By Kris Delo
Well here we are, after nine long months and three managers we are now a few days away from our final Sky Bet League Two game of the 24/25 season.
It comes days after the anticipated visit of Swindon to Priestfield last Saturday.
This is a fixture that stirs some animosity thanks to 1989’s meetings leading to a full-on rivalry, for us Gills fans atleast, the name Mchale will make fans wince for many a year to come. This year was no different, and both managers were aware of the history while also being respectful of each other. Ahead of the game, Gareth Ainsworth paid tribute to lan Holloway, his gaffer while a player at QPR.
Both are working wonders at their current clubs. Back in October, Holloway yet to take charge of the club who were facing relegation witnessed us score through Timmy Dieng, He was in the stands when we visited, and during half-term gave the home side a pep talk which led to their last-minute equaliser through Chatham Born Harry Smith and dashing our hopes of a first win since September.
Now they will finish above us in the table. That’s some turnaround….funny old game isn’t it?
Thankfully, we remain unbeaten under Ainsworth. Sure, we haven’t had as many wins as we would want but we have been picking up points and we don’t have to worry about our football league status.
There were few surprises with the squad Ainsworth picked to go up against the Swine, other than maybe Joe Gbode on the bench after scoring that glorious goal against AFC Wimbledon on Easter Monday.
The match itself opened with a rather tepid first half, with lots of long balls up the pitch and Elliot Nevitt isolated, something we have rarely said under Ainsworth. We were reminiscent of a Coleman or dare I say Bonner
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