By Jack Nolan
November 25 2006

Impressive Gillingham extended their winning run at Priestfield to four games. The Gills defeated the Millers with a first half goal by 'goal machine' Gary Mulligan, with his goal being created by an impressive Matt Jarvis run.
Gillingham.1.0.Rotherham
Priestfield Stadium
25th November 2006

Gillingham boss Ronnie Jepson chose to start Dean McDonald upfront but there was no room in the sixteen for Brent Sancho and Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu.

But the game didn't start off to well for the Gills after a very poor clearence from Gillingham 'keeper Kelvin Jack fell to Will Hoskins who picked out Delroy Facey whose shot went narrowly wide of the Gillingham goal.

Gary Mulligan who continued upfront had the Gills' first chance just before the tenth minute after connecting with Gillingham's welsh international Andrew Crofts pass only to shoot wide of the mark.

Shortly after, the Gills had three consecutive corner kicks only for Mark Bentley to head the third wide for a goal kick.

The next ten minutes of the game was mainly a mid field battle until just after twenty minutes had passed, the Gill's took the lead. Star man Matty Jarvis, who recently turned down a contract offer from the Gills, showed how skillful and pacey he is. Jarvis' lightening run beat Rotherham defenders and crossed a low pass for Gary Mulligan to tap in from all of three yards out.

Shortly after the goal, Rotherham's David Worrel's disgustingly late foul on star man Matt Jarvis scared the home crowd. The late foul sent Jarvis to the floor who seemed to be in a lot of pain. Worrel was fortunate to only see yellow whilst Jarvis was lucky to be able to play on.

Following the late challenge, Matty Jarvis proved his worth making another trademark run on the wing to get into a good position to shoot only to fire well wide of the mark. Another trademark run ended up in a good low save by Rotherham 'keeper Cutler from Jarvis' shot.

The Gills went in at half time one goal up and dominating the mid table battle.

The second half started gloomy for the Gills though and Rotherham did have the ball in the back of the net. Rotherhams Martin Woods headed home from a cross only for it to be ruled out after a foul on 'keeper Kelvin Jack.

The Gills started to dominate once again and seemed the more dangerous going forward. Somehow however, stunning defending by on loan defender Ben Chorley denied a Rotherham equaliser. With twenty minutes left Rotherham dangerman Will Hoskins got one on one with Kelvin Jack only for his low shot to somehow be turned over the bar by Ben Chorley who was immediatley confrontede by his team mates congratulating him.

The best form of defence is attack though and the Gills certainly proved it. Most of the ball was spent in Rotherhams half of the field and stayed their for the majority of the half. First of many chances came when Gary Mulligan's cross somehow missed Mark Bentley and then Dean McDonalds effort following good play with Matty Jarvis went narrowly wide.

Gillingham's Welsh international Andrew Crofts then had a glorious chance to double Gillingham's advantge. His shot outside the box was just deflected for another Gillingham corner.

With three minutes added Rotherham finally looked like scoring. The Millers created several decent chances but failed to find that finishing product.

The final whistle was welcomed by cheers from the Priestfield faithful who were delighted for the Gills to secure their fourth straight victory at Priestfield. The Gills are now tenth in League One with a second round tie away to Bristol City to look forward to.

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Ronnie Jepson

"Rotherham have had a good start to the season and full-credit to Alan Knill, he has got his team going. We knew it was always going to be difficult today with the conditions but I thought we created enough chances to win two games of football!

"Maybe we could have stuck another chance or two away to make it a little easier. The lads dug in and we got that clean sheet too. That was pleasing, as was the fact that we kept on creating chances. The creating chances hasn't been a problem this year. Like at Bristol City last week, it was the same. It was a bit of a scrappy game and the conditions didn't help. When we got the ball down, we hurt them in the areas where we knew we could hurt them. We just needed that second goal so we could relax a little bit. They threw caution to the wind and ended up throwing four up front at the end and lumped it. We defended that well from the front and that is all you can do.

"We try and set the tempo at home. The conditions were a bit hard, especially in the first-half, and I don't think we got to grips with it. We got it down in the second-half and played a bit better. We were a bit nervous for the first 15 minutes, as they didn't give us much space. I told the lads at half-time to keep doing what they were doing and to get it down and play a little, and we created numerous chances.

"It is nice to get another win at home in front of our own supporters and I think they appreciate the football that we play some of the time and the chances that we create. One day, we may put four or five of those chances away. We do give them some heart-stopping moments though!

"Matty Jarvis done well for the goal. He never gives anything up, which a lot of the team don't. It was a great time to get the goal. They never say die. You have got Matty and Gary Mulligan who work hard for the cause, and when you have some of the others backing them up, you have always got a chance. It is unbelievable the amount of work 'Mullers' get through, he has got three lungs! We know they are not the finished article by any stretch of the imagination. We lack a bit of quality at times but we showed the endeavour and spirit at times today against a good Rotherham side who are riding high. We didn't get the ball to Matty enough in the first-half but got a bit more of it to him in the second-half.

"That is what Ben Chorley is here for. He puts his head and his foot in there. I thought Duncan Jupp was outstanding at right back. Andrew Crofts - I thought after the last two games that he has come back to the old 'Crofty'. One or two lads have come back to the fore. One or two were not quite there but when you have six or seven who are, you have always got a chance of winning a football game. That is what we had today.

"We know all about the lad Will Hoskins who is scoring all the goals. His movement, how he comes deep into those little pocks, he causes problems. He is a good player. I know Delroy Facey from when he was a young lad at Huddersfield when I was a player there. He is am big, old machine. When he gets in his stride, he is no slouch and he caused us a few problems today. I thought 'Chores' and Ian Cox stood up to them quite admirably.

"I had two injuries later this week with Brent Sancho and Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu becoming unavailable for selection. Sean Clohessy was the only player that was left out. I'm just praying that we didn't pick up any more injuries today. The injuries are not too serious. Guylain was desperate to play but we didn't want to risk it. Sancho has a twinge that we have been trying to get over. He came in last week to improve his match-fitness but I don't want to be playing him when he is not 100% at this moment in time. A few more injuries and we will be struggling squad-wise.

"We borrow players and have to cut our cloth accordingly. I will look at Bristol City's report from today and they are playing Forest in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on Wednesday, so we'll go up there and have a look at them. The boys can then go down to Bristol City on Sunday and enjoy it. The disappointing for me is it is a three and a half hour trip for them, get back on the Sunday night and travel to Port Vale on the Tuesday. It is not the best preparation in the world.

"The games come thick and fast this time of the year so you pray that you don't get too many injuries or suspensions. That is my big concern. I know that with Sancho and Guylain, if I wanted them to, they would have gone out there even though they weren't one hundred per cent. I just couldn't risk that."