Gillingham manager Andy Hessenthaler delighted with three points in League 2 season opener against Cheltenham Town

GillsMad wrote:

You will be very sorely missed trueblue72 !!!

09 Aug 2011 11:27 AM

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MILLSGILLS wrote:

trueblue72, Sorry to hear it could be your last season!! We all hoped you got over you problems. Let me know when the funeral is and I will send flowers!!!! You will be missed...............NOT!!!

08 Aug 2011 2:16 PM

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trueblue72 wrote:

bad performance against a bad team and who knows how we won. All those who say a win is a win you must look at the perforemance as this will not wash against better teams and my prediction for the 11-12 season is that we will finish in the bottom half and certainly forget any chance of a playoff place. Ive supported gills since the 50's, but this could be my last season - no fun anymore. Bring in a sunday leage team and i dont think you would notice much difference. All the money saved could then be spent on a few decent players to bolster the front and Im sure we would be in league one in no time.

08 Aug 2011 12:40 PM

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PeteB wrote:

white cliffs - can I have some of what you are on!?

08 Aug 2011 12:31 PM

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ChrisP wrote:

Harold - the whingers will always be on here moaning, even if we are top of the league!!!! They're never happy unless they have something to moan about - just be grateful you don't live with them!!!! Good 3 points Saturday. UTG!!

08 Aug 2011 8:57 AM

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Harold Monk wrote:

Agree J, Rooney can have no complaints a poor and needless challenge.

I cannot believe the negatives on here! Kedwell, Montrose, Welps and Lee all had good debuts and Frampton was a class above anything else on the pitch. Flitney was solid but how can any right minded individual slate him because his kicking was poor? He made a couple of decent saves, was confident and communicated well. Sure his kicking could have been better but he will improve. Our defence was very good indeed and looked far more solid than last year. Martin looked head and shoulders above Nutter and looked very good going forward.

The midfield also looked sound but perhaps a little in-balanced, but Welps, Montrose and Lee were all far superior to anything Cheltenham had and also what we had last year. Kedwell, ran his socks off, held the ball up well and showed excellent movement. A little more composure and he would have scored with the header.

Funny how Dr Doom, Ron, or MorRon (this is not a request by the way) fails to mention ANYTHING positive, when there were loads of positives. As well as above, we won and will play better. As for slating Flitney, well the same voices slagged off Julian and Cronin, yet Julian kept a clean sheet for a team in the league above us and Cronin is number one for the side who are favourites to win our league. I suggest that this shows most of you know nothing about keepers. Perhaps you are expecting Joe Hart? Give Flitney a chance and get behind him.

As for the negatives, I thought the discipline was poor not only from Rooney, but Lawrence (who should know better) giving it the Balotelli theatrics and Payne getting booked for petulantly throwing the ball away. We need to cut this out otherwise needless yellows and bans mat affect our chances.

All in all not a bad start at all!

08 Aug 2011 8:41 AM

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j wrote:

Nige Never a red for rooney? have another look it's a shocking challenge. If one of there forwards had done that to martin, frampton etc would would all be sreaming off but suddenly because it a gillingham player the rules change. NO shocking challenge deserved to walk

08 Aug 2011 8:10 AM

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The Gills PegLeg wrote:

I came away from the game on saturday with a hell of a lot more positives than I would have froma game last season. Every player out there looked like they wanted to play for the club and was willing to win the ball. I think we were much better in the first half when we could get some passes going although I do agree Kedwell who looks a real talent, needs to be able to receive the support.

