Thetownender2005: Tranmere 2-2 Gillingham

Indeed, Brown was Gillingham’s hero of the first half as he was twice called upon to make up for his defence’s poor man-marking. At the other end however, Gillingham raised their game. After suffering the early loss of Paul Shields through injury, captain for the day Darren Byfield and Neil Harris resumed their strike partnership once again.

The Gills, hindered by the refereeing of Matt Messias at times, were granted a rare free-kick 20 yards from goal. Byfield stepped up to thump the ball home, leaving Tranmere ‘keeper Paul Achterburg a bystander. And the Gills skipper almost put his side in the lead soon after with another free-kick, sadly rattling the bar instead of rippling the net.

Gills boss Neale Cooper kept his side the same after the break, but his troops fell behind again. Chris Greenacre, the in-form striker finished well, finding the right corner of Brown’s goal after the Gillingham defence had had many chances to clear.

However, this didn’t hinder the away side. Byfield had a moment of brilliance after spotting Achterburg off of his line – volleying onto the crossbar again, this time from 25 yards out.

Skipper Byfield’s luck did finally change though – a run into the box ended in a trip, this enough to warrant Messias to point to the penalty spot. He stepped up, stuttered his run-up and sent Achterburg the wrong way to the delight of the 300 person travelling support.

Other chances followed. A quiet Mike Flynn had a free-kick superbly turned over by Achterburg, a man in good form. Matthew Jarvis’ run ended with a good cross to the far post, but Andy Hessenthaler couldn’t add the finishing touch to a knee-high ball.

Cooper shook things up for the final 20 minutes, bringing on Danny Jackman for the hardworking Hessenthaler. However it was Jarvis who came alive, cutting in from the wing only to deliver a weak shot.

Tranmere almost snatched a last gasp win through Jackson’s header that beat Brown, but not the post. A point well deserved for both teams in an entertaining game.

Jason Brown – 7 – Good first half saves left Gills indebt to him

Richard Rose – 6 – Quiet, but solid

Brent Sancho – 7 – Won most in the air, showed good tackling

Leon Johnson – 6 – Heading still a problem, but groundwork was solid

Tom Williams – 6 – Looked a little shaky in first start, but better to come

Andy Hessenthaler – 6 – Very quiet but neat passing in between

Andy Crofts – 6 – Very quiet, anonymous at times

Mike Flynn – 7 – Worked hard, spread play well in second half

Matt Jarvis – 7 – Another who came alive in the second period

Darren Byfield – 9 – Awesome, could have scored 4

Paul Shields – 4 – Off early due to injury

Harris (7) – intelligent passing and Jackman (6) – not long enough to impress

Matt Messias 3/10 – Poor, especially after booking five Gills players in what was a clean game of football. Didn’t book a Tranmere player until the last minute, not even for the penalty was a yellow card seen.