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Gillingham 0 Walsall 0 - match report

Luke Norris heads goalwards during Gillingham's 0-0 draw with Walsall Picture: Barry Goodwin
Luke Norris heads goalwards during Gillingham's 0-0 draw with Walsall Picture: Barry Goodwin

Gillingham were held to a goalless draw by Walsall at Priestfield on Saturday.

The draw preserved Gills’ unbeaten start at home in the league.

Peter Taylor’s side have now won three and drawn two at Priestfield in League 1.

Boss Taylor named an unchanged Gills team for the visit of Walsall.

His side started the game sitting 10 in League 1 and buoyed by their midweek win over Peterborough United.

Walsall had lost 4-0 last time out but were the first of the two sides to threaten the scoresheet on Saturday.

Gillingham’s on-loan keeper Stephen Bywater had to be alert to save a shot that deflected off Kortney Hause and moment later denied Ashley Grimes.

Walsall front-man Grimes was looking for his first goal of the season and should have done better when sliding onto Anthony Forde’s cross. He put the chance from infront of goal wide.

The home side produced several good forward moves but the end product was missing.

Luke Norris created a decent chance when beating defender Paul Downing for pace but a poor touch allowed keeper Richard O’Donnell out to save. The Walsall no.1 had earlier been alert to race out and deny the Gills when Cody McDonald and Bradley Dack combined to create a chance.

McGlashan burst into the Walsall box early in the second half, after sprinting clear of his marker, but nobody was anywhere near the cross.

Luke Norris came close to getting on the end of a McDonald cross just before the hour mark, after Walsall’s defence had been opened up by a Doug Loft throughball.

Gillingham saw plenty of the ball in the second half but keeper O’Donnell had little to do.

The hosts were almost made to pay for their lack of killer touch, when Antony Forde’s cross was met by James Baxendale. The Walsall winger got his header all wrong though and missed the target.

Forde tried a clever free-kick in the final minute, shooting direct instead of whipping it in, but Bywater was there behind it. The last chance of the game fell to Joe Martin and he put the effort over.

Gillingham: Bywater, A Morris, Martin, Egan, Hause, Loft, Hessenthaler (Linganzi 89mins), McGlashan, Dack (Dickenson 65mins), McDonald, Norris (German 74mins). Subs not used: G Morris, Pritchard, Davies, Hoyte.

Walsall: O’Donnell, Taylor (Benning 76mins), O’Connor, Downing, Chambers, Sawyers (Manset 70mins), Baxendale, Flanagan, Grimes (Bakayoko 86mins), Forde, Butler. Subs not used: Holden, MacGillivray, Kinsella, Clifford.

Attendance: 5,344 (130 away)

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