Swindon Town -v- Gillingham FC Official Matchday Thread

[limpwrist]

We got lucky with the clean sheet and we got lucky with the three points but this is the best football for ages. Love the players commitment, love their energy and desire. Please let the rest of the season be just like this.

[reeves4england]

Wasn't the best performance in the world tonight. We put some nice moves together in the first half but most came to nothing, probably through us trying to be a bit too clever. Then for quite a while we struggled to put moves together - we gave the ball away, we lumped it forward to nobody... Jervis and Montano were really struggling to hold the ball up. Meanwhile Gills were asking a lot of questions of our defence and almost found a way through. Goodness knows how McCormack kept that ball out in the first half - I'd have given him man of the match for that alone. Then in the second they had a good strike come back off the post followed by their bloke getting the ball stuck under his foot when the goal was gaping. We rode our luck, but then made the most of it! We began putting a few moves together going forward but still we weren't putting the finishing touches on them, until Ritchie took things into his own hands. How it dipped below the bar I still don't understand, but what a strike! Then Gills came forward in search of the equaliser and we looked dangerous on the break, with Ferry bursting forwards and Connell doign a good job of holding the ball up and letting the midfield make runs - something that had been lacking previously. Then of course Connell laid the ball off perfectly for Smith who had acres of space but decided to hit it first time, curling it into the corner of the net. You just knew it was a goal before the ball even left his boot.

Good win, and the table is looking much better now than 2 weeks ago. Let's not spoil it aganist Bradford - they are in dire form and we need to take advantage of that, rather than having a repeat of the Hereford debacle.

[joteddyred]

Well, we certainly rode our luck a few times and 15 minutes or so from the end, I couldn't see us scoring.  Enter Matt Ritchie with a superb strike.

Gillingham managed to someone mess up the opportunity to draw level after a slight defensive mix-up, but we pushed on and Smith scored a great goal.

It wasn't one of our best performances and our final ball at times was woeful.  Last season we would have lost that game without a shadow of a doubt.  The differences in the team spirit and mentality are immense.   We never gave up, won the game in the latter stages not looking at our best, got a bit lucky and kept a clean sheet.  That has all the signs of a team going places.

[limpwrist]

Was that goal the first thing Ritchie done all evening? Thr crowd certainly love him!

[TheMajorSTFC]

Winning is certainly becoming a good habit this season and long may it continue!!!

Great strikes, used a bit of overdue luck tonight and 3 more points, in the play offs now...lets keep building on it and top 3 by Xmas....!

p.s- IMO i thought Ritchie was pretty poor again for 80 mins, but wow what a goal and what it did for his confidence last 10 mins and hopefully he will grow in leaps and bounds once more!

[Abrahammer]

Was that goal the first thing Ritchie done all evening? Thr crowd certainly love him!

Not his best game by any means but he showed why he is a matchwinner, average performance and then a moment of magic.

Not sure how we won tonight, the Gills should have been a couple up before we scored but we dug a result out against a good team who will almost certainly be top 7 come the end of the season.

Good times

[Langers]

Really enjoyed the game tonight, two good footballing teams.

We rode our luck for a bit but we are vertically looking more solid at the back and Foderingham is class.

Two awesome goals, and I still don't know how they didn't score tonight, the miss near the end was brilliant!

Love how together the team look, so much desire. Great 3 points and I can enjoy my 2 hour journey home!

[reeves4england]

Agree with the comments about Ritchie - 79 minutes with very little creativity or end-product, then BOOM! What a strike. After that he was galvanised - hoepfully he'll carry that confidence into the game on Saturday and tear them a new one!

[chalkies_shorts]

We must have put all their lucky heather around our goal tonight. We were very lucky not to concede but scored two outstanding goals. At last we've got a keeper who looks as though they're a keeper. Their keeper wasn't too shabby either.
Our final ball all evening was shite but in the end it didn't matter.
Nouble was interesting in his lime green boots - he spent the whole game either offside or on his arse, that latter within the first 10 seconds.
I'm happy tonight. A lucky win but when was the last time we said that.
Unfortunately I think the Pikeys will be up there at the end of the season.

[Saxondale]

Just back.  It was a great game of football.  We were good until Mcormack went off and that seemed to disrupt us.  Gills came back very well in the second half and we then couldn't find a pass.  Aimless football for a while.  

You sensed something was going to happen as we finally strung some passes together and Ferry, god bless him, is the new Micky Hazard.  He did that getting boxed in by players and then turning round in a circle and laying off a lovely pass thing that I always remember Hazard doing.

From that came Ritchies fantastic strike which really was a pearler.  Its up there with Hoddle against Sunderland in the promotion to the premiership season.  Gills were obviously going to come back at us but as they came forward they made a few mistakes.  Connell timed his run perfectly with Gills players looking for offside, pulled it back superbly and as people have said before, you just knew Smith was going to hit the back of the net.

All in all not the best performance but a great game, lit up by two stunning strikes.

[wiggy]

Loving the team spirit, and loving the feeling of nicking points rather than giving them away.

My one nagging doubt is that the subs bench still looks unbalanced, and you struggle to see what options PDC has to change things in a match. Having said that, if Gabilondo had been on the bench Ritchie might not have been on the pitch to score.

Me and the boys have decided that the bloke who sits about 5 rows behind us in the family enclosure and yells advice to Paolo and the players is our favourite fan ever.

[Saxondale]

And also, I liked the tactic of the keeper sending it out to Ritchie from long kicks as their left back was a midget.  Ferry looked gigantic against him.  I checked on their website as I couldn't believe he was a grown up.  His height is stated as 5 foot 4.  We always claim a couple of extra inches though don't we.

[leefer]

Really enjoyed the match...good team were Gills and the defence were outstanding.
Thought Jervis did well with his interplay and the game was a credit to both teams.
But what really caught my eye tonight was the keeper Fotheringham....he shows how important it is to have a good one,when the defence was under pressure he was there.
Flint is a great player in the making and Smith is looking a bargain..........happy days.

[TheMajorSTFC]

Also anyone hear PDCs radio interview afterwards on BBC Swindon...was he saying he'd like to see us score a 'crappy goal' or a 'scrappy goal'...the part about cheese was funny...Roll on Saturday...STFC!

[steptoe41]

That was fucking good that was, an excellent game of football with both sides really up for it.

Mind you, the coffee I had at halftime in the DRS was fucking awful. Should have stuck to lager.