Gillingham 1 Bristol Rovers 0
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Goal scorer Simeon
Jackson celebrates with the Gillingham bench after his injury time
winner at the Priestfield. Picture: Barry Goodwin
by Luke Cawdell
Simeon Jackson broke the Gillingham
goal-drought with an injury time winner at Priestfield on
Saturday.
The Gills claimed a deserved three
points against Bristol Rovers as Jackson netted in the second
minute of time added on – his 15th of the season.
Jackson’s goal handed the Gills their
first win in 11 and kept them clear of the League 1 relegation
places. It was a deserved win for the Gills, who had seen a series
of chances go begging. Luck didn’t seem to be on their side as with
just two minutes to go Jackson was denied by the post.
"It was a good performance," said
delighted manager Mark Stimson. "I made a couple of changes
from last week and we deserved the three points as we created a few
chances.
"It was pleasing as we had waited too
long to get this win. We’ve been thinking about it and talking
about it but it’s nice to get it out of the way and we look forward
to Tuesday now against Leyton Orient.
"It will be nice to come in on Monday
morning after keeping a clean sheet and winning."
Jackson came off the bench to score
the winning goal which ended a run of four straight
matches without a goal for the Gills.
Stimson said: "You can see he's a natural striker because
he picked the ball up and turned and there was only one thing on
his mind, he wanted to hit the target. To see him scoring a goal in
the Rainham End was a nice sight to see."
Gillingham were the brighter of the
two teams going forward from the off and Rene Howe should have
opened the scoring two minutes before the break, but he skied the
cut-back from Chris Dickson over the bar.
Loan signing Dickson was doing his
best to get Gillingham going in attack but he couldn’t find the
target either. He lashed an effort wide moments before Howe’s
chance went begging.
A good end to the half for the Gills
also saw defender Darren Dennehy head just wide from Kevin Maher’s
corner.
The visitors showed even less spark
and their closest chance came midway through the half when
left-back Byron Anthony shot wide.
Early chances in the second half fell
to Howe and Adam Miller but neither player was able to find the
target,
With an hour gone Gills manager Mark
Stimson made changes with Dennis Oli and Simeon Jackson both coming
on. The Gills played the final half hour with a three-man
attack.
Danny Jackman smashed a free-kick just
wide for the Gills with 25 minutes left and moments later another
set-piece from the midfielder was glanced just the wrong side of
the post by Dickson.
Jackson did have the ball in the back
of the net but the referee ruled it out for offside.
The Gills dominated the latter stages
but still the vital goal wouldn’t arrive. Jackson again came close
with five minutes remaining but couldn’t keep his shot down.
In the dying minutes Jackson picked up
the ball and drove at goal but ‘keeper Rhys Evans got enough on the
shot to send it crashing into the base of the post.
With 92 minutes gone Dickson flicked
on a ball into Jackson’s path and he did the rest, with a powerful
shot into the bottom corner to hand Gillingham a much-needed
boost.
Gills: Julian,
Fuller, Nutter, Richards, Dennehy, Maher (Jackson 57mins), Jackman,
Weston (Barcham 84mins), Miller, Howe (Oli 57mins), Dickson. Subs
not used: Royce, Palmer, Gowling, Walker.
Rovers: Evans,
Elliott, Campbell, Williams (Richard 73mins), Hughes, Anthony,
Blizzard, Reece (Swallow 73 mins), Lescott, Jones, Heffernan. Subs
not used: Andersen, Regan, Wright, Clough, Tyrrel.
Attendance:
5,302.
Saturday, February 20 2010
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