#i check bag policy every time i go to a new stadium!

[miketownsends]

just saw a Jays fan get turned away at security completely baffled bc she couldn’t bring her (large, not-clear) purse in lmaooooo

“it’s my purse! it’s just my purse!”

welcome to the US babes we’ve got mass shootings here sorry!

[morkleemelon]

off the ice || chapter 7: finish strong

previous || m.list || playlist

pairing: college hockey player!mark x college figure skater!reader

genre: fluff, humor, college au, sports au

word count: 5.5k

warnings: swearing

author’s note: it’s finally here, the final chapter :’) I’m both sad and relieved as this is my longest written work ever. huge shout out to my beta readers @skiimmiilk and @writing-frog for sticking with me and making this story SO much better. also, please watch this clip which is the choreography being performed in this chapter. I own none of it or the song it is being performed to! with a full heart, I hope you enjoy chapter 7, finish strong (copyright morkleemelon, all rights reserved)

Soft clusters of snowflakes drift all around, brushed up from their pine-tree-seats, swirling a playful circle around the couple sitting by the lake side before settling in their hair. The early morning cold doesn’t seem to bother them as they sit still, mitten in mitten. It’s picturesque, pristine.

You don’t have to be able to see yourself to know this.

“We should head down to warm up soon,” Mark whispers, cozying into your side.

You hum, leaning your head on his shoulder, feeling the stray snowflakes melt against your cheek. The two of you had come out to your favorite spot to calm your pre-competition nerves, agreeing to stay until the sun reached the tip of the frosted trees. Undoubtedly, from any angle you so choose to look from, that point has been far surpassed and the happy sun beams gold upon the winter landscape.

Bob Ross would have loved this.

“We should,” you agree reluctantly. Giving him a peck on the cheek, Mark shudders at the cold feeling of your lips on his skin. He crinkles his reddened nose, but doesn’t move to stop your second, your third.

Laughter carries across the frozen expanse as the two of you race back to his car.

One hand on the wheel and the other in yours, Mark does his best to strike up different conversations to distract you. You squeeze his hand in appreciation - if anything, he’s the one who should be more nervous for tonight, being a first time performer and a hockey player and all.

You guess it does make sense since he’s used to being in the spotlight all the time, especially from having biweekly games in front of similar crowds. You weren’t exactly a stranger to being in the spotlight either, but the winter festival at Seoul University tends to be a huge commotion, gathering crowds from all around the city. Families, children, recent graduates to senior alumni all come to fill the campus to the brim and there’s no doubt you’ll have quite the audience to impress.

But it’s thanks to Mark that you have fortunately developed a healthy sense of self-confidence, perhaps even enough to convince yourself that there’s a fifty percent chance your performance will go without catastrophe. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll finish the routine without breaking your face in front of 15,000 people.

You managed to sneak a look at the competition sign-ups earlier, and unsurprisingly, are the only participant who will be competing with a non-figure skating partner.

Nonetheless, you study your boyfriend’s face unbeknownst to him. The eyes you grew to love so much, trained on the road in front of him. The slope of his nose and the way it connects to his pouty lips, everything, all the way down to the natural determination rooted in his soul makes you have faith in him despite the disadvantaged odds.

Night after night, practice session after practice session, you worked your butts off to perfect the pair skate choreography the best you could.

After the night that Hillary and her accomplice, Seojung, were caught and sent to jail, the two of you had several deep talks, ultimately vowing to keep no more secrets from each other. Whatever it is, good or bad, you agreed that the other would want to know.

Your relationship flourished as you were no longer held back by your anxieties. Public dates, hockey games, sleeping over at each others’ dorms, you let yourself fall one hundred percent into happiness, unfazed by the rest of the world.

Like a dream, the rest of your life slowly fell into place too.

Yuna is doing a lot better. She’s abandoned the crutches, opting to power walk around in only the boot and cast. Ten follows her around like a puppy, carrying her bag and her crutches in case she ever wants them. You’re so proud of her and you’re really glad she has someone like Ten around to dote on her. Every girl should have a simp.

Lisa and Hope were not happy (to say the least) that they did not get to join the gang at ‘the police station party’. Their words, not yours. Lisa threatened to go to the Seoul Police Department to throw hands with Hillary only to find out the two Lovelee’s presidents have been moved elsewhere, to a more isolated confinement, for ‘bad behavior’.

Not my problem.

The court date approached quickly and the jury ruled the two girls would spend their lives in prison without bail. Additionally, the school dean, more afraid of a lawsuit than anything like student lives, abolished the Lovelees fanclub and updated school policy to criminalize such stalking behavior. The eight of you celebrated the amazing news with lots of champagne (without salt this time) and whilst incredibly tipsy, Jeno told Lisa that he liked her.

You don’t want to get into how loud the screaming was in the suite as Lisa grabbed his face and kissed him. The most efficient thing to do is to reveal what all of you received afterwards: four noise complaints.

Mark pulls into the athletic center lot before you know it. He senses your persisting nervousness and turns towards you, enveloping your other hand in his larger ones.

“You are,” he states, shaking your joined hands up and down with every word, “the most beautiful, wonderful, talented woman I’ve ever met”.

You flush in embarrassment, dropping your gaze, but Mark dips his face down to keep eye-contact. He looks so goofy and you can’t help but laugh.

“I’m serious, babe,” he says through a smile, “nobody else here deserves to win more than you do. You made our choreography all by yourself and even taught me, a guy who can’t make eggs, how to figure skate. We’ll do our very best, y/n, so whatever happens, know that I’m proud of you and I love you very much”.

An ‘aw’ draws from your lips and you lean forward to press them sweetly against his.

People walk past your parked car, but you don’t pay them any notice.

Actually-

“Mark, I think we really have to go warm up”. You motion to the other skaters entering the open stadium doors.

Grabbing all of your gear, the two of you rush inside to start warming up.

“There are eight pairs and we’re going fifth,” you report to Mark, checking the performance schedule expertly.

“Uh, okay. Yes… is that good?”.

“It’s whatever. We just need to show the audience everything we have,” you say while smushing his cheeks in between your palms.

“Okay”. His voice comes out adorably from his face being sandwiched in your hands.

Other skaters look on judgmentally, but you stare calmly back until they look away. The music from the routine of the current skaters on the ice ends.

“Calling pair five, Mark Lee and y/n to the ice for rehearsal. Mark Lee and y/n to the ice for rehearsal,” the overhead announcer repeats.

“That’s us”. You take a deep breath and grab Mark’s hand. He gives you a reassuring squeeze as you skate out from the benches onto the ice.

It’s only a rehearsal, so only a few people, coaches and other skaters, were watching. Even so, you blink nervously as you run through the routine in your head.

“Are you ready?,” Mark questions with a smile, pulling you into the starting position. Your heart races against your chest, but you take a deep breath to calm it down. After everything you’ve been through, this is not the hill you’ll die on.

“I’m ready”. You nod to the staff members and the familiar tune fills the stadium.

It’s a song that Mark picked out himself. It’s ‘his contribution’ to the group project as he joked when you were contemplating your music choice. Playing the simple song on his phone, one earbud for you and the other for him, he explained that it says everything that he feels for you. And it’s absolutely perfect.

“Twenty minutes and you’re up, group five! Please be on stand-by,” a staff member peeps her head into the locker room as you touch up your hair and makeup.

All around you, skaters bustle around, frantically stitching last-minute sequins back on their dresses or brushing on copious amounts of blush, surely to stand out to even those seated in the back row.

Pair four is about to go out on the ice, meaning you’ll be out there before you know it.

Mark is in the men’s locker room, of course. He must feel odd being the only one there right now. You texted him asking if he needed help with his costume, but he insisted he’d handle it just fine. It’s more you worrying than anything.

Taking your hundredth yoga breath of the day, you peer into your reflection in the water-stained mirror. Your long, dark hair is half-up and half-down - loose enough to flow with your skating, but also pinned back so you don’t completely choke on it. Natural makeup adorns your eyes and lips. It’s a much different look than what’d you’d usually go for when skating, but after a lot of careful consideration, it would be much more meaningful both to the performance and to you to go out like this.

Your dress is a stunning royal red. After Uncle Joe told your parents about the competition, they all chipped in to buy it for you to wear tonight. You insisted that it was okay, that it was far too expensive and you could just wear your old one especially since money is so tight, but they wouldn’t let you get another word in.

So now it’s on your body with the price tag cut off. You trace a finger over the intricate sequins of the bodice down to the flowy silk skirt. Trusty white skates already laced up, it’s time to go out and meet Mark.

You start to make your way into the hall.

“Hey y/n, you’re getting a call,” one of the other skaters calls out.

Stopping in your tracks, you hop awkwardly back in your skates, thanking her as you grab your phone from her outstretched hand.

It’s a Facetime call from Yuna.

You pick it up, the screen skipping a few times as the signal struggles to connect.

“y/n!”. Metallic voices on the other side come out distorted and the images are no higher quality than 240p at best, but you recognize instantly that your closest friends are all there sitting in the bleachers.

“y/n, you look so beautiful! Are you next?,” Lisa calls over the other voices.

“No, there’s someone going now, but Mark and I will be right after,” you reply, a smile blooming across your face.

“Markos! Markos! Markos!,” the boys start chanting, evicting laughter from your chest.

“y/n your parents are here too! And Uncle Joe”. The camera pans around, revealing the blurry faces of said loved ones.

“No way! Mom? Dad? Joe?,” you gasp, “how’d you come all the way out here?”.

“Honey!,” your mother greets, beaming at the camera, “of course we came! You worked so hard, your friends have been telling me all about it!”

“And we want to meet this Mark boy too,” your father adds.

You scoff, rolling your eyes playfully.

“You’re a good one, kiddo,” Joe chimes in, “and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing something spectacular tonight. From the skating I’ve seen so far, you won’t have much trouble at all getting that prize-”

“Joe!,” you hush, “I’m still in the locker room! Don’t say that!”.

Looking around nervously, thankfully nobody seems to have heard Uncle Joe’s criticism.

“Listen everyone, thank you so much for coming tonight, it means the world to me. We’ll definitely talk after, but for now, I really gotta go”.

“Okay babe, just wanted to let you know we’re all rooting for you!”. Yuna pulls the camera back to reveal everyone cheering and waving to you. Your heart tingles with butterflies at the gesture. “You’re gonna kill it tonight! Love you!”.

Relaying your affections back, you hang up the call and head out into the hall.

It’s dark. All the lights have been turned off for the sake of the icy stage to stand out more. The curtain less windows provide almost no illumination due to the winter evening nature.

Through the wall, you can hear roaring applause greeting the fourth pair of skaters as they enter the ice. The whole university and more must be here by the sound of it.

“y/n”. Mark’s voice guides your eyes to your right. Squinting through the dark, his familiar form approaches out of the shadows.

“Mark,” you greet back quietly, resting a hand on his arm.

Even in this lighting, your breath draws thin at his appearance. His blonde hair is slicked back instead of tousled in a cute fringe like you’re used to. It’s nothing crazy, but it somehow changes his vibe completely. Your hand feels at his billowy white shirt, tucked neatly into black pants.

“Okay, keep looking at me like this and we’re not making it out there,” Mark mumbles under his breath, smirking slightly as a few stagehands pass by.

You remove your hand only to smack him in the same spot.

“Shut up”

“You love me”

“Yeah, and?”

His familiar giggles tickle your ears.

“Are you Mark and y/n? Pair five?,” a staff member interrupts.

“Oh, yes, that’s us”

“Please head down this way to be on standby. When it’s your time to enter, there will be someone at the gate to usher you in”

“Okay, thank you”. Slipping your hand into Mark’s, the two of you hobble in the direction of the rink entrance. It’s nerve-wracking, but the feeling is so easy to ignore when you’re together with him.

The music of the current performance becomes suddenly louder as you open the door to enter the main part of the stadium. From where you stand (in a random corner by the bleachers), thousands of audience members fill the stands.

The pair on the ice dance together playfully to their energetic piece. Your two teammates, you recognize.

“They’re really good,” you breathe, watching them spin oh-so-synchronously together without missing a beat.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t be good too,” Mark states matter-of-factly. You look up at him to meet his gaze, giving his hand a small squeeze in agreement. “And now is as good a time as ever to tell you that I was- and I’m not shitting you- I was standing right here when I saw you for the first time”.

“What?”. You look around at the dark underside of the rink bleachers. The best two adjectives to use for a place like this are ‘dank’ and ‘gross’.

“Yes, I know. Fall of last year, you were practicing at night and I came to do drills. I saw you here and… that was it for me. I dropped my bag and you turned towards me so I completely panicked. I ran away and couldn’t grow the balls to ask you out for a whole year. That’s the truth”.

Mark’s expression is oh so cutely shy and it makes you curl your toes in your skates.

“You complete loser,” you gush over the music, “You should have stayed, asked me out right then and there. Then we would’ve had an extra year together”.

“You’re right,” Mark groans into his hands jokingly. He spreads his fingers to peer through their gap. “But what’s one year of forever, right?”.

“What’s one year of forever,” you echo.

Applause erupts from above you as the skaters finish their routine. The announcer goes over the rules for voting once more, sending them off as they exit the ice.

“Group five, you’re on next. When they announce your names, you’re gonna go through this gate here and when you’re ready, they’re gonna start the music. Any concerns?,” the staff member directs.

“No, thank you,” the two of you shake your heads.

