It’s Halloween, whilst it’s just a load of Americanised nonsense it’s a theme to pursue I guess? I guess it’s good fun for kids getting dressed up etc. Adults dressing up bothers me, there should be an upper age limit, (8 or 9?), on fancy dress – grown adults dressing up is all a bit Raoul Moat / Michael Ryan for me. Like the Tooth Fairy, Jesus etc it’s a good story for kids I guess and a bit of harmless fun? 

The Omens are good today…….

We definitely owe them one having failed to beat them in 4 attempts last year. The in form Wyke will definitely feel like he owes them one after he had a perfectly good goal disallowed at 0-0 last December down there.

Home Sweet Home……..

We’d have sold out tomorrow like we always do, like a few thousand others, I’d have been there to watch us. Obviously I wish I was there, but I’ll be honest, for the first time this season I’m quite happy to be watching online. 

Pre teamsheet teamsheet think tank…..

I think we can expect a few changes? Neil, Embleton and Kimpioka all played for the U23s last night, so none of them will feature today. That said, competition for places is always healthy and all 3 must be near to getting a chance? Neil was our best player pre season and Embleton scored both goals last night in a 2-0  win. Kimpioka was always unlikely to be involved today due to it being an early kick, (I suppose he might have been out of bed and dressed for the 2nd half?).

Using the evidence of the U23 squad last night, you’d have to assume, (and hope), that Jack Diamond will be involved today, realistically I’d expect him to be on the bench.

The case for the defence……As suggested I’d expect a couple of changes from Rochdale. Luke is available again, he didn’t have a good time at centre half, but he’s one of our best 11 players so should and will play. McLaughlin is decent at CH, but was poor at RB the other night. After 5 minutes I was worried that Sanderson  was going to have a Jan Kirchhoff-esque at Spurs debut…. but he soon settled and is clearly a decent footballer. Hopefully Willis is fit, if he is, he has to play, as him and Bailey is our best option.

Midfield options……  I’m not into singling players out, but I think Power needs a rest as he’s been poor for the last month or so. For some reason he seems to be one of the first names on the sheet, his position will be further strengthened by the performance of Dobson the other night . He simply cannot play today….

i understand that 2 games a week might be tough for Grant, but surely he comes in for Dobson today?

Goals win games……

Charlie is doing a great job of leading the line at present. It’s often cited that we are only playing 1 up front, Gooch and Maguire are both at their best when attacking, unfortunately neither of them are playing well at the moment. Hopefully Grants inclusion today will give them the freedom to be more advanced than they were on Tuesday night? It’s well documented that we lack pace, whilst Lynden and Chris haven’t been great of late, they are the source of the most quality in our team – one or both of them is due a good game?

So…..

Actual teamsheet time……

Hugely positive team selection – I forgot about Flanagan! I’m very happy with that. I didn’t think he’d drop Power. Also O’Brien for Maguire is fair and tees up a perfect headline….

1pm – Come on Lads, let’s get back on track today eh?

15 mins……. offered nowt.  Their threat is set pieces and their size? They’ve had 4 corners and about 8 cheap free kicks in the 1st 15 minutes. We need to get in possession, otherwise we’ll concede. 

25 mins……  corner count up to 6 conceded. Gillingham aren’t very good, but we cannot continue to concede set pieces at this rate.

30 minutes…… in the last 5 minutes we’ve put 3 quality balls into the box

* luke has a header disallowed, camera angle shite so can’t really comment of offside? Not one of the Gillingham players appealed though and an Evans Team appeals everything?

* the keeper makes a great interception 

* Scowen blazes over when he should score

Better…..

32 mins……. good effort from Scowen 

34 mins…… 1st corner, great delivery and nearly score

Half time thoughts…… Gillingham are not the best, we really ‘should’ win this game….. hopefully McGuire will be chomping at the bit to come on? One thing we need to be careful of is not going down to 10 men….. dodgy surface, a ref who sent 2 off on Tuesday night, frustration creeping in. We just need to keep a cool head and get the job done. Playing downwind  2nd half, which when I played, (albeit for a pub not a professional football club), was always advantageous……

55 minutes….. 

57 minutes….. mirror image of last week, Flanagan chasing his own error makes it easy for the ref to give the penalty.

poor penalty, good save.

60 minutes…… horror tackle from them, straight red. HUGE 90 seconds that, let’s get this done

66 – Aiden nearly scores, 69 – Scowen nearly scores, 72 – Luke nearly scores 75 – Flanagan nearly scores 76 & 77 Wyke nearly scores!

2 years ago we narrowly missed out on automatic promotion after 19 draws…. we need to somehow find a way to win this game!

Tuesday and today, I reckon we are missing our away support, this is when we could be the 12th man?

GOOOOOOOOOOCHHHHH ⚽️ 2-0 Job done ✅ 3 points ✅ we go again Tuesday✅ Let’s get right behind the Lads ⚽️ Onwards and fucking upwards✅

Halloween not my bag, but there should be more songs about Hairy Handed Gents, running amok in Kent….. FTM. Happy Fucking Halloween 🎃