Gillingham kept themselves at arm’s length from the congested League One relegation zone yesterday courtesy of a tight 1-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers at Adams Park.
While the home side’s recent form has been poor, trips to Kenilworth Road and Oakwell were never likely to reap much reward and they were looking at this game as a good opportunity to get back on track. However, it was the Gills who took the points courtesy of substitute Regan Charles-Cook’s 83rd minute winner. It was the only significant chance Gillingham created all afternoon, but the simple goal contrasted the fortunes of the home side who failed to find the net via a combination of smart goalkeeping and poor finishing.
Gareth Ainsworth was forced to hand a start to Anthony Stewart after Adam El-Abd was suspended following his needless red card at Barnsley last week. The other three changes saw starts for Matt Bloomfield, Scott Kashket and Adebayo Akinfenwa. Steve Lovell meanwhile recalled Billy Bingham to the Gillingham side after their 4-2 defeat to Sunderland in the week.
Wycombe get the game underway
The sunny weather was a stark contrast to the ice and snow that engulfed Adams Park prior to Wycombe’s last home game but the football on offer would only be marginally better. Wanderers started on the front foot and the first glimpse of goal came after five minutes when Akinfenwa glanced a header wide following a cross from Paris Cowan-Hall. Six minutes later and Akinfenwa came much closer to scoring courtesy of an excellent turn and volley from the edge of the area, but Gills keeper Tomas Holy did brilliantly to get his big frame down and turn the ball around the post.
Gillingham then started to grow into the game, and Tom Eaves headed a glorious chance over the bar after 22 minutes but an offside flag meant the goal would not have stood while equally making the miss even worse. The Wycombe defence was coping with the balls into the box, yet at the other end, they weren’t having much luck breaking down their opponents. While the primary weapon of getting the ball into Akinfenwa was having a degree of success, Gillingham were always able to clear the spoils of the headers he did win.
Akinfenwa was a threat all afternoon but should have put Wycombe in front
Cowan-Hall then tried a couple of long-range efforts that only just had enough power to trickle out of play, before Wycombe tried something different in the final third. With 34 minutes on the clock, good play on the right wing saw Dominic Gape battle free and he drilled the ball to the feet of AKinfenwa who was centre of the goal and eight yards out. However, under a degree of pressure he scooped the ball not just over the bar, but over the stand as well.
The second half began with Gillingham showing a bit more purpose than they had the first, but were limited to a wayward shot from substitute Dean Parrett after 53 minutes before a decent break ended with Mark Byrne having an effort blocked.
Just before the hour mark, Holy again came to Gillingham’s rescue when he reacted quickly to keep out Kashket’s snap shot. The forward was then replaced by Nick Freeman as Wycombe looked to turn the screw. That didn’t really happen though, and the game entered something of a lull. Gillingham’s attempts to counter-attack came to little while Wycombe’s crosses were regularly plucked out of the air by the impressive Holy. The Chairboys did look more likely to score and with ten minutes to go, Freeman swung over across that evaded everyone except Jason McCarthy at the far post. The defender, perhaps not quite expecting to receive it, fired high and wide when extremely well placed. That proved to be crucial as the stalemate was broken three minutes later. Brandon Hanlan was the instigator as he first won an aerial duel with Sido Jombati before smartly bringing the ball under control. Hanlan still had Jombati for company but managed to drill the ball into the middle where Charles-Cook had the simple task of putting Gillingham 1-0 up.
Directly from the re-start, Wycombe almost equalised but Akinfenwa was twice foiled by Holy before the Gills defence cleared. Nathan Tyson was thrown into the attack and goalkeeper Ryan Allsop went up for a corner but aside from Tyson volleying wide, Wycombe were unable to create any more openings.
Gillingham push for the winner
It would be easy to use the term smash and grab to describe the result, yet while Wycombe had the better of the chances, it was an effective performance from the Gills. There was some wayward finishing from Wycombe but also some excellent goalkeeping and solid defending by the visitors who were patient and took their chance when it came. While Wycombe had blazed over from six yards out eight minutes from the end of the first half following a move down the right wing, a very similar move from Gillingham eight minutes from the end of the second resulted in the decisive goal.
The result leaves Wanderers 12th in the table and winless in five games. There is no need to panic as yet, but the fact that they have scored just one penalty in four outings does raise concerns. The decision to send Craig Mackail-Smith out on loan to Notts County doesn’t look like a smart move right now, especially when you consider that neither Kashket nor Alex Samuel has scored for three months while Randell Williams and Fred Onyedinma departed in January after their loans expired. Wycombe probably need to win three of their remaining twelve games to ensure League One football next season and while that is likely, they are currently the most out of form team in the division. Should they not pick up a win soon, the palms around Adams Park might just start to sweat a little. They travel to Peterborough next week before the visit of Sunderland.
Gillingham meanwhile have a little more work to do. While they are currently five points clear of danger, they have played a game more than 21st placed Bristol Rovers. After a trip to Fleetwood next week they face struggling Oxford United and then Bristol Rovers at home. These two games could potentially see them pull well clear or else be dragged right back into the mire…
WYCOMBE WANDERERS 0 GILLINGHAM 1 (Chales-Cook 83)
ATT: 4,879 (Away – 472)
words Phil Slatter, D3D4 Wycombe Wanderers correspondent