“Okay, this is it,” you state. It’s unclear if it’s directed to yourself or for Mark. In all honesty, it’s to the world.

“This is just one thing, y/n. It’s just one of the many things we’re gonna do together. Let’s just do it how we always do”

He’s always right.

“And now, please welcome our next skaters, sophomore, y/n and her partner, junior, Mark Lee!’.

In the matter of seconds, you’re out of the dark and hit with blinding spotlights from every direction.

Your own thoughts drown out as unseen crowds past the light roar animatedly at your arrival. Raising your arms in the air, hand still laced with Mark’s, the two of you circle around the ice to greet the audience.

“Holy shit, I didn’t get a good look earlier, but y/n, this dress…” Mark remarks, eyes glued on your figure.

“I look beautiful,” you confirm confidently as you stop naturally in the center of the ice. “Are you ready?”.

It’s always like this, rapid fire. As nervous as you are, it's time to go.

Inhaling and exhaling deeply, the junior hockey captain moves into the starting position.

“I’m always ready for you”

And just like that, the soft strumming of guitar chords overcome the audience ruckus and all you can see is the man in front of you.

I found a love for me

Oh darling, just dive right in and follow my lead

Well, I found a girl, beautiful and sweet

Oh, I never knew you were the someone waiting for me

Your bodies move on autopilot, muscle memory from countless nights of practice amounting to the flawless execution of your first lift. His hands are strong against your body and you put your full trust in him to catch you every time. The crowd could be screaming right now and you wouldn’t hear it, only focusing on how much the lyrics of this song mean to you.

‘Cause we were just kids when we fell in love

Not knowing what it was

I will not give you up this time

But darling, just kiss me slow, your heart is all I own

And in your eyes, you're holding mine

You dance in unison, your bodies so familiar with each other. Jumping easily into his arms, you know he can see the love in your eyes as he holds on to balance you by your waist. Hair billowing in the breeze created by your movement, Mark improvises to tuck it back behind your ear.

Baby, I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms

Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song

When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath

But you heard it, darling, you look perfect tonight

Well I found a woman, stronger than anyone I know

She shares my dreams, I hope that someday I'll share her home

I found a love, to carry more than just my secrets

To carry love, to carry children of our own

This is the man you want to spend the rest of your life with.

We are still kids, but we're so in love

Fighting against all odds

I know we'll be alright this time

Darling, just hold my hand

Be my girl, I'll be your man

I see my future in your eyes

And somehow, by the luckiest of stars, he wants to spend the rest of his with you too.

Baby, I'm dancing in the dark, with you between my arms

Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song

When I saw you in that dress, looking so beautiful

I don't deserve this, darling, you look perfect tonight

The song winds down and you express every ounce of romance you have for everyone to see. The two of you aren’t aware, but everyone in the stadium is silent with awe.

Baby, I'm dancing in the dark, with you between my arms

Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song

I have faith in what I see

Now I know I have met an angel in person

And she looks perfect

I don't deserve this

You look perfect tonight

Completely in a trance, the world fades back into your awareness as you kneel down across from each other, out of breath. Mark’s eyes sparkle like stars under the lights and he brings you in for a kiss. You’re exhausted, but you stand and melt into his hug, hardly noticing the standing ovations from all around.

Roses, plushies, and paper planes come raining down. You pull away beaming, heart bursting with joy. Hand-in-hand, you take a bow, waving to the crowd as you catch your breath.

“y/n, you were so amazing,” Mark exemplifies as the two of you exit the ice. Everything passed by so fast. Months of hard work and roller coaster emotions accumulated to the last five minutes, over before you knew it.

“Me? Look at you, mister hockey. I’m so amazed at you,” you commend.

As you enter the hall again, you are met with congratulations and praise from teammates and Mark’s many admirers. Although the Lovelee’s may have been banished already, the crowd of cooing girls never went away.

“You were so good, Mark”

“Yeah, totally, Mark. That was so hot”

Your day was far too great for you to be annoyed at their blunt flirtatious attempts (despite your obvious presence by his side). Before Mark could muster out a flustered ‘thank you’, you decide to rip off the band aid.

“He says thank you!”

With no intention of hearing their replies, you lead him further down to where your friends told you they’d be to meet you.

“y/n”. Coach Tanya makes herself known.

“Coach!”. You bow to her.

Much to your surprise, when you come up, the older woman pulls you into a firm hug. Your shock is apparent at the warm gesture and you hesitate before hugging her back. Never has she ever expressed anything more than terse compliments to you before. This is like drinking ice water on a hot day.

“That was absolutely excellent, y/n,” Tanya pulls away to shake hands with your boyfriend, “and you, Mark is it? You were wonderful for a beginner”.

“Thank you ma’am”. He nods politely.

“But y/n,” your coach turns back to you, “I am stunned at your artistry. The emotion, the technique, you’re one of my best. How would you like to go to nationals in the spring?”.

Your hand shoots up to cover your gaping mouth. Tears spring to your eyes and you nod vigorously to confirm your obvious answer to Tanya’s question.

“No way!” Yuna’s voice sounds from behind your coach’s figure. The blonde emerges shortly after, followed quickly by the rest of the gang. The boys waste no time in tackling Mark with congratulations and sharp jabs at his ‘dumbass’ hairstyle.

“You’re here!”. You wrap your best friend in an excited hug. “Coach is sending me to nationals!”. Lisa and Hope join in squealing as the four of you hop up and down at the news.

Tanya chuckles at the scene, “Yes, indeed. And it looks like you’re getting a lot better, Yuna. That’s a relief”.

“I don’t care what the doctor says, I’m gonna make sure I’m on the ice again one day,” Yuna attests.

Coach Tanya leaves you to celebrate as your parents and Uncle Joe come bearing flowers. Many pictures and one uncomfortable interrogation from your parents for Mark later, you get changed and go out to enjoy the rest of the winter festival with your friends.

The results of the competition are to be announced at the end of the night and you elect to not worry about the outcome. What you’ve earned from this journey is more than money could buy. Anything that happens after… happens. You’ll always find a way to make it through and have a great time doing it too.

All bundled up, you hop around the food trucks lining the city streets. Every restaurant in Seoul seemingly sent all their best foods for the festival: spicy rice cakes and burgers to lava cakes and hot cocoa. Live music creates a perfect ambiance to take away all the tension from the day.

The night sky is pitch black, but the whole city campus bustles with life. You swear you’ve seen this exact scenery in a Hallmark Christmas movie - all the cars and buildings wear their fluffy white snow caps, the sparkle of fairy lights in trees reflecting off their glass windows. Nobody cut the cameras because it’s pure magic.

“Guys they’re having fireworks on the roof of the science building. We can watch them announce the competition winners from there too, let’s go!,” Haechan pleads with a mouth full of steaming fish cakes.

“What do you say, you want to?,” Mark asks you, brushing a bit of sauce off the corner of your mouth with his thumb.

“Sounds great,” you smile. Fireworks are always a win.

You weave your way through the crowded street together, heading up the hidden stairwell only students would know to reach the designated rooftop. The whole time you can’t help but let your eyes linger on Jeno and Lisa’s interlocked fingers. The sight sure brings a smirk to your face, but man are you not used to it.

Mark notices your fixed gaze, following it to the odd couple’s joined hands. Snickering, he nudges you to stop staring.

“Sorry, it’s just so… unexpected,” you whisper to him as you head towards the rooftop railing to overlook the campus.

“I know, I didn’t see it coming either,” Mark agrees, tossing an arm over your shoulders as you moon over the breathtaking city line. Your breath makes clouds in the cold, winter air, but you feel warm as ever inside.

Out in the horizon, each blinking, twinkling light is a person living their life. Thousands of stories all at once, blissfully unique and their own. They’re different colors and intensities, some are from windows and some from cars. Overhead, an airplane soars on by. In reality, they’re moving at an incredible speed. But from where you admire, the little red wing lights inch on by, slow to leave your sight.

The world is full, so full. What looks like a tiny red light is a plane full of people and what must look like a speck of gold to them is the whole city of Seoul gathered together. Everything is different when you understand perspective, you realize, and it becomes so much more meaningful.

“Hey, I think that’s the dean! He’s gonna announce the winners of the skating competition!,” Hope taps you excitedly from your other side.

“Oh my god it’s happening”. You grab her hand and shake it around.

Mark’s grip tightens around you as the Seoul University dean steps in front of a podium set up in the school yard. A crowd gathers around, excited whispers travelling all the way up to your rooftop perch. The microphone screeches with feedback causing everyone to groan and cover their ears.

“Sounds like Haechan’s singing voice,” Mark whispers under his breath.

“I heard that!,” the younger boy retorts indignantly. You bite back your laughter as the dean begins to speak.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming out this cold night to celebrate what Seoul University is about: unity and…,”

“Blah blah blah - tell us who won!,” Yuna whisper-yells, exasperated.

“You’re so hot when you’re bratty,” Ten coos.

“I know”.

This couple I swear. I’m trying to be nervous, but I can’t even do that when I’m laughing.

“... first annual skating competition here at Seoul University. Our students not only excel in academics, but hold a variety of astounding talents as you folks may have seen tonight at the University rink. Each student did a phenomenal job preparing for this competition, so let’s give a round of applause for all the skaters who performed tonight and the staff who made it happen!”

You clap your hands together nervously, bouncing slightly at the knee to fight the cold.

“One pair, by your vote, will be winning a grand prize of ten thousand dollars for their exceptional performance. After I announce the winners, we will wrap up the night with our famous annual firework show!”.

The crowd whoops and cheers excitedly.

“Without further ado, by popular vote, the winners of the first annual Seoul University skating competition are…,” the dean slits open a closed envelope, unfurling the contained page with excruciating tardiness. Pausing for dramatic effect, the excitement builds in the air, “y/n and Mark Lee!”.

Your names ring triumphantly through the whole city as you’re immediately crushed by seven hugs. The festival-goers roar in congratulations and you can’t hold back the tears of joy that spring into your eyes. Jumping up and down, your friends surround you in a cocoon of screaming and yelling.

Mark snatches you up, pulling you into his arms and twirling you around. Pressing a frenzy of kisses all over your face, you squeal in disbelief as he sets you down.

“You did it!,” he yells, sandwiching your cheeks between his hands.

“No, WE did it!,” you yell back, jumping up and hugging him close. Your friends waste no time to shuffle into a group hug, enveloping you like a love-flavored bao.

“y/n! No fucking way! Actually, we all saw it coming,” Yuna smacks your butt as an I-told-you-so gesture. You don’t even mind right now.

“I can’t believe it,” you cry into Mark’s fuzzy, black coat, “I can’t believe it. I- this means I can come back to school next semester”.

“Hell fucking yeah you can,” Haechan whoops.

The freezing air is knocked out of your body as a firework cracks across the sky, the booming sound resonating deep in your bones. Everyone’s attention is turned towards the brilliant shower of purples and pinks as they light up the darkened sky.

Mark sets you down, swiping his sleeves carefully over your cheeks to catch your fallen tears.

“My baby, always crying,” he jokes softly. You breathe out a short laugh as you sniff down your running nose. “But they’re happy tears, right?”.

“The happiest,” you nod, resting your ear to his chest as the two of you marvel at the shimmering sky. An especially big firework sets off, smaller ones following all around, drawing awed gasps from all who see.

“I love you,” you mumble.

“I love you too,” Mark hushes into your hair.

“I love this. I love today. I love this school. I love Yuna. I love Hope. I love Lisa. I love Jeno and Haechan. I love my parents and Uncle Joe. I love Coach Tanya and I love skating”.

You pause your rapid-fire declaration as you turn to face him. In his eyes, you can see the whole firework show.

“I love these fireworks and I love everyone who came to see us skate. I loved meeting you all those months ago by the basketball courts and I loved getting hit on at Yangyang’s party so we had our almost-first kiss by the lake”. You choke back a happy sob as you continue.

Mark has his eyes closed with a wide smile spread across his lips as he recollects the memories.

“I love going to church with you and I love when you pick me up from work. I love how you always zip up my jacket without asking and how you never wake me up early in the mornings because you know how much I hate it. You’re always there for me, Mark Lee”.

Fresh tears dribble down your chin and although he remains in pensive silence, shining streaks adorn his face too. You don’t notice it, but your friends have stepped back to let you have a private moment.

“Oh, y/n”. Mark’s voice comes out thick, swallowing back tears. His hand caresses at your face and it’s ever so warm. Moments pass before he’s able to continue. “Always”.

And you don’t need a fairy tale narrator to tell you that his promise is true for you to believe it with your whole heart. You’re here with him, fireworks all around, and it’s as true as the plane in the sky and the lights in the horizon.

You’re surrounded by friends, new and old, and most importantly, friends who are here to stick around.

You were wrong in the beginning: this wasn’t a story about how two souls come together.

It wasn’t only two, you see. It was you and Mark and all your friends and the professors you say ‘thank you’ to after class and the man who sells you green tea in the morning. It’s your parents and Uncle Joe and the stranger girl who fell in love with your skating tonight, sure to beg her parents for a pair of skates. The first of many.

It’s all of them and so much more.

And god, you’re so in love with who they’ve shaped you to be.

[empressxmachina]

by Imperial-Radiance (aka me)

     "Damn, I can't believe I haven't been ambushed, yet. It's a good thing I planned ahead because, whew, that's rough."

    The day had finally come for one of the biggest games of the year - not the Championship and not Nationals, but the rivalry gridiron game of the season. Of course, it was all in fun, but the heat and intensity of all the fans were always at their peaks during these games, especially since the two schools were relatively close to each other. 