I am much happier with a style of football which is passed a lot more and I though Jack Payne played brilliantly yesterday to utilise that. Out of the new signings Frampton and Kedwell were the standouts for me but I felt everyone had a good game was just unfortunate not to break them down a bit more

07 Aug 2011 8:21 PM

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Nige wrote:

Admittedly would have hoped for more than a 1-0 home win against one of the poorer sides in our division but at end of the day started with 3pts which is the most important thing. Yes we will need to improve but is a good sign when you can win ugly.
First impression of Flitney looked okay at keeping goal but his kicking woeful and needs working on.
Defence looked good and led well by Frampton with surprisingly steady display by Fuller and thought Joe Martin excellent and should have been man of match.
Midfield controlled first half but struggled when Cheltenham upped tempo in 2nd half. Impressive debut by Montrose and Lee also good performance but surprised by poor performance of Whelpdale (surely a one off). Weston when he came on was exceptional and looked back to his best.
Kedwell looked okay but desperately needs support to help him so let's hope something happens soon.
Rooney sending off harsh (yellow yes but never red) but ref saw the slide and over-reacted. Ref was fine 1st half but completely lost plot 2nd half and by the end was 10 v 12.
Need to improve to get anything @ Brighton or Crewe but satisfactory start.

07 Aug 2011 7:13 PM

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Rubenstein wrote:

I agree with some of your points rainhamender25 but don't see your problem with Martin, in fact the defence looks pretty strong. Too be fair to Lawrence the Cheltenham forwards were doing their best to wind him up even Frampton (who I though was excellent btw) flipped his lid at yet another shove from Spencer after the ball had been played. There's work to be done for sure but with the quality of the players on the pitch and on the subs bench for that matter, I'm hopeful.

07 Aug 2011 3:22 PM

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GFC2011 wrote:

@Rainhamender25
How can you slate montrose and martin's performance, they were a different class yesterday, especially joe martin, he made some outstanding runs. Matty Lawrence, ok fair enough he was gobbing off a bit, but his performance was nowhere near dirty, he won the ball on most occasions if not all, he was getting pushed and shoved around by cheltenham's no.14 (spencer) but he kept his head and didnt once make a challenge on him that was dangerous. And no, I agree Jack Payne wasn't at his best but he kept the ball well and played out wide for the full-backs/wingers to run with. However I agree that Kedwell works his socks off, but he isn't the sort of striker that bangs in goals, he definately needs someone along side him that has the end product. I thought that when weston came on, he was sensational and I wonder if hessey should try Weston along side Kedders just for a few matches just to see if weston has the spark and composure to win us games. Never the less, great 3 points Gills, keep it up and I look forward to my next match up at Crewe.

07 Aug 2011 3:15 PM

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rainhamender25 wrote:

A three point start at home against poor opposition. That`s the positive. Now the negatives. Alas aplenty. There must be concerns about Flitney who looked, if anything, less confident than Julian did at any stage last season. His obsession with long, aimless kicks (a trait, Hessenthaler has stated publicly he likes in both Flitney and Gazzaniga - so more of the same awaits in the wings) will, against better opposition, see us getting pulverised. The back four,especially Martin, were all over the place and how Lawrence remained on the pitch for ninety minutes beggars belief. The five man midfield (where Montrose`s contribution was a pleasant surprise) appeared to have no discernible shape and yet again Jack Payne`s slow, predictable passing game gave the opposition time to regroup and defend in numbers. Why he continually starts ahead of the pro-active Rooney is beyond me. As for the sole striker. Kedwell is a willing workhorse of that there is no doubt, but able, now that`s another question! The 4-5-1 formation leaves him hopelessly isolated, so any opinion on his merits need to be tempered with this thought. I still believe Whelpdale and Rooney either side of Kedwell offers the best solution to a scenario with admittedly limited options. Anyway, lets enjoy our current playoff position and bring on Brighton and Crewe.

07 Aug 2011 2:58 PM

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SteveGFC wrote:

More than happy with the 3 points some bit were scrappy but oh well. Im sure we will improve. Stop Moaning people..

07 Aug 2011 2:45 PM

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colin wrote:

RON - did you watch the same game I did then - Flitney was communicating the whole game with the team - I think he will have a good season - give the lad a good chance - clean sheet and your still moaning -

07 Aug 2011 2:41 PM

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gfcgfc wrote:

When are we going to sign Fabian Brandy. Absolute quality for this league. A freebie too. Rather than waste £££ on a few players of average quality - Fabian would be a cut above. He surely is a must!

