Stoke’s season has been built on the back of a series of 1-0 victories and 0-0 draws. If you are a regular football punter at the bookies, then Stoke will have been an excellent source of money for you this season, as betting on 1-0, 0-1 and 0-0 in every one of their matches would have yielded a healthy profit. With this in mind, I was sure that if the Gills could score twice against Stoke’s miserly defence, they would take all three points.
The performance on the night was hugely encouraging. Some excellent passing football, combined with some effective direct play gave Stoke plenty of problems throughout the game. Jay McEveley scored within three minutes of his home debut, while Jon Douglas impressed once again in midfield. But the plaudits should go to a man who’s taken plenty of flak from yours truly this season – Paul Smith.
The skipper has been hugely disappointing over the last two seasons – and it looked very much as if his ability to perform at this level had gradually faded away. But alongside a more youthful-looking midfield, Smith is bouncing back. Playing in a deep-lying role at Elland Road, he was excellent – and was even more impressive at Priestfield against Stoke on Tuesday night.
As well as anchoring the midfield well, he got forward to good effect as well. He also found the confidence to shoot, which is a rarity for him. A couple of speculative strikes flew wide of the goal in the first half, but his strike deep into the second half is probably our goal of the season at the moment. His reaction to the goal was one of both shock and elation. The fans were experiencing the same emotions in the stands too! The skipper has found his form once again under Stan Ternent and should be given credit for his performances of late. We’ve needed a driving force in midfield – and now we have one once again. The additions of Jon Douglas and Mickey Flynn have also added more energy and ability to the centre of the park and we’re seeing the benefit at a crucial stage of the season.
Stan’s also made a huge difference to our defence too. Hope and Cox now look a half-decent centre-half pairing, while the loan signing of Jay McEveley has brought a defender of genuine quality into the club. If only we could sign him full time!
Up front, the influence of Ronnie Jepson can clearly be seen in the transformation of Mama Sidibe. Previously rather more like a headless chicken than a threatening striker, Sidibe is now terrorising defences. The main difference with Mama is there is now an end product – and that end product is creating goals. He was involved in both goals against Wigan at Preistfield and then had a hand in all three of our goals at Millmoor against Rotherham. He was excellent against Leeds, particularly after Henderson’s sending off – and he ran himself into the ground once again on Tuesday night.
Stan Ternent has made crucial improvements to all three areas of the side – and four wins and a draw from our last five matches are the result. Before he arrived at Priestfield, we were dead men walking, but now we’ve every chance of survival. Get to as many matches as you possibly can between now and the end of the season. It’s going to be tight, it’s going to be dramatic, but with Stan at the helm, there’s every chance we’ll do it.