenue and Nursery Road before walking up my road and just as I was home I saw a Fox in our front garden, no doubt he moved before I got in but I was home at 2AM and well and truly knackered.
Overall it been a long day and we can take many positives out but there were some concern’s and things that we can improve on and things that we have to address, it won’t be sorted out over-night so we need to give Hessy a chance and give him time to get the squad where he wants it to be.
My MOTM – Chris Palmer – great goal to give us the lead, Palmer kept testing Norwich defensively with some decent crosses and some good corner’s as well, Palmer looks better this season the he did last season and if we can pin Palmer down to one position and play him week in, week out I am sure Palmer will improve as the season progresses.
Honourable mentions to – Andy Barcham – never stopped running all game and always looked to take a player on, his pace caused Norwich all sorts of problems and glad to see Barcham back on the left again.
Special mention to – Adebayo Akinfenwa – Not fit yet but a real handful for the Norwich Defence, Andy D’Urso gave some harsh decisions against the big man and his header against the crossbar was great awareness by Bayo and very unlucky not to have scored, should of scored when Jack Payne’s effort was parried but in the two games so far he has impressed despite not being at his best.
The Beach Ball – I just have got to mention The Beach Ball, just a real laugh at half time and great fun, we didn’t even want the second half to start that is how much fun we were having.
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What the hell Brad?