07 Aug 2011 12:23 PM

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bob wrote:

great to start with 3 points, but hope the prro performance is not the sign of what lies ahead, as it was at this point last season.

under hess last year we never got going in games, and were always the slower out of the traps. we struggled all season to get the ball down and play it, an dyesterday we only say a few rare glimpses of that.

i am worried about flitney, early days but you can usually tell when a goalie 'has it', and so far he doesn't see any better than julian, very shaky at crosses, mis-timed most punches and kicking woeful.

why sign fish if he is no better than fuller?

and up front kedwell is goo don the ball with excellent hold up play, but was caught out of position on several crosses early on. but he will need time to get used to the game at this level.

we desperately need more firepower, cheltenham were unlucky to not get something from the game yesterda, although i am sure hess will hide behind the 3 points as usual.

brighton will be a much, much toughter propositiom, as will crewe. having signed 9 players to crewe's 1, there really are no excuses this time around.

sadly i think hess will be gone by october with us sitting in the bottom half.

07 Aug 2011 12:22 PM

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Gills4ever wrote:

Dave, you have never had a good word to say about any team that gills have put together if you are a true gills supporter ( which I doubt ) then you would get behind the team and not slate them from day 1, yes we can all say the right things when it warrants it, such as , a scappy game yes it was, all first games with a new squard are, boring yes at times it was no game is 100% excitment end to end, did we make mistakes yes every team when on the field make mistakes some to thier cost some get away with it which in some places we did exactly that and also 1 instance that it cost Us one man in Rooney. Hessy has stated that it wasn't the best football and that the other team played a lot better but grining out results it what matters, and never a truer word was said reults win games and leagues not negitives He takes the positives from the games and trys to improve. You call Hessy a dimwit and other such names yet you sit there in your pretend managers role on football manager and think you could do a better job either prove it or shut up with the negitives failing that go and support another team and I say support loosely try being positive and who knows you too may improve as a supporter

07 Aug 2011 12:15 PM

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white cliffs wrote:

downy- your ARE in for a terrble season.Only dreamers like you think your in for a great season.

07 Aug 2011 12:08 PM

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downy wrote:

Ron, Dave, Kelvin, Vinney etc. I think i might go shoot myself. We must be in for a bad season if we keep on winning 1-0 eh? Idiots.

07 Aug 2011 11:59 AM

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gfcfan wrote:

lol ron, i'm surprised you go this far for the sake of a joke but if you have this much time, hat off to you

07 Aug 2011 11:54 AM

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dim kelvin wrote:

The best thing is not that we won and did not lose and that we didn't concede. Kelvin thinks it is that 2 fringe players were injured! Oh well only 45 league games to look forward to then.

07 Aug 2011 11:27 AM

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Ron wrote:

People will have to remember that this small 1-0 win came only at home against a team to be expected to be within the bottom 4 this season. We would be thrashing these sorts of teams if we were promotion contenders. Yes it was only Day one, but in truth we were 2nd best in ALL areas in this match. Cheltenham Town did NOT deserve to go home with nothing. We saw yesterday how bad our new "number 1" goalkeepers is. Ross Flitney can't kick, doesn't communicate & tends to punch instead of kick even when its a simple catch. Flitney is a Non League goalkeeper. Cheltenham were all over us for long periods of the match.

When we play the BIGGER teams, starting on Tuesday we'll be slaughted. Do that performance against teams like Brighton, Bristol Rovers, Shrewsbury Town & Swindon Town & we'll be done. Lets face it are we going to win any of our next 4 matches?

Brighton Away - NO
Crewe Alexandra Away - NO
Barnet Away - NO
Plynouth Argyle Home - NO

We aren't good enough & yesterdays performance brought all of the early warning signs that we're in BIG danger this season.

07 Aug 2011 11:25 AM

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blimey o'reilly wrote:

You lot moan pre-season, you lot moan pre match, you lot moan post match when we win! Blimey!