    Madeline, or Madi as her friends and family referred to her as such, had already had the experience of what these games were like, but she and the rest of the people there representing her Kingston University Royals were even more happily hyped as they demolished their rivals in score, and she wasn't even on the sidelines to see it.

    Madi and her twin sister Caroline had been the best of friends since birth, and the only time they had ever separated in their lives was their choice of schools. Once diverged, their number of similarities decreased from there, but despite being away from each other, they maintained to share a few commonalities like major choice, clubs, GPA, and more. However, the one main difference that had resulted in Madi running in a panic right to her sister in the middle of the game was Cari's sudden relapse.

Read more on DA, or...

   She was so relieved that her coach was so understanding to let her go and care for her, but the time it took for Cari to return to some sort of stability using her specialized health kit was a lot more than she wanted.

   "The things I do for my sister," Madi sighed, trying to hustle back to her team's temporary locker room to change back into her cheerleading uniform before getting back on the bus to return to her own school. "I'm glad that I got it to her in time. But, God, I am not living for this insanity!"

   While the cheers of the Royals could've been heard from Cari's dorm room as they won and Madi tended to Cari's needs, the groans and yells from the Nash U. Knights' majority surrounding her on all sides and the reputation they had whenever they lost were things that she didn't want to experience firsthand, especially after barely making it out alive after their last clash on her own campus. As soon as Cari kicked her out to care for herself rather than call for help - the immense pride the sisters had was always their downfall - Madi found herself in the eye of an accumulating storm of brawling and spats.

   Only by the grace of God, her sport-influenced speed, and her non-school-affiliated sweats worn over her uniform, she made it back to the stadium's public but reserved, empty, co-ed locker room unscathed, practically collapsing on a bench in exhaustion.

   "Oh, thank God!" she panted, setting a hand on her side and the other over her heart, slipping her backpack off herself onto the floor. "I, uh, better get out of here before some nasty Nashers barge in on me or something. But, why did Coach have to make that cursed policy of having to be in full uniform during all parts of travel? Is she trying to kill me!?"

   With a groan, she stood up, getting ready to disrobe her casual wear until she suddenly felt how dry her throat had become and how tired she was. She was about to go look for a water fountain until she remembered the unopened can of soda she had grabbed from the squad's cooler while they were taking a cheer break. Unfortunately, the jostling of the bag as she ran to and from her sister didn't come to mind, resulting in it exploding upon opening.

   "Oh. Oh, God!" Madi exclaimed, stammering from the flow of carbonation shooting onto her face, the rest of her body, and the floor. "St-Stop! Jeez!" The amount of liquid in and on her person eventually built up to the point where she was coughing some of it out and her hand was too slippery to maintain a grip on the can, causing her to drop it. The spray of soda spread to lower levels of her clothes and doused her backpack before crashing and fizzling out on the floor where the can broke in two on impact. "Shoot, I need to get this mess up, or the school's going to get charged. Wait, my uniform!"

   Trying to juggle two problems at once, Madi took off her sweatshirt and pants as quickly as possible and threw them onto the elongating puddle on the floor before running to a sink to dab the not-as-large stains on her uniform with water. As she focused on her clothing, she was unaware of the growing stickiness and hardening of the soda on her exposed skin and hair. Taking a shower occurred nearly every night, anyway, but having to go into the strenuous and lengthy routine that was treating, washing, and drying her uniform was something that she hoped wouldn't have to happen.

   She had gotten to the point where visible stains on her clothes had faded to half of their previous intensity when the familiar sound of a notification chirping from her phone reached her ears. Knowing how late she was and figuring that her team was probably worried about her, she cut off the sink faucet and ran for it. When she returned to her stuff, she was happy that her clothes were doing what she had wanted - absorb as much of the spilled drink as they could. Much of the liquid mess had retreated into the fabric. Still, seeing how the list of fabrics also included her bag wasn't relieving, bringing another sigh out of her as she grabbed and shook her phone that was poking out of a shallow, brown pool like a rock in a mud puddle.

   Remembering how the captain of the team tended to snap at some of the smallest issues, Madi hesitated at unlocking her phone to see her new message. But, she was a big girl, and if she wanted any chance at possibly being a leader next year or a front-row starter at Nationals, then she was going to have to answer, and so she did. However, the message she read had only little to do with her as it had been sent to the entire team.

   "Huh? A recall?" she read, confused and worried. "'Due to adverse effects in direct correlation to being exposed to the following drinks, DO NOT CONSUME THEM.' Well, that's not ominous at all. Another health scare, oh boy!" Madi started simply going back to cleaning herself until she thought about the drink company and expiration dates in the text. "Wait, my drink doesn't apply to that, right? I didn't drink my soda since it fucking-erupted on me, but it said just 'being exposed' was an issue. Hmm."

   She turned back to the mess on the floor, and after looking at the can fragments, she felt that something was off.  Nevertheless, she went for the bottom half of the can to check its information. Its size seemed much larger than what she remembered when opening it – looking more like the 12-ounce size rather than the 7.5 fluid ounce type that she could've sworn she picked up – but the labeling was a greater concern because it fit right into the drink batches in question. However, as soon as Madi made her realization, she found herself on the floor, putting all her hard stain removal work in the trash as she fell face first into a soda stream and darkness.

   When Madeline and Caroline were younger, they and their family would frequent to the lake that a family friend of theirs had property on. Each visit was lovely, except for the one where the twins were a bit too confident in their swimming skills and drifted too long and far into the lake. Madi couldn't forget the feeling of water filling every orifice more and more as her appendages gave out over time and the heavy coughing that tested her lungs as their father swooped them back up above the surface to receive air once again. She imagined that Cari had similar experiences, but they had never discussed it - the memories were too bad.

   So, why was she thinking of them now?

   Madi's vision faded in from black as light reached her eyes once again, but in conjunction with the light, a sensation of liquid also came to her, flowing into her slightly open mouth, a nostril, and an ear as a surprise, forcing herself to pop out of lethargy and raise up to breathe. As her sights cleared, she could feel wetness falling from her head, down her curves, and into what felt like a sticky lake around and beneath her. Gumminess and saturation in all her orifices were two feelings that she never wanted to have, and her outfit now being painted in a shade like the fluid surrounding her and stuck to her skin like latex, along with almost drowning, only made it worse.

   "What the hell is this?" Madi screamed, throwing her hands up and down, rippling the aqua around her upon impact. By doing so, she became aware of how heavy all her muscles felt - each one needing more force than usual to move - as if she had been in a twenty-four practice... or trying to keep from drowning. "Where even am I!?"

   To figure out her location, she looked around, only to find blurry white as far as her eyes could see, except for the dirty collection in which she sat. This was something she only saw in movies and creepypastas, and it got her terrified, not knowing where to go or what to do - sitting in a blank, unknown, quiet room alone, almost. It was almost quiet, except for the sloshing noises that her movements made and a faint bubbling that couldn't have been too far from her.

   Madi searched for its source, running her hands through the dark goop and feeling around or anything out of the ordinary. When she detected nothing, she decided to trudge toward the sound, not bothering to stand up as he figured that she would just fall back down. So, she got on all fours and began to crawl.

   With each movement, she could see her optics slowly improve, introducing more and more colors and shapes into view. However, her good news was countered by the difficulty of dragging through the murky goop, comparable to those barbed wire mud crawls she saw soldiers do in a documentary once. As much as she wanted to quit, she knew that locating the sounds were more important, and so she persevered. In not too long of a lumber, she found the origin of the bubbling - her submerged phone vibrating and blinking below the brown surface.

   "What the-? This still works?" she questioned in utter shock.

   Pulling her cellular device out into open air, through the strain it took to do so, Madi saw that the waterproof case she had on it stood up to its claims, along with the tens of messages from her coaches and squad family asking where she was and if she was okay. It devastated her to know how so many people were worried about her, but she was even broken by the fact that her hands were so gluey that she couldn't make precise movements on its screen to respond to them that she was at least alive. Each touch appeared to open every app she wasn't trying to interact with, thus frustrating her to no end. She only had a brief calm when the camera application open, and only a brief calm it was.

   The back camera was on, and through it, she saw that her eyesight had returned to normalcy, seeing her pile of sweats and bag in the distance as she had left them. She sighed in bittersweet relief, understanding that she was still in a Nash University locker room like before. However, she noticed how they appeared to be farther away from both herself and each other than what she last remembered as well as the lockers, floor tiles, and bench being much wider and/or taller, almost comedically large. Intrigued, Madi turned off the camera and chose to look at the bench at her side for herself, just to then find herself awestruck and lock-jawed at not only a wooden bench that seemed to tower over and overshadow her like a building but also a not-as-high yet still twice her sitting height, sliced, metal, hollow cylinder in front of her with jagged edges that could make her bleed infinitely and the same brown slop streaming from it into the pool around her.

   It didn't take long for her to realize the truth, looking back and forth to other spectacles of the room - the other half of the cylinder behind her also pouring liquid, the skyscraping and never-ending lines of lockers, the heavenly white lights way up high, and the walls that seemed impossible to reach no matter how far or quickly she ran - but she just didn't want to believe it.

   "This is some sci-fi shit," Madi mumbled to herself. "There's no way I've... freaking shrunk. How in the-?" She paused her questioning when she remembered the one cryptic message she had received earlier that evening and looked at its reference - the colossal can, taunting her with its girth. "Youdid this!" she yelled at the metal container with a shaken voice, frightened at how in this wide, empty room, her voice neither carried nor echoed at her dimensions. "No wonder there's a fucking recall! This is literal chemical warfare! What the hell!?"

   With the recall in mind, she could only hope that no one else had been affected by it, especially with a whole school full of enraged Knights stomping around. After all, how else would they have known about it, in the first place? But, Madi tried to keep a relatively cool head, hoping by the grace of God that she was the only one, even though there was much greater chance that anyone else would've had someone nearby to care for them in her scenario. Would she ever be that lucky?

   "What do I do?" she wondered, analyzing the situation. "I can't move. My everything hurts. I barely know my way out of here, if I can even get there without passing out, getting lost, or worse."

   Her sentence nearly faltered as she started visualizing the most terrible scenarios, all of which a Nash Knight of any age finding her, a cup-sized K.U. cheerleader, or them coming across her unknowingly, perhaps even literally. Each idea brought its own chills down her spine.

   “I'm totally screwed!" she continued. "The only things I can do are speak and hear, I guess, but who knows how well those would do against a 'normal-sized' person."

   Though, after saying her somewhat positive qualities aloud, she gained a bit of hope and curiosity, looking down at the phone in her hand.

    "Yet, this thing is small as hell, and it still works," she regarded, rubbing a syrupy finger across the screen and seeing how it was more responsive than before, perhaps calibrating to her new touch and feel. "There is no logical reason, I think, that this thing should still have a signal or a working battery, and yet it does! It can't hurt to call for help, but if I can even get through, who do I call?"

   Looking at her contacts, scrolling down the page to the best of her ability, Madi juggled who would be the best choice. Her ICE numbers were her parents and Cari, but with Cari needing to heal on her own and their parents being far away, none of them would be able to get to her before it got dangerous. Her next choices were anyone on her squad and the coaches. They had already shown their unease toward her absence, so it would make sense for them to want to help her in her time of need. However, as she only listed full names of people in the list without prefixes, titles, or grouping, she would have to go at least halfway through before reaching one of them.

   "Jeez, did every single cheerleader this year have to have a name that starts after M!?" she moaned, failing time and time again to use the letter quick scroll on the side of the screen, eventually resorting to flicking her thumbs and indexes to go down the hundreds of numbers, email addresses, and names.      

   As the list grew longer, her fingers became pained, and her head starting to go dizzy, not able to take in so much changing information and action at once as well as her viscid finger pads only allowing bits of movement at a time. So, she had to stop at some point to work out the kinks in her hands. However, when she did, she wasn't aware of where her fingers landed and how they had started a dial tone. It was only when a familiar voice broke the silence did she comprehend that her prospects had come true, even if the way of doing so was unexpected.

   "H-Hello?" a disembodied male voice called out through what sounded like a party. Madi gasped, knowing only a few people that could be that orotund in a crowd but only one with a voice like that. She looked down at her cell and thanked God at the name on its screen. "Madi, are you there?"

   "Yes? Yes, I'm here!" Madi tried to answer back through tears, nearly dropping the phone in anticipation and excitement. "P-Please tell me you can hear me. Please."

   "Uh, yeah. You're coming in fine on my end, even through the craziness on this bus." Madi had to hold back crying out loud from happiness, even though she wanted to express it.

   "Oh, thank God! I honestly can't believe I reached you. Are you nearby?"

   She figured that with nearly a hundred players on the team, including him, and them constantly giving their hardest and being switched in and out during the game for as much as she could remember and hear from Cari's room, that it would take a lot of time for them and the squad to reenergize, grab food, and re-board the buses to go back to the Kingdom aka K.U.'s main campus.

   However, her interlocutor then lowered her sentiments when he continued, "Uh, I'd say 'close' is pretty dependent on where you are. I mean, the team and I are still in the parking lot, but we're going to be heading off soon. Why do you ask? We're all going to end up back at K.U., right? Did something happen to y'all or the bus?"

   Madi realized that the squad's coach bus must've already left. It was the tradition for the cheerleaders to return first to join the JV and smaller squads that were already on campus to support the team, win or lose, but she didn't think they'd just leave without her.

