Bristol Rovers 0 Gillingham 2
Deon Burton scores for Gills at the
Memorial Stadium. Picture: Barry Goodwin
Gillingham maintained their lead at the top of League 2 with
victory at Bristol Rovers on Saturday.
The Gills went two up at the break thanks to well-taken
goals from Chris Whelpdale and Deon Burton.
Those strikes proved to be enough to keep Gills two points clear
of Port Vale in the race for the title. It was Gillingham's second
successive away win.
Manager Martin Allen stuck with an
unchanged starting XI for the trip to Bristol, with new signing
Steven Gregory starting on the bench.
On New Year’s Day the Gills beat Southend
1-0, courtesy of a Whelpdale third-minute goal, and it was déjà vu
at the Memorial Stadium as the same player pounced in the
same minute.
Whelpdale picked up the ball on the edge of
the box, after good build-up play, and struck a shot across keeper
Steve Mildenhall.
Rovers had plenty of possession in the
opening half and John-Joe O’Toole hit the inside of a Gills post
before seeing the ball roll across the goal line and
miraculously out of play. More chances followed for the hosts,
but an equaliser failed to materialise.
Gillingham, who had been defending for much
of the half, showed their class in front of goal just before the
break as Whelpdale flicked the ball on for Burton. He turned his
defender with a great first touch before smashing the ball past
Mildenhall.
Allen made a change in attack with an hour
gone as both Adam Birchall and Burton were replaced. The first 15
minutes of the second half had seen neither team really threaten. A
speculative long-range effort from Myles Weston wasn’t enough to
trouble Mildenhall.
Fabian Broghammer came a lot closer for the
hosts, with a low free-kick which went through a crowd of players
and took a deflection, before bouncing just wide.
With 10 minutes left Rovers were growing
more desperate and from 20 yards O’Toole found row z with a long
shot as Gills keeper Stuart Nelson finished the half
untroubled.
Gillingham: Nelson, Fish,
Martin, Legge, Barrett, Frampton, Payne, Whelpdale, Weston (Allen
73mins), Birchall (Gregory 57mins), Burton (Kedwell 57mins). Subs
not used: Forecast, Lee, Jackman, Davies.
Bristol Rovers:
Mildenhall, Smith, Kenneth (Norburn 45mins), McChrystal, Brown,
Parkes, Clucas, O’Toole, Ayinsah (Hitchcock 46mins), Broghammer
(Harding 78mins), Richards. Subs not used: Gough, Woodards,
Harrison, Lockyer.
Attendance:
6,088.
What did you make of the win in Bristol? Comment
below.
04/01/13
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