Gillingham 2 Northampton Town 0
Cody McDonald takes on the Northampton
defence. Picture: Barry Goodwin
by Luke Cawdell
Gillingham returned to the top of League 2
after winning their first game at home in more
than two months on Tuesday.
Cody McDonald fired the Gills ahead early
on in the first half and Myles Weston struck late on to seal the
points.
The win ended a sequence of five games
without success on home turf for the Gills and their first three
points at Priestfield since mid-November.
Boss Martin Allen made four changes to his
team from the one which drew with York on Saturday. A completely
fresh strike force saw McDonald make his first start since
rejoining the club, alongside Deon Burton. Myles Weston also
returned to the starting XI.
It took the Gills just four minutes to take
the lead. In conditions not ideal for football, Northampton keeper
Lee Nicholls will no doubt blame the swirling wind after letting
Fish’s ball over the top of the defence bounce over his head.
McDonald had the simple task of slotting home in front of an open
goal.
The Gills had to defend in numbers at times
during the first half, with big striker Clive Platt causing
problems and coming close on a couple of occasions. Home keeper
Stuart Nelson produced one great save to deny the striker from
levelling, while good defending from Leon Legge also kept the
Cobblers at bay.
Gillingham came agonisingly close to adding
a second in the opening half. Charlie Lee’s throw found its way
through to the back post and Burton’s impressive overhead kick
fizzed narrowly wide.
The second half saw Adam Barrett and Andy
Frampton take some time to recover from injuries. Both returned to
the field, but the stoppages did little for the fluidity
of the half.
The rain and wind didn’t let up for the
whole game, making it tricky for both teams,
and there were few goalscoring chances for
either side in the second half as defences held firm.
It took until the 84th minute for the Gills
to get their second and it was Weston who finished well to double
the advantage, shooting across the keeper into the bottom corner
after running on to a goal-kick from Nelson. It was his
seventh goal of the season.
Gillingham: Nelson,
Fish, Martin, Legge, Barrett, Gregory, Frampton, Lee (Allen
90mins), Weston (Kedwell 86mins), Burton, McDonald (Whelpdale
83mins). Subs not used: Forecast, Strevens, Davies,
Birchall.
Northampton: Nicholls,
Widdowson, Guttridge (Akinfenwa 63mins), Hornby, Carlisle,
Langmead, Harding, Hackett, Tozer, Robinson (Demontagnac 80mins),
Platt. Subs not used: Johnson, Snedker, Wilson, Moult, Oyeleke.
Attendance: 5,600.
29/01/13
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