   "Uh, I don't think so?" That was all she could say about them, considering that she wasn't there to know for sure. "I hope not, or do I? I don't know."

   "What's with the lack of clarity? That's not like you." Madi couldn't help but agree. However, it was all that she could be. Nothing was going right or making sense. "What's wrong?"

   There was so much that Madi could say, and she knew that explaining her body issue would've probably been the most logical thing to describe, but there was no way that he would believe her. So, she went on a just-as-true but somewhat indirect route.

   "I-I'm not on the bus?" she admitted lowly.

   "What!?" her friend yelled, most likely being the cause of the quieting background noise. In a more hushed tone, he resumed, "Why? Where are you, then?"

   "I'm in the NU locker room, and I can't move."

   "You can't? They're not keeping you hostage over one loss out of, like, eight games so far, are they?" he asked in a whisper-shout. "No one hurt you, right?"

   "No," Madi replied bluntly. "No one's here, but there's nothing to stop them from doing so if someone does show up. I came in here a while ago, but I passed out, and I'm just coming to." Explaining the horrific doings and possibilities raised Madi's already-high stress levels even higher, and she had to pause to compose herself. "No one touched me, but it sure feels like someone did."

   After saying that, the other side of the call went coldly silent. Madi prayed that the call didn't drop, and she was too scared to look on the phone and check for herself.

   "Jake? You're still there, right?” she tried worriedly.

   A few seconds passed before the man, Jake, answered back,

   “Yeah, I'm here. I'm just moving stuff out of my way. I didn't think I'd have to go back to the front of the bus until we got back, but here I am doing just that. I’ve got to let the coaches know about you, girly - mine and yours. We may need some backup going back on that cursed ground."

   "Wait, what?" Madi cried, not expecting Jake to tell someone. "No, no! Don't tell anyone about this! That's just asking for trouble!"

   "How is a search party for you more dangerous than me going in alone? Sure, a coach makes the plays, but the players do them, and I don't think the one player that scored the turning point of the game that led to their ultimate demise should go in alone on rival turf."

   On one hand, Madi felt that his thought was selfish, but she also understood what he was saying on the other. She hadn’t thought about what would happen after Jake or someone else found her as she was, but having more people dealing with her, especially those she didn't know or trust, was just something that she didn't want.

   "Plus, you know there are, like, five locker rooms in the proximity of the stadium, right?" Jake continued. "You never said which one you were in, so more people looking would make finding you a lot easier."

   "Don't sass me with your valid logic! Jake, I'm having a crisis right now!" Madi shut him down before breaking down herself. "Jackson, please. With everyone I know, and everyone that must deal with me, why would I call you of all people first if I didn't need you and only you?" Of course, she knew him being her callee was a lucky coincidence, but she would never admit that. Her argument was too good.

   It proved to be true as Madi was met with another silence before sighing broke through the phone,

   “Madi, you better be in some deep shit, because I'm not going to risk myself getting suspended for basic pettiness."

   "I swear that this is as real as it gets, as much as I don't want to believe it, myself," she promised tautly. "I can't do this on my own. I'm scared."

   "Don't be. I'm coming for you," Jake assured with a smoky tinge. "Just sit tight unless you have no other choice, and I'll find you."

   "Please do."

   And then, the call ended, leaving Madi alone to collect her thoughts and wait on the sidelines of a soda can for whatever or whoever was going to come with nowhere to turn and nowhere to run.

[ffrandomrpg]

The Beginning

I’ve been toying with this idea for a long time. Soccer has been a part of my gaming library since my parents bought me International Superstar Soccer 64. I used to put Sol Campbell at forward and thunder goals in on the easiest difficulty because he was inexplicably my favorite player simply because his first name was Sol.

Fast forward a little later and I started back up with my soccer playing obsession when I finally scrounged up the money for Fifa 2002 (with my boy Henry on the cover) and a PS2, learning to love the game more and more with each annual release.

I’ve come to expect certain things from the series, and though I flirted with other competitors like PES briefly and even gave Football Manager a go, it always comes back to Fifa.

Still, I always wished there was more involvement and immersion in the Manager mode the game offers. There’s the expected features every year, but very little in the way of expanding the ideas present within.

Other offerings in EA Sports’ repertoire put tweaks on the Career mode here and there and some are pretty interesting. Briefly, Live the Life in whatever NHL that was even had some more fun text-based RPG elements but the shine really wore off quickly when it became apparent there was little to no depth and it was horrifyingly repetitive.

This is my attempt to inject the monotonous year-in year-out sameness that we’re sure to endure for the foreseeable future since FUT has proven to be a huge cash cow for them. Why would they bother expanding other modes?

So! Let’s get started.

Manager Mode with a Twist

One of the older Fifa’s used to limit your manager offerings at the start of your career mode and I always thought that was interesting. Sure, players may be disappointed they can’t immediately helm their beloved Chelsea or Barcelona, but there’s little challenge in that.

Instead, I wanted this to be the first randomized element to one’s career. Since we can’t simulate a smattering of job offerings from smaller clubs, I instead use Random’s List Feature to get myself a job from one of these areas:

Australian League MLS Liga MX Chile China PR Colombia Denmark League 2 Germany’s 3. liga Japan K league korea Norway Ireland Saudi arabia Turkey

I hit the randomizer and it spits out China PR for my destination. I go into a Kick Off to randomize my team assignment and get Heibei CFFC.

I name myself with a Star Wars name generator and become Jorgunn Pitfar. The name sounds vaguely Scandinavian so I select my country of origin as Denmark for no real reason and then pack my bags to head off to China.

I barely keep up with soccer news, but I have seem some news of older prominent players packing their bags for huge wages in China. It doesn’t necessarily directly fit with my ‘small club’ objective considering I have over 20mil to spend on transfers if I wanted, but it isn’t one of the biggest leagues and the Star Rating given to the teams by Fifa seems rather low so we’ll go with it.

Heibei China Fortune F.C. was founded in 2010, playing their games in Langfang somewhere about halfway between Beijing and Tianjin. Their stadium houses a modest 30,000 despite the city being home to over 4 million residents and those playing on the ground are lucky to experience the air pollution ranked among the 10 worst in all of China.

As Jorgunn Pitfar makes his way to Langfang (not by plane since the city doesn’t have an airport), perhaps he mulls over what his goals for his career as a manager will be. It’s the first of what may be many jobs at the helm of various clubs and it couldn’t have been farther removed from what he’s probably used to in Denmark.

I again turn to the Random List to decide what Pitfar’s objective is, pulling from this list. You could, of course, add more.

Finish career at home country Promotion master Finish w/ prem/seria a/liga/bundes job Finish with starting club Grow game journeyman

There’s little explanation needed for the options. Do I want to return home once my career is in its twilight years? Do I shoot for the moon and hope to get a shot at Champions League football, or specialize in helping lower level clubs climb to great heights?

I hit randomize and Pitfar’s fate is sealed; he will finish his career in his native Denmark. Depending on how long the career mode goes, this may be impossible but we can get creative with a solution.

Now, the last bit of setup we need to do involves our transfer policy. Club expectations be damned, what does Pitfar want to do with the assets at his disposal? What sort of club does he aspire to run?

I make another list and plug it into the randomizer:

High Profile Signings Sign from Club Nation Sign Young Players (<23 yr old) Develop from Youth Team Sign from competitors in same league Focus on Asia focus on North America focus on Central America focus on South America Focus on Euro continent Focus on British Isles

I hit randomize and get Develop from Youth Team. Not bad considering the average OVR rating of the team is low enough that some promotions from the Youth Team might be able to slot right into the matchday squad.

I use some of my transfer money to buy 3 scouts and they are sent out on their journeys immediately. Ito will spend 9 months in Japan finding me Wingers, Fang for a 9 month stint to find anything he can in Brazil, and Brown to England to find me a (hopefully) big Playmaker for 9 months. They better get comfy out there cuz they won’t be coming back for some time.

Pitfar looks ahead to the preseason Invitational Cup held domestically in China this year. The prize money is the best of the lot, at 2.9m, but that really matters very little considering Heibei won’t be seeing any real marquee signings as long as the Danish manager is at the helm.

Still, it offers a good opportunity to see what the squad depth is like. Two team sheets are assembled: the through-and-through first team selections and the rotational, fringe players starting. Since there’s little importance to this competition, the fringe will receive all the playing time.

We advance to the first game against Wellington Phoenix FC and sim it. I’m pleased to find Huaze and Tianyuan both make their way onto the score sheet and the fringe boys manage a 3-0 win.

As if this performance sparks interest in Heibei, teams start to come knocking. I loan out the wonderfully-named YangYang for the year and counter an initial offer for Hongbo and sell him away for over his value at 950k. I don’t need the money, but the thrill of getting more than I should from Necaxa for him is all the satisfaction I need.

I sim the next two games, losing to Dalian Yifang 2-0 which is to be expected considering the low OVR of my squad, and then draw with TEDA 0-0. Somehow, maybe, we’ve used up all our good luck on the first game.

Looking ahead, a loss spells elimination for Heibei in this tournament and we can kiss that 2.9m goodbye. Al Hazem Sports Club waits on matchday, and perhaps because I have little knowledge of this club, I don’t rotate any players despite all the down-arrows denoting poor form trends among almost all the players.

We lose 2-0. No goals save the first game, but also no injuries to any of the players so there is some silver lining. As if to drive home the idea that Chinese clubs have more money than they know what to do with, the club rewards Pitfar’s efforts with 1.45m just for performance which (obviously) was quite poor outside the first win.

Moving forward to deadline day and there’s very little that needs to be done by the club considering our randomly-assigned position on transfers. Still, not all of it is bad. First, I sell off my starting GK for 670k. He’s 32 and though GK’s have a pretty good career length generally, I don’t really care. I can sign someone near to his OVR or grow a prospect from the youth team into the mid-60s quite easily.

I take my prize money to drop on a release clause for an 18 year old GK named Rebollo. For some reason, these younger players are afraid of a Crucial team role so I offer Sporadic and they like that far more even though they’ll immediately go into the starting 11.

They do, however, seem to want a 1.9k wage and when I offer a young winger named Keelan O’Connell only a thousand, he and his agent immediately walk. So, then, Keanan Bennetts is offered 1.9k and Sporadic and he and his agent immediately agree. Little does he know he’ll go right into my starting 11 and play every game so long as his stamina allows.

A couple low rated players in my rotational squad are sent out on loan and there’s very little action for Heibei on the rest of deadline day. Once my scouts come back in for their monthly check-in, I weed out the sub-60 OVR projected prospects and they go back out. A fleeting taste of ‘home’ for them before they have to return to the far reaches of the globe. Though I’m not sure if Langfang is more desirable than ending up in Japan or England.

The first two games of the Asian Continental Cup arrive, and perhaps this is Heibei’s equivalent to the Champions League so I put my first team in play and am greeted with a 2-1 win from the main boys only to have them crumble against Australia’s Newcastle United Jets somehow. Lavezzi and Mascherano have never before seemed so fallible.

As if to cheer myself up, I sign a young scouted player named Onishi to the Youth Team since his projected rating is relatively high even given the early stages of the process. Is it a gamble? Yes. Does Jorgunn Pitfar’s interest in management end at Heibei? Definitely not.

Moving forward, we will play out the month of March as standard Fifa Career mode before implementing the final Random aspect of this journey. More on that later.

[tyleroakley-obsessed]