07 Aug 2011 11:23 AM

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Kelvin wrote:

The best thing about yesterday was not seeing OLI & PAYNE around.

07 Aug 2011 11:14 AM

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Mark wrote:

dave- your right Fuller was only in the team because he IS a thug not because he is a good player, because he clearly isn't.

07 Aug 2011 11:11 AM

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Dave A Gills since 1970 wrote:

If you want entertainment then this league is not for you, solid midfield and defence, if you win the ball and keep possession you will not lose many games, well done Barry Fuller, 1-0 every game will do me and get out of this division

07 Aug 2011 10:49 AM

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AUSSIELAND wrote:

DO NOT COMPLAIN WHEN THEY WIN, WHETHER A GOOD GAME OR NOT. 3 POINTS IS THE MATTER

07 Aug 2011 10:44 AM

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gfcfan wrote:

I agree Steve, big credit to Fuller for yesterdays game. He has had to endure the loss of the captaincy and seen Fish brought in during the summer. He has responded in the right way and put in a good performance and it deserves recognition.

07 Aug 2011 10:31 AM

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Steve B wrote:

Just to pick you up on your 2 points Dave....

Point 1 - I remember season 95-96. We picked up a lot of bookings and suspensions that season. I wasn't complaining at the end when we finished runners-up. About time we had a team that can Man up.

Point 2 - I am not a Fuller fan myself, but credit where credit is due. Barry didnt put a foot wrong yesterday and I, for one, am glad he proved me wrong. Would much rather come on here singing players praises rather than acting like a 5 year old old saying "I told you so :oP"

07 Aug 2011 10:20 AM

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dave wrote:

This is a thuggish team that is going to incur an enormous amount of bookings this season, along with suspensions.What the hell is dimwit Hessenthaler doing by playing one of the worse players ever to wear the shirt in fuller.

07 Aug 2011 9:53 AM

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kevin lear wrote:

Ah there you are Dave! Gills had 60% possession to their 40%, seven shots on target to their four, hardly outplayed methinks.Just do one for all our sakes bellend.

07 Aug 2011 9:12 AM

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j wrote:

Well Gills won clean sheet so not much to complain about on the pitch but off it. Hess should just accept the red card for Rooney it was a red all day long and he should stop searching for an excuse. Not a chance of winning any possible appeal so don't even bother

07 Aug 2011 8:38 AM

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Toilet Roll Queen wrote:

A home win, clean sheet and good performances put in by Kedwell and the new goalkeeper who looked confident. No complaints. UTG.

07 Aug 2011 8:12 AM

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luke wrote:

To be honest it wasnt a shocking performance , it was a dedicated performance and the first game of the seasons not expected to be great and at the end of the day a wins a win , we had a good performance from martin , motrose and weston so things looking positive

07 Aug 2011 1:49 AM

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Rubenstein wrote:

Ah poor Dave, you were really hoping Gills had lost so you could go to town with your boring rants. Oh and Vinny, Shocking?? What's up with you? I found the game pretty dull but a wins a win. First games of the season are often scrappy affairs, this was no exception.

06 Aug 2011 8:46 PM

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VinnyWhat? wrote:

Vinny,

Was it a SHOCKING performance?

SHOCKING?!

06 Aug 2011 8:16 PM

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dave wrote:

Hessenthaler admit it you were outplayed at home by a team tipped for relegation.

06 Aug 2011 7:55 PM

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Gills4Ever wrote:

as this was the first league game of the Season the boys did pretty good not the best as Hessy said but pretty good and against a side that has troubled us before I agree that we do need an extra Man up front with Kedders perhaps after Montroses performance today He might take up the challenge whether or not He can take on the role of Striker or not is the question but worth exploring he has a good touch

06 Aug 2011 6:43 PM

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vinny wrote:

It was a shocking performance. All hustle bustle headless chicken stuff,no composure.Right result, dreadful entertainment.

06 Aug 2011 6:38 PM

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CW wrote:

good 3 points,good start not bad for a laughing stock ah Benny boy!!!

06 Aug 2011 6:31 PM

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