Action and Reaction as Gillingham Are Held 1-1 at League Two Leaders Brentford

Action

After dominating for large parts of the game, Gillingham were forced to settle for just a point away at Brentford with a 1-1 draw.

The Gills had initially fallen behind to the League Two leaders, when the home side’s first real chance of the match turned into a goal.

David Hunt hit a well taken free-kick to put the Bees ahead on 42 minutes, much to the delight of the home fans.

However, Gillingham responded in the second half with a hatful of decent goalscoring opportunities, most notably when Mark McCammon headed just wide seconds after the re-start.

The Gills got the important lifeline they required just before the hour mark, when Andy Barcham was felled inside the box and a penalty was given.

Canadian international striker Simeon Jackson stepped up to take the kick, and slotted home to bring the visitors level and also score his 18th goal of the season.

Gillingham huffed and puffed towards the end, having much more possession and creating several more chances than the hosts.

In the end though they were made to rue such missed chances, as it finished 1-1 at Griffin Park, meaning the Gills remain in fourth place, while Brentford still resume their position at the top of the League Two table.

Reaction

Gillingham manager Mark Stimson was disappointed his side did not claim all three points in their top of the table clash at Griffin Park, but maintained that a point is still satisfactory.

Speaking after the match, he said: “I felt we deserved the three points.

“We’ll take a point but we’re disappointed, because we didn’t come for anything else, we went for the three points.

“We didn’t get them but we played very well and one will do us.”

The Gills boss also said that it would’ve been harder had his team not got a point, and that his players need to stay focused for the remaining games this season.

He added: “The boys will take a lot from the game. They know they deserved something from the game and if they hadn’t got anything then I think it would have been tricky to pick them up.

“We’ve got six games left now and we have to focus on what we have to do and want to achieve.

“If we play like that for the next six games I’m sure we will win more than we lose.”

Lastly, Stimmo went on to praise the club’s supporters, and the “phenomenal” amount of them present away at Brentford.

The Gills supremo said: “The army of supporters that we had with us was phenomenal.

“We had around 1,800 in the ground but it sounded like 6,000 and they appreciated at the end what the boys put in. I’ll have a lot better Sunday than I did the week before.”