In case you’ve been off the Internet for several days: ESPN’s GameDay is coming to Memphis! The live show will broadcast from Beale Street on Saturday, November 2, from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. and the game (Memphis Tigers v. SMU Mustangs) kicks off at 6:30 p.m. at a likely sold-out Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. It’s also Homecoming! People’s knowledge on this topic varies wildly so we’ll cover basics plus need-to-know details. The University of Memphis has an extensive guide here that you should check out if you’re going. Every media outlet in town is covering this event within an inch of its life, from every possible angle. So if you want more, check out the hard work of local journalists via websites, TV stations, radio shows, and social media accounts. What is ESPN College GameDay? It’s a popular TV show covering college football on Saturday mornings, broadcasting live from cities that host a game that day. The hosts – plus one guest “celebrity picker” – predict the winner. Fans in team gear show up to the broadcast location by the thousands and try to get on TV with crazy signs. Why is it a big deal? The show has about 2 million viewers. It’s never come to Memphis before for football. It’s a chance to showcase the city and how crazy and numerous (right??) our Tigers football fans are. People hold funny signs about their school and go bonkers. It’s historic because we’re a football program that has struggled historically but is doing exciting things. It’s important because Memphis gets too little attention or respect nationally, sports-wise or otherwise. #MemphisVsErrrbody While I grow weary of caring about that, it’s nice to see us get some love and some credit. Why Beale Street and not the Liberty Bowl? Important People decided this, presumably because it will provide a lively backdrop, or because it fits the TV set needs better. Calkins makes the case here. Read more about setup and location here. If folks are Big Mad about it because they Do Not Go Downtown, that is understandable, but my friendly advice is for them to yell into a pillow and then drink some hot tea with honey so their voice will be ready to cheer on the Tigers by Saturday. Are there street closures? Yes. Starting at midnight on Wednesday (aka 12 a.m. Thursday) the City will shut down BB King between MLK and Peabody until Saturday evening. Read more about traffic etc. here. What’s happening on Beale Street and when is it happening? – Fans plan to show up as early as 5:30 a.m. to start partying ahead of the broadcast. There are pregame things. Beale Street expects big crowds until the early afternoon, which is good because the national TV audience is judge-y about crowd size and energy. – You don’t need a ticket to hang out on Beale Street for GameDay. – FedExForum’s lobby and parking garage will be open for food, drinks, pit stops, etc. – People who want to get in ESPN’s Pit Area should note that there are special rules, and should read the U of M guide. When will the bars on Beale open? Most are opening between 7 a.m.  – 9 a.m. with specials and such. There’s a handy chart: What about Parking? It’s the usual downtown parking scene, which is super easy. Affordable garages and metered parking are everywhere. There are rental bikes and scooters and the new electric scooters and trolleys. Find somewhere to park and walk/bike/scoot/trolley to Beale and have fun. If you’re drinking, just take a Lyft and have fun. Trolley service will begin early, at 7 a.m. on Saturday. The U of M will have shuttles for students, staff, and faculty. Who will be the celebrity picker for the show? We don’t know. Guesses include Justin Timberlake, Penny Hardaway, DeAngelo Williams, and Jerry Lawler. It could be someone random. Who do you think should do it? What’s up with the weather? The forecast changes, but as of Wednesday night, Saturday will be chilly but nothing we can’t handle. Wear a hat and gloves and a coat. When does tailgating at Tiger Lane start? Tiger Lane and the Stadium parking lots open at noon, officially. By Andrea Zucker What do I need to know about the football game itself? It starts at 6:30 p.m. We play against the Southern Methodist University Mustangs. It’s going to be a sellout. If you’re going, read the clear bag policy and prohibited items here. Wear warm clothes. Wear school colors. From noon to 6 p.m., there will be a Beer Garden and Food Trucks. The Tiger Walk is at 4:15 p.m., weather permitting. See the full schedule and game day info here. How can I get tickets? Buy season tickets so you have them in cases like this! JK. The official answer is: buy them at gotigersgotix.com. They had to open more seats at the Stadium to accommodate the demand. It may be sold out by the time you’re reading this. Good luck. I can’t be at the game, any watch parties? The game is on ABC. The usual suspects should have the game on. Actually, everyone should have the game on. See a list of hotspots at the bottom of this post. Does Holly have any random thoughts or advice? Look out for each other; try to stay away from the hard stuff if you’re drinking; it’s a marathon, not a sprint; not everyone likes to drink and that’s good, too, it’s about football and the city, etc. Don’t block people’s driveways in midtown, and if you’re one of the, ahem, “marathoners”….don’t drive your damn car. I know I always harp on this, and it’s annoying, but if even one person makes a better decision because of my annoying MOM attitude about drinking and driving, it will be worth it. Memphis In May rules apply, which means to embrace the insanity but be cool. Dress appropriately and wear comfy shoes and don’t forget to drink water and eat something. No matter the outcome of the game, we have a chance to get hype for the city and look good on TV, so let’s take it. I know not everyone is going to paint their partially naked body with tiger stripes and spend the day at Beale and Tiger Lane, so if you’re looking for other ideas of things to do this weekend, there are many: Indie Memphis, India Fest, Dia De Los Muertos Parade, etc. We’ll have them all in our weekend guide, going live here on the I Love Memphis Blog Dot Com soon. And finally, if you made it this far: I plan to be on Beale Saturday morning. If you see me in the crowd, say Hey! Let me take your picture for the ‘gram! Follow along on Twitter and Instagram. Got more questions? Drop me a comment and I’ll do my best to find the answers. Are you a home owner in Memphis, with a broken garage door? Call ASAP garage door today at 901-461-0385 or checkout https://ift.tt/1B5z3Pc

https://ilovememphisblog.com/2019/10/espns-college-gameday-comes-to-memphis-what-you-need-to-know/

[teamjungkookie]

Long Story about Getting Fucked Over by Some Asshole Selling Bad BTS Tickets

I just need to rant for a bit. Read this if you want to hear about my recent struggles and the anxiety it has been causing me but you don't have to. This post is me venting to my feelings so maybe I can be a little less angry and stressed out.

My friends and I are huge BTS fans, if you can't tell by my blog, so a few months ago I promised my friends that the next time BTS was around I would get us floor tickets to the show. I wanted to be able to give my friends the concert experience of a life time and see our favorite band up close in person. So when the Speak Yourself tour was announced, I did everything I needed to do to get ready to buy tickets from ticketmaster as soon as tickets went on sale. Unfortunately I, like everyone else trying to buy BTS tickets that day, had endless technical difficulties with ticketmaster and didn't end up getting tickets through them.

We all immediately started scouring resale sites for floor tickets trying to get our hands on any floor seats we could. When we finally had tickets and were in the process of paying for tickets, my card got declined and I received a call from the fraud detection center because these tickets were so expensive. By the time I cleared up my card, I had lost the tickets I was previously trying to buy and had to start all over. I finally found good seats in section 2 on VividSeats and I excitedly and quickly bought the tickets. I then reached out to my friends to tell them that they could stop looking because I had bought tickets finally. When I contacted them however they tell me that they too had just purchased tickets from VividSeats in section 2 as well. We decided that as annoying as it was that we had two sets of tickets it wouldnt be too hard to sell them online again.

A few days later both sets of tickets came in the mail and we ripped open the packages and discovered that both sets of tickets had the same name on them. We saw this as a red flag for fraud and immediately called VividSeats. VividSeats has a 100% Gaurentee policy on their tickets so when I called to ask about the strange tickets we had received I was told that they gaurentee the tickets they sell are valid tickets. We felt reassured by this and then went on to sell our tickets on StubHub.

We sold our tickets on StubHub because they were not selling on VividSeats. We ended up selling each ticket in our order individually and was never able to sell a ticket for the amount that we purchased it at so for I lost money on every single ticket that was resold. At the time though I was staying positive and was grateful that we at least sold all four tickets.

So fast-forward to the day of the concert. We were having a great day, we went to the pop-up store in New York, and had lunch in Times Square and then we went back to the hotel to get ready for the concert. We got to the concert with plenty of time to get through the line for the merch tent outside and get into the concert to our seats. After we bought even more merch at the tent outside of the stadium we went to security. When we got there one of our friends was told she had to go check something at bag check back outside the stadium so we gave her a ticket and held her stuff so she wouldn't have to take her stuff through security again. After our friend left she we went to scan the three tickets in our hands but they wouldn't scan. When we’re told the tickets wouldnt scan I felt my heart drop. I couldn't breathe and it was like I was in a nightmare. The lady saw our panic and told us that we would still get it in but we had to go to ticket resolution which was back through security. We found our friend and told her what happened and then we immediately started calling VividSeats and headed for ticket resolution.

When we got to ticket resolution the lady there tried to get our tickets to scan but they wouldn't and she told us that someone had already scanned our tickets and gone into the concert. She wrote void on all of our tickets and told us we had to either call VividSeats or go to the box office to buy tickets that I guess they had on reserve? We were on hold with VividSeats waiting to speak to a representative and didn't seem to be getting anywhere with it and so we decided to buy more tickets (as I'm typing that and in my head saying "more tickets” like John Mulaney). While all this is going on we are also starting to worry about the army who bought the other tickets on StubHub. We really hoped that at least they made it into the concert just fine.

So we finally got into the concert with about 20 minutes to spare before the concert started and we were still on hold with VividSeats. The tickets we got were so bad we were in the very last section on the right side of the stage so far back we could barely see the one screen that’s on that side of the stadium and we couldn’t see any of the main stage. We could see more of backstage than the actual stage. Finally 10 minutes before the concert started we finally get in contact with a representative and they got us tickets in another section on the complete opposite side of the concert with about 3 minutes to get there. So we fucking sprinted to the other side of the venue and got to our seats just as the concert was starting.

The following day we filled out a claim with VividSeats about the tickets we tried to use. Then the day after that StubHub finally reached out to us and told us that two of the tickets we sold didn’t work and so now we owe StubHub for the price of the tickets we sold and the price of the ticket they gave to the other army to get them into the concert. This was the worst part for me. We sold invalid tickets to other army. I know we didn’t know they were fake but I still feel responsible for this and I really want to apologize to the army who bought those tickets and got turned away. I know nothing I do will ever make up for this and I truly am sorry that we did this to them.

Currently we in the process of having VividSeats investigate the tickets we tried to use and we contacted StubHub and told them that we bought the tickets we sold from VividSeats. StubHub and VividSeats are both now investigating the tickets we resold and we are caught in the middle relaying information back and forth.

This whole situation has made me so stressed and anxious and has been a dark black cloud looming over my whole concert experience. I want to remember the fun times I had with my friends and how amazing the concert was when I’m asked about it. Instead when ever the concert comes up I immediately think about the tickets and my mood takes a nose dive. I can’t wait for all of this to get resolved but I know that even when that happens I will still always be angry about the whole ticket situation.

To the asshole who sold us the bad tickets in the first place, I hope you fucking get what’s coming to you. You have fucked over at least 6 army that I know and I’m sure we’re not the only ones. I have no idea how you managed to pull this off but I want you to know that I will do anything I can to help further these investigations and help bring justice to armys. I may not be able to do much but I’m pissed off and ready to fight so I will do anything I can to bring you down. Even if bringing you down only means that you just have to pay for all of the tickets and the extra tickets we were given to replace the bad ones. What you did is so not okay and you fucked with the wrong fan in the wrong fan base.

[dippedanddripped]

Tips from Sneaker Heads on Scoring the Hottest Shoes and Keeping Them Fresh

Experts at Sneaker Con offered strategies for identifying counterfeit shoes, gave advice on how to choose investment sneakers and said what they would be willing to pay for the right kicks ($30,000).

Sneaker Con, a gathering of shoe fanatics founded in 2009, brought 500 vendors and over 19,000 people to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York late last year. The heart and soul of the event is the trading pit, an area in the back of the 840,000-square-foot center where a crowd of mostly teenage boys was talking and holding up their sneakers, looking forbuyers. The experience was overwhelming, confusing (where are their parents?) and educational.  

But first, some quick tips:

1) Store your sneakers in a dark space, because light can cause yellowing, which devalues your shoes.

2) Become friends with people who work at sneaker shops.

3) Always check details like font and stitching when verifying real versus fake sneakers.

4) Ask your elders for their old clothes and sneakers. Chances are they will eventually come back in style.

5) Wash your insoles for, well, obvious reasons.

Here’s what the sneaker experts had to say for themselves.    

Antonio Linares

Specializes in authentication of product,

@fake_education

What are the things you look for first when authenticating sneakers? Ultimately it always comes down to craftsmanship, detail and the material used. The counterfeit industry is going to get as close as possible to the original materials, but they cut corners and use inferior products. Stitching is usually a big thing to check across the board, whether it is a hoodie or a pair of shoes.

What are some of the biggest differences between real and fake sneakers? A common difference amongst real from fakes is usually on inside size tags of sneakers, as well as on the box labels. The font style is 99.9 percent different, always. On Yeezys, for example, since they are some of the most counterfeited items I see, I look at the stitching; build structure; wherever it says, “boost”; the font style; and the box.

On eBay, some users will post photos of the real shoes, but then send counterfeit ones. How do you know you are not getting scammed? I personally do not use eBay. Why I started @fake_education was by getting scammed on eBay.

What about people with good ratings? Buy from somebody credible, from somebody reputable that has a reputation to uphold. To be 100 percent certain, buy from somewhere that has a return policy. Somewhere that if it gets out that they sold a fake, that it’s going to tarnish the image.

What are the top counterfeit items that you see? Anything made by Adidas: the Yeezys, NMD, Ultraboost. They’re selling off demand as well. For example, a general release NMD or an Ultraboost shoe holds almost no resale value, but that’s some of the most popular replicas on the market, because people are not even thinking that they’re buying a counterfeit. Whereas when it comes to Yeezys, they’re calling every lifeline possible to prove legitimacy. But when you come up to somebody with a pair that’s $180 in store and they’re giving it to you for, let’s say, $150, you just think you’re getting a good deal, right? Little do you know, they bought it for 60 bucks.

Ariana Peters

Co-founder,

the Chicks With Kicks

How do you know when a sneaker will be an investment? Now it’s a lot of hype. Kanye West drops something and all the kids are running, and a month or two months later, the price just drops. We don’t buy into the hype stuff. We buy stuff that held its value over time. We have sneaker patents. We have one-of-a-kind Yeezy samples. We specialize in prototype, samples, vintage, rare samples.

How do you know when something will generate hype? Right now the market is all hype.

So your strategy is that you look for rare and unique sneakers that you know will hold value.  What are some of the rarest pieces you have? 1985 Air Jordan 1s; we have the largest collection. That’s my favorite part of our collection, just because it holds so much history — it’s the first year of the Jordan. We have signed Julius Erving Converse sneakers. We have Yeezy samples, a few different colorways that have never been seen.

How many sneakers do you have in your collection? My sisters and I have over 6,000 pairs, but we stopped counting. Our dad started the collection over 25 years ago, and we took it over about five or six years ago.

What are you looking for when buying sneakers? It depends on the sneaker. Let’s say I were buying a 1985 Air Jordan: I would look at the yellowing, the cracking in the paint. If it’s metallic, that’s a big issue. You can use sneaker-cleaning products, and a lot of issues when it comes to yellowing just happen with age. So if you can get a dead stock pair from, like, ’85 or the ’90s and it has no yellowing, the value is just astronomically more.

