Poole Borough Football Club
Season 2004/05

THE SEASON

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Dan Cockwell
Borough MOTM

Conditions

Dry and bright. Pitch very heavy folllowing overnight rain.

Borough Colours

Gold and Black quarters, Black shorts, Gold socks.

Gillingham Colours

Light and Dark Blue Quartered Shirts, Dark Blue Shorts, Light Blue Socks.

Direction of Play

Borough attacked up the slope first half.

Officials

Referee: Mr C. Gisborne
Assistants: Mr G. Bird & Club Official

Borough Scorers: Alex Gunn 22, Jamie Holland 84.
Borough Man of the Match: Dan Cockwell

Faced with a heavy pitch made worse by overnight rain which severely restricted their normal passing game, and a Gillingham side who have so far failed to loose at their Hardings Lane Ground, Borough were more than satisfied to come away with well deserved draw. The Hornets also had to contend with major changes to their midfield following the loss of both Andy Barham and Andy Coles.

With Gillingham attacking down the slope in the first half, Borough were expecting an initial onslaught and the Gills looked to have made an early breakthrough when on 4 minutes a forward was tripped in the area, but the resulting penalty went wide of the left hand post.

The home side created further opportunities but both Matt Morris and Sean Hebdon made telling last-ditch tackles to clear the danger. Borough's first clear chance came on 15 minutes when David Perry latched onto a through ball and his shot took a deflection into the path of Jamie Holland, whose instinctive header went just wide.

However Borough took the lead on 22 minutes when Darren Wakely in the home goal could only parry a stinging shot from Matt Bircumshaw and Alex Gunn was on hand to steer home the rebound.

Two minutes later the Gills came close to drawing level but Adam Nash made a superb block to deny a header at point-blank range from a corner. At the other end Borough nearly increased their lead after an excellent interchange between the forwards saw Gunn slide a pass into the area which Perry drove across the goal and Holland's first time shot drifted inches wide.

On 33 minutes Gillingham drew level following a well worked move with Gavin Bendall latching onto a ball slipped behind the Borough defence before hitting a low shot past the advancing Nash. Worse was to come for Borough when three minutes later when a mis-hit shot picked out Lee Christopher in the area and he converted with an excellent dipping drive from a difficult angle.

Holland carved out a chance to put Borough level before the break as he outpaced a defender to a through ball on the left before cutting inside his marker and shooting just over.

Half Time 2-1

The second period was less frenetic than the first with Gillingham happy to let the clock tick away with some noticeable time wasting tactics, but at times Borough still needed to instigate a strong rearguard action to deny the home side what would have been the winning goal.

As the half progressed, Borough began to make inroads, forcing a number of corners and a long drive from Hebdon saw Wakely scramble across to punch the ball over. The Gills had a golden opportunity to seal the match on 73 minutes when a Borough defensive clearance was deflected back towards goal, putting a home forward through, but he shot over with just Nash to beat.

However Borough were not to be denied a deserved point and on 84 minutes the equaliser came when Hebdon found space on the right and with the home defence backing off took the ball forward before sending a low cross into the six yard box which Perry latched onto and although his shot was blocked on the line Holland was on hand at the right hand post to bury the rebound.

For the first time in the half Gillingham showed a degree of urgency but the Borough defence effectively shut up shop to deliver the Hornets first Dorset Premier point collected at Hardings Lane.

Borough: Adam Nash, Dan Cockwell, Tony White, Shaun Clarke (Darren Abreu 58 (Wayne Smith 90)), Sean Hebdon, Dan Herrington, Alex Gunn, Jamie Holland, David Perry, Matt Morris, Matt Bircumshaw. Unused Sub: Carl Griffin.

The Verdict ...................

On another day this contest might have been called off and Borough boss Tony White said: "It was a bog of a pitch and it probably should not have been played because the conditions were atrocious but I am delighted with the point. Gillingham is always a difficult place to go and considering we had to field three or four reserves the performance was very pleasing. Both sides will feel they could have won and I was very impressed with their French lad Loric Herouard. He should be playing at a higher level in my opinion and he caused us a lot of problems."

Gills' chairman John Radford said: "We should have won, there is no doubt about that. It was two points lost rather than one point gained. At 2-1 we should have gone on to score more but that is something we have been struggling to do in recent weeks and once again we got punished. To be fair to them they kept going but we threw it away really. We need to start killing teams off when we are on top."