Saturday 28 August - League Division Two - Report by GillsConnect Man on the Terrace

Hess made four changes to the Gills team following the home defeat to Lincoln City last week with Lance Cronin coming in for the injured Alan Julian and also making his debut was striker Cody McDonald.

Jack Payne and Barry Fuller were in the starting line after both returning from injury and the trio of Kevin Maher, Josh Gowling and John Nutter were the men to make way.

The returning Barry Fuller played at right back with Chris Palmer on the left and versatile Matt Lawrence partnered Tony Sinclair in the heart of defence. Young Jack Payne played the holding role with the long awaited debut of Cody McDonald upfront with Bayo Akinfenwa.

Morecambe started the game with the sun shining and a strong wind in their favour. However both teams clearly misjudged the force of the wind by constantly over hitting long balls to their respective strikers.

Gils captain Barry Fuller showed everyone in the Arena that he was back from injury by a typical driving run in the opening minutes and smashing the ball over the bar.

Andy Barcham (right) was proving a big handful for the Morecambe defence and Darren Moss in particular. His surging runs were leaving Moss and the Shrimps defence in his wake and on ten minutes he raced into the area only to see his shot well saved by Roche.

The wind was playing havoc with the ball and causing problems to both sets of players. One 25-yard wind assisted cross from Shrimps Mark Duffy sailed over Lance Cronin’s crossbar. Then Lawrence Wilson hit a great dipping shot from 20 yards and, wind assisted, it screamed over the Gills bar.

Danny Spiller was proving effective in a probing midfield role and had a neat shot but it was deflected off defender Paul Scott and Barry Roche, diving the wrong way, managed to twist and save. 

The Gills were clearly the better team in this first period but the goals just didn’t come to enforce their superiority.

First Andy Barcham should have done better when cutting inside the penalty area but he crossed to nobody in particular when perhaps he should have shot. Andy then beat his man again for the umpteenth time and crossed for Cody McDonald to shoot but Shrimps managed to clear off the goal line.

Adebayo Akinfenwa then put Andy Barcham through and he really should have buried the ball into the net when in a great position but his shot was too close to Barry Roche who made another great save.

Andy was upended just outside the penalty box and a Chris Palmer clever free-kick dummy to Danny Spiller brought about another superb save from Barry Roche who tipped Danny’s goal bound shot over the bar.

At half time there were tactical changes from the Morecambe manager Sammy Mcliroy (right) by taking Darren Moss off because of Andy Barcham terrorizing him and replacing with an extra striker, Paul Mullin. Sammy rearranged his defence and reverted to a 4-4-2.

The changes worked as Andy was curtailed somewhat in the second half finding less space and Morecambe looked more solid at the back.

The second period started with Morecambe looking more threatening and in their first attack the sub Paul Mullin headed over from a neat move from possibly Shrimps best chance of the game.

Then came two minutes that changed the game. Adebayo Akinfenwa should have opened the scoring for the Gills but shot right across the goal with Roche out of position and when it was easier to find the net.

A minute later, on the hour mark, came disaster for the Gills as Morecambe took an underserved lead. Mark Duffy got the better of the Gills defensive cover and crossed finding Graig Stanley (left) unmarked. From close in he headed into bottom corner giving Lance Cronin no chance.

It looked that Gills, for all their hard work, were going home with nothing to show for their efforts and were going to be made to pay for missing a host of first half chances.

Manager Andy Hessenthaler sent on Mark McCammon and Luke Rooney as substitutes in an attempt to get at least a draw and a point that their play deserved.

Gills pushed forward and gained two free kicks in quick succession as Morecambe became desperate to stem the tide.

In the second of these set plays Chris Palmer sent a curling ball to the far post and an unmarked Danny Spiller (pictured right) headed in for the Gills deserved equaliser.

In the final minutes of the game Bayo hit a fierce shot but that man Barry Roche was again in the right position to save Morecambe’s point. Gills had one final chance from a corner but substitute Mark McCammon missed a great chance from an inviting cross.

It was certainly a point gained in the end but the travelling Gills fans knew it was two points lost and the long wait for an away win goes on.

Gills: Lance Cronin, Barry Fuller, Mark Bentley, Tony Sinclair, Matt Lawrence, Jack Payne, Chris Palmer, Danny Spiller, Andy Barcham, Cody McDonald, and Adebayo Akinfenwa.

Unused Subs: Alan Julian, John Nutter, Kevin Maher, Mark McCammon, Luke Rooney, Josh Gowling and Stefan Payne.

Morecambe: Barry Roche, Darren Moss (Paul Mullin 46 minutes), Chris McCready, Paul Scott, Andy Parrish, Laurence Wilson, Craig Stanley, Andy Fleming, Mark Duffy, Chris Shuker (Stuart Drummond 66 minutes) and Phil Jevons.

Unused Subs:, Garry Hunter, Stuart Hendry, Laurie Walker, Jim Bentley and James Spencer.

Attendance: 2326 (Gills 150 approx)