Tips for sneaker care? We store our collection in an air-conditioned, no-humidity storage room. If it’s a collection piece, you want to keep it away from a lot of lights — they could yellow it.

Yu Ming Wu

Co-founder, Sneaker Con

What is your favorite sneaker? The Nike Air Max 1. If we have to kind of go down to actual colorway, it would be the 2002 or 2003 Atmos colorway. It has a very safari, fun print to it.

You told me that you’ve waited years to find a pair of shoes. Which ones were they? The Nike Air Max 1s in the Amsterdam colorway. I’ve probably spent now nine or 10 years looking for them. For the longest time, I refused to pay the high prices for them. I broke down this year.

How much? $1,500.

What is the most you would pay for sneakers? Most recently I have been contemplating purchasing the real auto-lacing Nike Air Mags, the “Back to the Future” shoes which were released last year. Today they go for anywhere from $23,000 to about $60,000. I found a pair on eBay for $33,000, and I talked them down to $27,000. If I do get them, that will be the most expensive pair of shoes I will ever purchase in my life. The price of a nice decent car.

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Tips for getting your hands on hard-to-get sneakers? It’s tough. Today I try to be as safe as possible. I use eBay much more rarely. I am involved with the resell shop Stadium Goods here in New York City. I try to buy most of my shoes from there, just because they’re authenticated.

What are some tips for eBay? I generally look at sellers that have excellent feedback on eBay. I always look at people who write their name.

How do you care for your sneakers? I do sometimes use Mylar bags. For people who’ve collected comic books out there, they use Mylar bags to keep them from getting the acid air or whatever it is from boxes. I also sometimes take out the insoles and throw them in with my bleach cycle, or I also use vinegar.  You wash your underwear and your socks, but you’d never wash insoles. Those guys get pretty nasty.

Mubi Ali

Buyer,

Sneakersnstuff

Firstly, how many pairs of sneakers do you have? About 4,500 pairs. I’ve got a storage facility. I’ve been collecting since maybe 1996. So it’s been a long time to accumulate a lot of shoes.

Favorite sneakers? Supreme Dunk High Stars. I just love the whole aesthetic of them. The embossed croc leather, the gold stars. The fact that they brought out three, it was very premium at that time.

How do you know what shoes will be investments later? Trends are moving so quickly nowadays that it’s hard to predict. A pair that you’ve hedged a lot of bets on and think that is going to be very hot, eight months later doesn’t end up being so hot because the kids don’t get into it. But if a brand puts enough money behind something, it’s generally a sure winner. So looking at 2018, we’re hoping that Nike comes back because I’ve had a tough couple of years. And Adidas either maintained or even improves on the previous year.

How can you tell a counterfeit sneaker from a real? There’s lots of telltale signs: the box, the sticker tags, the inside label. If you know that there’s a certain number that comes out of a shoe and someone’s got 15, 20 pairs, you’ve got to think that’s a little bit suspect.

Any tips on getting limited-edition sneakers? You can try to get lucky with a raffle or a queue. Try eBay. Or even like Sneak Con is the best way to get what you want and what you need. The prices might be inflamed, but think of it as an investment piece. If you love it that much, go for it. Why not?

Benjamin Kapelushnik, a.k.a. Benjamin Kickz

Sneaker reseller to athletes and celebrities,

@benjaminkickz

When did you start collecting sneakers? I started as a hobby when I was 13. And my parents just didn’t want to support it at first. So I just had to resell sneakers to make money to buy myself more sneakers.

What are some tips for people trying to get sneakers? You go to events like Sneaker Con and make a bunch of connections, and you just text them. You say, “Yo, how much is this? How much is this?” You just eventually get all of it.

What sneakers are you looking at for 2018? Probably hoping Nike SBs. I know SBs died out a little, but hopefully they come back.  

Tips for authentication? When you over and over look at the same shoe, you can just tell. And there is this Instagram @fake_education. He’s one of my boys, he does it.

What the most you’ve ever paid for sneakers? $14,000 for a sample for myself. It was a sample Air Jordan.  

What are your tips for sneaker drops? It kind of gets hectic at sneaker drops. I used to camp out with my brothers all the time. I used to pay kids $50, $100, but I stopped doing that now.

What about eBay? I used to when I first started out. I used to get clean used shoes on eBay, buy them and clean them up and try to make them look close to new.

Matthew Ting

Senior brand activation manager, Adidas N.Y.C.

What are some of your tips for sneaker care? Occasionally I just use a wipe. It could be a household wipe, a Crep Protect or a Jason Markk wipe. It’s pretty easy to take out the insole, and then I leave it out to air dry.  

How do you know when a sneaker will be an investment? That’s driven by supply and demand. I think kids are hip and know when things are limited, and that’s really the impetus for a reason to buy. Whenever a Yeezy 350 comes out, people know that quantity is quite limited, and that is a driving factor.

What the most you’ve paid for sneakers? I’ve been in the footwear industry so long, I don’t think I have to have paid for sneakers in the last 15 years. It sounds like I’m spoiled, but I’ve been very fortunate to be in this industry where I haven’t had to pay for my own shoes. I pay for shoes for my son.  

What is your son wearing? He’s wearing Jordan 1s. He enjoys mixing them up, so he has one blue and one red. We bought two pairs to accomplish that.

What was you first pair of sneakers? It was a Nike Jordan. I think seventh or eighth grade. My parents were very strict, so it was unheard-of to spend a hundred dollars for sneakers. Between birthday money, Christmas money, Chinese New Year money and rolling up quarters and coins, I scraped up enough money. They took me to New Jersey, because there it was tax-free. We went to some mall and I think I bought it at the Athlete’s Foot over 20 years ago.

Amber Jackson

Vintage clothing store owner,

Flight Vintage

How do you authenticate vintage or new clothing?   I basically study the past. I watch like a lot of old MTV, like rap videos and rock videos. I also do a lot of eBay, so I know what goes for what price and what to buy and what not. There are certain tags to look for, especially with Supreme. There’s a lot of fake Supreme going around. Study the tags. Study details. Stitching is everything, and the color of the shirt. Sometimes an item could be discolored color and it could be fake.

Some tips for people looking for vintage clothing? Go everywhere. Ask your grandma, ask your grandpa, ask your mom, your dad. Bring out that old concert T-shirt. Someone’s got it.

[96thdayofrage]

The St. Louis Cardinals and Major League Baseball must do everything they can to keep racism out of the game.

Major League baseball came under scrutiny this year when Baltimore Orioles’ outfielder, Adam Jones, accused a fan in Boston for shouting racial remarks at him during a game. Jones also had a bag of peanuts thrown at him. The St. Louis Cardinals also faced scrutiny in 2016 when alleged racist remarks were made towards former Cardinal, Jason Heyward. Heyward clarified those remarks did not happen at Busch Stadium.

While the action of one or a few do not represent the view of millions of others, there is no place for disgusting remarks in any walk of life. However, yesterday, one commenter on our site decided to spew hatred towards Latino/Hispanic and African-American players, across Major League Baseball, and me.

I’d like to preface the rest of this article as NSFW. The image below contains vulgar language and inappropriate comments.

Every morning, I check the comments on my articles to provide some feedback to other fans. If they take the time to write back, then the least I can do is respond. There isn’t any obligation, but I think part of being a fan is interacting with other fans and hearing their opinions too.

Then I came across this particular comment on one of my pieces.:

I don’t know if this particular person is a St. Louis Cardinals fan or not, but let me hit them with some facts, so they understand the magnitude of what they are saying. According to Pew Research Center, as of 2012, 26.9% of baseball players in the MLB were of Latino/Hispanic descent, overcoming the national percentage of Latinos in the United States (17.0%).

In 2014, only 8.3% of the baseball population was African-American. In 2017, that number is down to 7.1%.

When Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball in 1947, Latinos compromised less than one percent of all players. If you want the math on it, that is a 2,598% increase in sixty-five years. So if you are of the mindset that there are too many Latinos/Hispanics in baseball, we aren’t going anywhere. If you are of the mindset that there are too many African-American players in baseball, there aren’t enough.

For those wondering, the St. Louis Cardinals’ 40-man roster consists of ELEVEN (27.5%) Latinos and TWO (5%) African-American ball players. And this person thinks there are too many in baseball? Laughable.

I’m not even going to go through the names of superstars of Latino or African-American descent. We all know without some of them, the game would be lost. The influences of other cultures in the game is what makes baseball so fun.

Think about the World Baseball Classic. The world of baseball chooses to celebrate diversity. Somebody help me out, did the United States team have any black players on their roster? You bet, including the same Adam Jones from above, who people celebrated as the new Captain America. No one wants to bat an eye at that, right?

If you are a St. Louis Cardinals fan and agree with this person’s way of thinking, you are a hypocrite and do not deserve any of the joy the players bring you.

Many of them have had to overcome extreme circumstances to get this point in their lives, and you want to shun them because they are different from you? Laughable.

Let me be very clear to this person and to anyone who thinks like them: There is no room for racism in baseball and in any part of life. I will always #SayNoToRacism.

What happened in Boston to Jones, and Heyward’s incident, is the worst humanity has to offer. I truly believe MLB will create a safer environment for fans and players of different backgrounds. Perhaps that starts next year with MLB’s Fan Code of Conduct policy.

I can’t exactly imagine how the players feel when they experience something like this, but yesterday I got a taste of it.

Being targeted by racism or discrimination isn’t fun. It’s one of the worst feelings in the world, and I would never wish it on anyone. If you never experienced it, then you’re lucky. I have friends back home tell me stories all the time of someone looking at them because they are African-American or they talk a different language.

I’ll admit, discrimination doesn’t come my way as often as others. In that regard I am fortunate, but it doesn’t exclude me from being targeted. I played baseball and soccer in high school and there were times where I am sure I was made fun of for the way I look.

I even thought some of my teammates would purposely try to hit me with a pitch if we were doing live batting practice. To this day I still think some of my former teammates probably do not like me because I am not white or because I have certain views. It’s a shame because I felt like I got along great with my teammates. I guess it just goes to show how naïve you can be when you’re young.

You never really know who thinks what until you see it for yourself, but I guess they were cowards much like the commenter from above.

Here is my reality: I am different. I am a young, Puerto Rican male living in the “Heartland of the United States.” My hair and eyes are darker than most. My skin is tan. I occasionally listen to reggaeton or salsa on my way home from work.

To me, there is no greater honor than being from Puerto Rico, the island of MLB legend Roberto Clemente and St. Louis Cardinals’ Yadier Molina. There is no shame in displaying my country’s flag in my home and in my car. This person’s action does not define me. But I guess, I, and Latinos in baseball, are just too different for some people in this word.

There probably isn’t any reasoning with this particular person, but in 2017 we are still dealing with this gross mentality.

I mean I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, given the two articles I referenced above or what happened in Charlotesville. But no matter how many times I see it or experience it, it hurts to know there are people in the world who truly think like this on a daily basis. It hurts to see someone so sick and twisted voice their displeasure for me, Latinos, and African-Americans in baseball because we are different.

I love baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals, and who I am. If I let bigot define who I am as person, what does that say about me?

[wobblyheadedbull]

Comfort Eating

I thought seriously about not going on Sunday, not for long, but the idea definitely took a turn through my mind. I tried to rein it in, but this food ban thing really twisted my knickers. Talk of folk staying away, or even turning away at the gate, hasn’t done much to smooth them out either.

I’m not going to rant on, I’ve deleted a few impassioned paragraphs but when it comes down to it I don’t really feel angry anymore, I feel tired, and a little sad. In the end it’s just the latest example of an incident which sits somewhere between another cackhandled PR situation, or a contemptuous mistruth, and after that away kit nonsense I’m running out of benefits left to give the doubt.

Safety and security are important, nobody who’s opened their eyes over the last few months can argue against that - and I think we’re all good with bag searches; pat downs, or even a metal detector or two. Saying no to cans & bottles is standard; unsealed liquids, well Odsal isn’t exactly a passenger jet, but at least there’s a precedent of some sort; food threat, however, simply isn’t a thing.

Headingley let food in, Etihad let food in, Wembley let food in - and that place is more fort than stadium - even Ryanair will let me take a couple of homemade ham butties and a scotch egg onboard.

Ironically, of all the randomly selected stadia quickly Google-checked, the only other place I’ve found which expressly disallows outside food is Spotland - so at least we’re prepared.

They don’t make any pretence about safety though, they simply say its not welcome, which, honestly, is fair enough. You wouldn’t sit down in Wetherspoons and start working through a crate of Aldi lager after all - you might bring some milk for the baby mind, but assuming there’s a sensible approach to that sort of thing I don’t think anybody could criticise a business for protecting its interests, so long as it’s honest about it. I would like to believe there’s a spreadsheet somewhere which maps increased concession monies against lost gate receipts though - even if there isn’t an axis for long-term good will.

That said, I’m willing to take the official line that this was a ban advised by the police / security agency if that’s what’s given. I’d be pretty keen to hear an explanation of why my sausage rolls are dangerous directly from them though - rather than force an already beleaguered club to shove out an unpopular news nugget and then try to hide it under re-tweets and stonewalling.


It’s back to the old echo I guess - honesty is usually the best policy, that, and proper information, proper answers; doubt and confusion only lead to anger and mistrust, and we sure ain’t in a position to be fostering any of that. Maybe this will all slide conveniently under a carpet, but I have a feeling it might float to the surface again before the next home game - as people will want to know if they can bring a couple of cold drumsticks, or a bag of of julienned carrots, as is their taste. I guess it’ll be a tester, with attendances being the stake. I just hope to the bottom of my heart that we pass.

