Just back, long old day but absolutely worth the trip.
Left at 9am, scooted down the M11 with no fuss except the smalls reminding me every ten minutes that we still needed to stop for tinfoil to cover their homemade cardboard FA cup...tinfoil was duly purchased by the ASDA towards the river before dumping the car on Court Lodge Road by 11.15am.
Circumnavigated Priestfield to give Jnr Jnr the first glimpse of her new cathedral, dodged several piles of dogshit and Jnr Jnr correctly pointed out that Gillingham "looks just like Sheerness", a town she is more familiar with.
Got in the ground, smashed a quick pint while the kiddos stuffed their faces with Haribo, everyone happy and nice to see the concourses so busy. To our seats to discover a good number of the Block 4 singers had relocated directly behind us due to their seats being a camera gantry for the day. Fair play to them, they were loud and in good spirits, no C bombs either which made a pleasant change from away days this season.
Good to see the Galinson's on the pitch, PDPS notable by his absence. I think they enjoyed having a wander as much as we enjoyed having a gander at our new owners, it was all quite nice.
As Rob mentioned above, the game was weirdly similar to our league games, played some nice stuff, looking vaguely competitive but offering very little going forward. The passing today was a huge improvement over recent games I've watched. Leicester were bang average and looked decidedly uninterested. Vardy took some significant stick throughout the first half, but responded well when subbed in the second half by bowing to the Rainham End.
The crossbar challenge at half-time was a typical Gills shambles, if you're going to ask people to try and hit the bar with a ball, probably helps to actually have a ball? At the fifth time of asking one was eventually sourced from our subs who were warming up nearby. Nice to see us try and do something at half-time, I always enjoyed the kids team penalty shootouts be a positive to see something similar return.
Second half was more open, they had a few chances, but miraculously so did we, the one just before their goal being the best. I thought Adelakun's effort was inches wide, but having watched the replay when I got in, it was a yard or two. Their goal was typical of our season, messy pinball in the box before Iheanacho smashed it home.
I was impressed by Harris attacking subs, but only because I'd miscalculated how long was left, ten or fifteen minutes earlier and it might have been a bit more of a siege. Kashket's offside at the end seemed tight and enraged our bit of the Rainham End, enjoyed seeing him still stick it in the net though. My first "goal" at Priestfield this season...
Overall I thought we were decent, probably the best I've seen us this season but still no goals and no win, not that I was expecting one today. Looking forward to the deluge of signings next week. Please.
Tipped it down several times on the way home, kids fast asleep having told me that they really enjoyed the experience (in kid terms, obviously). Jnr is now 12 games and no win, Jnr Jnr, two games and two defeats, albeit both against Premier League opposition. I hope for their sake and all our sanity that things improve soon!