I’m glad I did go on Sunday though, because - with a little time to reflect, it wasn’t that bad a game.

Frustrating, without a doubt, really frustrating - with Featherstone clearly a little off their best we had every chance to take the points, and at half-time even looked like we might.

We lost because we tried too hard, if anything - so many tackle counts cut short though panic - a little calm and confidence and we’d have had it. Well - calm, confidence, and literally anybody being near Lilley when he made his half-breaks, perhaps.

We didn’t get hammered though, and were in the game right up until the last fifteen minutes before it faded away. It felt better than the last afternoons at Crown Flatt or Post Office Road, that’s for certain - and not to forget this was top four opposition, and us playing with one half-back and a rear guard not much older then my nose hairs.

Yes, it was an annoying loss, a far from good enough performance, and another week lost from an ever-shortening window - but on the field did nothing to diminish my fragile hopes, and only served for me as a reminder of how achingly close we are, as a team, to pulling it all together and getting this job done.

I’ll be heading to Rochdale in a state of utter trepidation, but certainly not without belief.

I guess the latest news is that Geoff Toovey’s got his visa and is now officially head-coach. All-in-all there doesn’t seem too much to say about that, it’s a piece of paper which makes all the difference of a 21st Century wedding certificate - we’ve already been doing it, everybody knows we’ve already been doing it, its just now we’re fine to talk about it around Grandma, and people are going to expect us to breed something sooner rather than later.

That said, I’m a fan of his early media rounds, he talks well and answers what he’s asked with a tone that feels like honesty. Let’s just hope on Sunday we can hear a smile, rather than how excuses sound in a new accent.

Tell you what though, after the last eight weeks of unpleasant post-match Beattie’s had to shoulder, if we do hit zero points on Toovey’s first official game, I think he’ll owe that assistant a pint or four.

I think maybe a few people do anyway.

See you at Spotland (bring your suncream - leave your Lunchables at home).

[fan-of-mulligan]

FOM BLOG: NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0 - 0 GILLINGHAM

My Thoughts On Northampton Town V Gillingham………………..

I left my house at 7.30AM in The Morning and I made sure that I had the following things on me,,,,,,,, (Money, Keys, My Northampton Town Ticket, My Samsung Galaxy S2, My Fleece-Jacket, Spare Batteries, Match-Day Programmes, Lynx, Kent Messenger, Spare Lids, My Gillingham Scarf, My Gillingham Bag with Pads and Pens, 500ML Bottle Of Coca Cola, And A Packet Of Polo’s), I double checked I had everything on me before leaving my house for the short trip to Northampton Town, The early start is thanks to The Football League’s Ridiculous Decision for every match in League One to be played on A Sunday Afternoon with a mid-day kick off, Why not A 3PM Kick Off Time ???, which would of been beneficial to everyone, for example, Bury have to travel to Southend United, and I am sure that The Bury Supporters must have left in the early hours in the morning to get to Southend United in time for kick off.

Once Diane had arrived, I got in the car and we were good to go for our trip to Northampton Town, and I had just updated My Statuses On Facebook And Twitter and I had posted the following,,,, - On My Way To Sixfields as Gillingham take on Northampton Town, Gillingham need a win to retain our League One Status, please get that win today Gills, because we cannot just assume that Port Vale are going to lose - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!! - And we cannot assume that Port Vale will lose was the main point in My Status Update, Yes, Fleetwood Town are at home and they are still pushing for the second automatic promotion spot, But Port Vale have something to play for and they will take the confidence they gained from there win against Walsall, to Highbury for the final game of The 2016 / 2017 Season.

I mentioned to Diane that Stephen had told me that Northampton Town Away was Reserved Seating and we had sold initially 350 tickets prior to Port Vale’s Win against Walsall, but after that result at The Bescot Stadium, I think there has been over 1000 additional tickets sold and Gillingham could have a 1400 support at Sixfields, which would be an unbelievable achievement, but after what happened at Charlton Athletic and just how frustrated Me, Diane and Stephen were with the strict seating policy that day from The Charlton Athletic Stewards, I know that Diane didn’t want to sit where it said on her ticket, and on My Ticket, I was situated in the front row and there is no way I was going to sit in the front row, Unreserved Seating see’s The Seating Arrangement Sorts Itself out, those at the back can stand and sing, and those who choose to sit down can sit down towards the front of the stand, not only does this give Supporters The Choice where they want to stand or sit in the away end, but unallocated seating also see’s a huge improvement in the atmosphere generated from supporters in the away end, Watford Away being A Prime Example, where Gillingham Supporters didn’t stop signing all evening, and we may well need that type of atmosphere again for our crucial league fixture away against Northampton Town.

Kings Ferry And The Supporters Coach were both leaving from Priestfield Stadium at 8AM, Stephen will be on The Kings Ferry Coach and we should meet up with him at Northampton, with such a large traveling support, I am sure that both coaches will be packed for our trip to Northampton Town, but I can also see a lot of supporters doing what Me and Diane were doing and travel to Northampton Town via car and split the fuel costs, in-fact, our usual stop off at The Services for some away games is Watford Gap Services, well, Northampton Town is before Watford Gap Services, and we will most likely have a look at what is in and around Northampton Town for food and drink, even though we have been knocked out of kilter with the early Mid-Day Kick Off Time on A Sunday Afternoon.

Me and Diane - and Many Other Gillingham Supporters - were hoping that Adrian Pennock can do what is required and keep Gillingham in League One and then step aside so that someone else can take over as Manager in The Summer, there is no doubt that it has been difficult for Adrian Pennock with The Playing Budget all used up, but four wins from twenty games just isn’t good enough I am afraid, and Gillingham have lost the last two matches, 3-0 against Charlton Athletic and 3-2 against Fleetwood Town, six goals conceded in the last two games shows how frail Gillingham are at the back, and defensively, Gillingham will need to make massive improvements in the summer, Justin Edinburgh admitted that he got his player recruitment wrong at Gillingham, but it has also been hinted that we were looking to cash in on Bradley Dack to finance the additional defensive reinforcements that Gillingham clearly needed, as Justin Edinburgh had signed Adedeji Oshilaja, Baily Cargill and Josh Pask on loan to try and strengthen Gillingham’s Defensive Options, and Billy Knott even mentioned in his KM Column this week that he was signed as Bradley Dack’s replacement, and that could still be the case in the summer, as Billy Knott’s Loan Spell will expire at Lincoln City, and Gillingham may well take the decision to cash in on Bradley Dack in the summer.

And Whenever Gillingham Supporters have spoken about potential managerial replacements, Kenny Jackett, Chris Powell and Steve Cotterill have all been mentioned, but if Gillingham are in financial difficulty - and this does appear to be the case -, then those three manager’s may well be outside of Gillingham’s Price Bracket, and we’re most likely going to be looking at A First Time Managerial Appointment, A Player / Manager, someone who has a proven track record of achieving targets on a shoestring budget, or A Manager who has been out of the game for years looking for a role back in English Football Again, but one thing is for certain, Gillingham will be able to attract a higher calibre of manager should Gillingham retain there League One Status, Because Relegation Into League Two will see our best players leave the club, we won’t be able to bring in one of the three manager’s I have mentioned above, and Relegation into League Two will not see Gillingham make an instant return into League One, in-fact, with York City Relegated to The Conference North and Leyton Orient Relegated into The Conference National, that could quite easily be Gillingham Football Club who go on a downhill spiral, so it is essential that Gillingham do manage to retain there League One Status.

Diane wasn’t sure about Gillingham being in financial difficulty and where this story had come from, but there was The Tweet On Twitter HERE IS THE TWEET - https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/status/857132200776609792 - , and following bits and pieces I have heard from a few people, it does appear that Gillingham will need to tighten The Playing Budget for next season and we may well need to sell Bradley Dack, or hope that Southampton Sell Paulo Gazzaniga, as Gillingham have got a large sell on fee should Southampton sell Paulo Gazzainga and that will help Gillingham Football Club out a lot, Speaking of Goalkeepers, Me and Diane both agreed that Stuart Nelson was needed in goal for Gillingham Football Club, because this is an important match and a game where you need your Experienced Players, Your Big Game Players and Players who know precisely how to compete in A League One Relegation Battle, and Stuart Nelson has the experience, the know how and knowledge to play in a game as important as this.

I do have huge sympathy for Tomas Holy, Because Adrian Pennock has thrown Tomas Holy into the deep end, Because Tomas Holy is playing In A League he has never played in before, behind a defence that is incapable of keeping a clean sheet and Tomas Holy is playing for A Gillingham Side struggling to retain our League One Status, I think we should of given Tomas Holy game-time once Gillingham had retained there League One Status, and there may well be a decision made over the summer in-regards to who is going to be Gillingham’s Number One Goalkeeper for next season, either Adrian Pennock, or someone else will come in to make that decision, or, maybe they will bring in there own goalkeeper, we won’t know the answers to this question until we know, who will be Gillingham Manager, and what division will Gillingham be playing in for the start of The 2017 / 2018 Season ???

We also spoke about Rory Donnelly’s suspension, there is only a brief statement on Gillingham’s Official Website, but Rory Donnelly has been suspended and he cannot play for Gillingham in what is not only a important match because Gillingham needed a win to secure League One Football for The 2017 / 2018 Season, but avoiding relegation could be important for the following season and the season after that, and for Rory Donnelly to not be in the squad when he played so well against Fleetwood Town the previous week is sad, because I thought Rory Donnelly was going to start alongside Cody McDonald in attack, because Rory Donnelly scored against Fleetwood Town in our final home game and your only as good as your last game.

The only thing I could think of is that Rory Donnelly has been linked with a move to Motherwell in the same week that this suspension has happened, and players get linked to clubs all the time so this is nothing new and nothing that would usually see a player get suspended by the club, but maybe Rory Donnelly has spoken to someone at Motherwell, this is a rough educated guess at best and I am sure that we will get official confirmation on precisely what has happened over the coming day’s, and in Rory Donnelly’s absence, we have got Joe Quigley and Josh Parker as our main two choices to play alongside Cody McDonald, and I actually think that both players will start for Gillingham, with Joe Quigley starting alongside Cody McDonald in attack, and Josh Parker starting at Left Wing Back, because Josh Parker was out-standing for Gillingham in that position against Fleetwood Town, and as soon as Josh Parker was moved up-front, Gillingham just looked so much weaker defensively down the left side of the pitch.

Looking at what could happen and who is involved in this relegation battle, it is a three way fight between Bury, Gillingham and Port Vale to avoid the final relegation spot, Shrewsbury Town have Fifty One Points as well, but Port Vale’s Goal Difference is so much worse then Shrewsbury Town’s that Shrewsbury Town are essentially safe, basically the simple solution is that if Gillingham win, we are safe, it starts to get complicated after that, if Gillingham lose and Port Vale Draw, Gillingham are safe providing that Gillingham do not get thumped, if Port Vale lose, then Gillingham are safe no matter what, there is also a scenario where if Gillingham and Port Vale both win, they are both safe if Bury fail to win against Southend United, but if you asked Gillingham Supporters how Gillingham will stay up, most of us will say it is because Fleetwood Town win, rather then Gillingham achieving safety on our own merits, and that is how everyone felt coming into this match, Fleetwood Town will do Gillingham a favour by keeping Gillingham in League One as there pushing for Automatic Promotion, and let’s hope that is the case as well.

Because there is a financial difference between playing in League One and League Two, and even if that difference in income is £50,000, that is still a lot of money, and also, the message to the players should be, who do you want to play against next season, Charlton Athletic, Wigan Athletic, Millwall and Portsmouth, OR Morecambe, Accrington Stanley, Hartlepool United or Mansfield, this isn’t in any attempt to put down Players, Fans or Staff from the latter four clubs I have mentioned here, but the incentive for Gillingham should be to pit our wits against the best possible teams and the best possible players we can play against, and also, us as Supporters want to be traveling to The Valley, The New Den, Fratton Park and The DW Stadium, although I hope we’re not traveling to Wigan Athletic on A Monday Night, like we did when we traveled to Bolton Wanderers this season.

We actually made good time, very good time in-fact, arriving at Sixfields at 9.45AM, But we couldn’t park in The Main Car Park, we had to go across The Roundabout to A Car Park which was designated as The Away Supporters Car Park, and after paying £4 to park the car, Me and Diane made sure we had everything we wanted to take with us inside the ground, and Diane made sure she had locked her car, and we headed to Sixfields, and My Immediate thought was that this is wrong, we have arrived at A Football Ground before 10AM on A Sunday Afternoon and it was still infuriating that everyone in League One was kicking off at Twelve Mid-Day, granted we will get back early enough and we be back home earlier, but I think everyone would have preferred the usual 3PM Kick Off Time.

Me and Diane headed towards The Club Shop to Buy Our Match-Day Programme for £3, and we got speaking with Eddie, who, like every other Gillingham Supporter, wasn’t confidant that Gillingham will win against Northampton Town and we were basically pinning our hopes on Fleetwood Town winning against Port Vale for Gillingham to retain there League One Status, and after buying My Match-Day Programme, Eddie was heading off towards the pub, While Me and Diane headed towards McDonalds, there were plenty of food and drink outlets around the ground that Supporters could go to, and this is something similar to what Gillingham will want for there new stadium, as well as A Train Station at Mill Hill, which will be a high benefit to making Gillingham’s New Stadium A Success.

But before heading to McDonalds, We Saw Malcolm Steadman who was next to The Burger Van and Malcolm told us that The Team Coach won’t be in until 10.30AM, So we headed to McDonalds and the queue was basically at the door already, and I did notice that two members of staff were asking why was it so busy on A Sunday Afternoon, until someone told them that Northampton Town were playing against Gillingham at Sixfields, and that is another thing, are local businesses told when and what time these fixtures are being played ???, especially if your a busy like A Restaurant or Pub who rely on the income made on A Match-Day, unfortunately, McDonalds were only doing there Breakfast Menu, as I was thinking about getting something to eat and drink, and I decided to only buy A Coke, - But In Hindsight, this was actually a good thing that there was only A Breakfast Menu - and once I got served, it took a while to find somewhere to sit down, and once we sat down, I decided to check my phone for any updates, and I got plenty of people liking My Status updates on Facebook and Twitter, but there wasn’t any team news at this present moment in time, but while we were sitting down, I had re-tweeted several status updates from Gillingham Supporters about the up and coming match against Northampton Town and I had also re-tweeted this stat from Goodbrand Stats - https://twitter.com/StatsChristian/status/858579927846846464 - Hopefully that stat remains the case come the full time whistle.

Me and Diane decided that instead of sitting in McDonalds, we would take our drinks with us and head back to Sixfields Stadium and wait for The Team Coach to arrive, while we were waiting for The Team Coach, We got speaking with Malcolm Steadman and Malcolm didn’t know what the team was going to be but he did say that the players were feeling confidant going into this match, and with survival in our own hands that should be something that gives the players confidence, we know that if Gillingham win against Northampton Town, then Gillingham will stay up and that is precisely what needs to be said in The Pre-Match Team Talk.

The Team Coach Arrived and Scott Wagsatff was on The Team Coach, so was Bradley Dack and so was Aaron Morris, the entire squad had traveled to Northampton Town, including players who might or might not make The Substitutes Bench, no doubt the entire squad will love to be on the pitch at the full time whistle celebrating Gillingham retaining there League One Status, our prospects of Gillingham staying up were boosted further when Stuart Nelson’s Mum told us that Stuart Nelson was starting for Gillingham against Northampton Town, and that is fantastic news and precisely the news we wanted to hear, because this is a match where you need your Experienced Players, and I decided to wait until The Team Sheet was officially announced before tweeting about Stuart Nelson.

Once The Players had gone inside The Players Entrance and headed towards The Dressing Room, I then sent the following tweets,,,, Ninety Minutes until kick off, we have been here since 9.30AM., AND, We're here at Sixfields hoping that Gillingham can pick up all three points - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!! - after sending those tweets, Me and Diane got speaking with Niall, and Niall mentioned that Gillingham spent big money on the likes of Paul Konchesky, Jamie O’Hara and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, and larger wages then we realise, like many other Gillingham Supporters, Niall is more confidant in Fleetwood Town winning against Port Vale, then Gillingham being capable of winning against Northampton Town, I was in the away end at Wycombe Wanderers when Gillingham went down, and on that day, Gillingham were Eighteenth In League One and Gillingham only had to draw to stay up, and Gillingham lost 3-0, and every result that could went against Gillingham on the day went against us and Gillingham were relegated into League Two, Now, Port Vale only have to win to send Gillingham down and that is why everyone is so worried.

I said to Niall that we were going to queue up by the turnstiles, and Me and Diane said C Ya To Niall before queuing up to get into the back of the away end, one thing I noticed was that there was plenty of police presence around the ground, which made me think were Northampton Town expecting any trouble from Gillingham Supporters ???, as Me and Diane queued up to get into the back of the away end, our bags were searched by stewards and once we were searched, we were allowed to give our match ticket to The Turnstile Operator and we were in the back of the away end, I then gave money to Diane so she could buy me A 500ML Bottle Of Coca Cola, and once Diane had brought me My 500ML Bottle Of Coca Cola, I got my change back and we looked for a good spot to pick out in The Away End, I saw Dave and his two sons and I decided to stand with them, and they picked a great spot, high and central behind goal, and those were the seats that Dave had brought, I was in Block A, But having picked out a good spot, I was going to stand one row in-front of Dave, because I am not that tall, but the legroom in the away end wasn’t the greatest, so it would be a lot better to stand.

I sent Stephen A Message On Twitter asking him where he was, while Dave asked me how confidant was I ahead of this match, not confidant was my response, but I was more confidant that Fleetwood Town will do what is required to keep there Automatic Promotion Prospects alive and they will get a result which will ensure that Port Vale will go down into League Two, because Fleetwood Town will want to take some good form with them into The Playoffs, even if they cannot secure automatic promotion, I personally think that Bolton Wanderers will go up automatically, but if Bolton Wanderers do slip up, then Fleetwood Town will want to capitalise on that error from Bolton Wanderers and secure promotion into The Championship.

Eventually, We Saw Gillingham’s Team News On Twitter, And Gillingham Lined Up As Follows,,,,,,,, Stuart Nelson, Max Ehmer, Zesh Rehman, Adedeji Oshilaja, Ryan Jackson, Mark Byrne, Josh Wright, Jake Hessenthaler, Lee Martin, Josh Parker, Cody McDonald SUBS: Tomas Holy (GK), Ollie Muldoon, Emmanuel Osadebe, Scott Wagstaff, Harry Cornick, Elliott List and Joe Quigley - After The Team Sheet was confirmed, I then sent this tweet,,,, - Delighted to see Stuart Nelson starting today, we need our most experienced players playing for Gillingham This Afternoon. - And I cannot stress just how important it is to see Stuart Nelson in-between the sticks for Gillingham Football Club, This is A Goalkeeper who has been there, seen it and done it with Gillingham and A Goalkeeper you need in goal in matches as important as this, you can see by the number of notifications I got to this tweet and from everyone around me pleased with Stuart Nelson playing, on just how important it is to have our most experienced goalkeeper in-between the sticks.

Mark Byrne coming back into the side is a massive boost, and I wasn’t expecting to see Scott Wagstaff named among the substitutes bench either, formation wise, we just expected Gillingham to line up with the usual 3.4.1.2 formation, with Ryan Jackson and one of Lee Martin or Josh Parker at Wing Back, most likely Lee Martin as Rory Donnelly is now suspended, and looking at the three central midfielders, Josh Wright appears to be the most likely of the three midfielders to break further forward and support Josh Parker and Cody McDonald in attack, one thing that Gillingham must not do is play defensively and try and play to nick this 1-0, let’s put the pressure on Northampton Town, really go at them from the get go, and go on the offensive, the defence has shown all season that they are incapable of defending, so why should this match be any different ???, we should be looking to go for the win, because if Gillingham win, then Gillingham will stay in League One, it is as simple as that.

The Away End was filling up quickly as we were getting closer and closer to kick off, the back rows filled up quickly and those who had tickets in the back few rows found somewhere else to sit once a group of us had told them it is unallocated seating, but one supporter wasn’t happy with that and he went to complained to A Steward that someone was sitting in his seat, and we couldn’t believe it, the seat in question isn’t actually his seat because Gillingham only travel to Northampton Town once A Season, maybe more then once depending on cup competitions, but instead of doing what every other supporter was doing and find another seat, this supporter was going a long way to alienating himself from his fellow Gillingham Supporters, this is why Northampton Town Away needed to be unreserved seating, Because Supporters will sort themselves out and find somewhere to sit or stand.

It was good to chat briefly with GillsInTheBlood before the match, and Northampton Town even played The Liquadator song over The PA System which got Gillingham Supporters signing as the atmosphere raised in volume in the back of the away end, this is it, this is precisely the sort of atmosphere we wanted at Charlton Athletic, Diane added that she wasn’t moving from her seat, because where we were standing was perfect, just over the crossbar and we had a great view and everyone around us was standing and nervously anticipating the next ninety plus minutes, are we confidant that Gillingham can win against Northampton Town ? No, we’re not confidant, but do we hope that Gillingham can pick up all three points and get the result Gills need to stay in League One, you can bet One Million Pounds that we want Gillingham to avoid Relegation Into League Two.

Both Teams were out of the tunnel ready for kick off and the atmosphere inside The Sixfields Stadium had raised in volume, especially from the strong away support from Gillingham, behind the goal was packed and there were quite a few gaps down the side of the pitch, but even so, to take 1200 - 1400 supporters to Northampton Town on the final day of the season is fantastic, the players were put through there paces, Cody McDonald got his usual - OH CODY MCDONALD - Chant sang, ONE JOSH WRIGHT - Was sang to Josh Wright and Jake Hessenthaler got his name sang loudly as well, but Stuart Nelson got the loudest reception from supporters, as ENGLAND’S NUMBER ONE, Was back between the sticks for The Gills, and it was fantastic to see Stuart Nelson back in goal for Gillingham.

Ever since we knew the out-come of the result at The Bescot Stadium On Tuesday Night, we knew that Gillingham would be coming to Northampton Town needing a win to secure our League One Status, all the talking in The Local Press, The Articles In The Kent Messenger and comments from Gillingham Supporters over the past few days have covered extensively what Gillingham have got to do, now the talking is done, and we have to prepare ourselves for the biggest ninety minutes of football we have seen for a long long time, for the final time this season, COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FIRST HALF:

And It Is Northampton Town who were on the front-foot straight away from the kick off and it took a sliding challenge from Mark Byrne on Marc Richards to intercept the ball and play the ball back to Stuart Nelson, and when Stuart Nelson picked the ball up, I did think for a moment if an in-direct free kick was going to be given in Northampton Town’s Favour, as far as Gillingham’s Formation Goes, it is actually a 4.2.3.1 formation, with Ryan Jackson, Max Ehmer, Zesh Rehman and Adedeji Oshilaja starting in defence, with Lee Martin on The Left Wing, and A Three Man Central Midfield in Mark Byrne, Jake Hessenthaler and Josh Wright, and I think Josh Parker has been given the free role to play behind Cody McDonald in attack, but he will drop out wide on the right when we need him to.

And The First Big Goal-Scoring Opportunity Goes To Gillingham in The Second Minute Of The Match, Lee Martin has possession of the ball for Gillingham Down The Left Side Of The Pitch On the Halfway Line, and Lee Martin tries to pass the ball down the line towards Josh Parker, but Northampton Town Right Back Brendan Moloney was in the right place at the right time to cut Lee Martin’s pass out and Brendan Moloney manages to get to the loose ball first to drive the ball forward to try and pick out one of Alex Revell or Marc Richards, but Mark Byrne was in the right place to cut out Brendan Moloney’s pass and Mark Byrne passes the ball back to Zesh Rehman, who passes the ball out-wide to Adedeji Oshilaja, and Adedeji Oshilaja passes the ball short to Lee Martin, who takes a touch to control the ball, and Lee Martin passes the ball back to Adedeji Oshilaja, who passes the ball inside to Zesh Rehman, who plays the ball back to Stuart Nelson, and Stuart Nelson takes several touches on the ball before kicking the ball long down-field, and Stuart Nelson’s long kick down-field is headed clear by Lewin Nyatanga, but Mark Byrne manages to win the aerial challenge on the halfway line to header the ball forward, and Cody McDonald manages to bring the ball down and lay the ball off into Josh Parker’s path, and Josh Parker takes a touch to control the ball before curling the ball over David Cornell’s Crossbar by some considerable distance.

But that chance from Josh Parker is at least something to build on from The Gills, and you can tell from the touches that Adedeji Oshilaja, Lee Martin and Zesh Rehman have had on the ball already, Gillingham are going to slowly build there way into this match, perhaps wary that one mistake could lead to Northampton Town Scoring, so there is going to be a low risk approach in Gillingham’s Style Of Play, I don’t think any Gillingham Supporter will mind how Gillingham play against Northampton Town providing that Gillingham get the win and pick up the three points we clearly need to retain our League One Status for another season, because I don’t want to pin my hopes on Fleetwood Town winning against Port Vale for Gillingham to avoid the drop.

Three Minutes Into The Match, and Every Gillingham Supporter was out-raged with the decision from Referee Darren England to award A Free Kick To Northampton Town, Because everyone thought that Max Ehmer had timed his challenge to perfection on Marc Richards, and from the resulting free kick, Matty Taylor plays the ball short to David Buchanan, and The Northampton Town Left Back drills in an dangerous low cross and Ryan Jackson is well positioned to make the clearance and Gillingham survive a real scare on to our own goal.

But In The Fourth Minute, Lee Martin is penalised for hand-ball, and at the time I was furious with the decision because I thought how was that a foul by Lee Martin, and from the resulting free kick, Matty Taylor has whipped in a quality free kick to the back-stick, and Alex Revell wins the aerial challenge up against Max Ehmer to header the ball back across the face of goal and Adedeji Oshilaja needed two touches to eventually get the ball clear and away from Gillingham’s Penalty Area, and Gillingham require a backs against the wall approach to the way we are defending against Northampton Town at the moment.

And this pressure from Northampton Town shows no sign’s of subsiding as Gillingham are under the cosh, the first goal is going to be essential in this match, and like-wise, the first goal will be crucial in The Fleetwood Town V Port Vale Match as well, Northampton Town are enjoying a very successful passage in play, with Gillingham sitting deep and trying to deny space in and behind our defence, but we’re just giving Northampton Town so much time on the ball - PUT A TACKLE IN!!!! - And - GET INTO THEM - Was chanted towards the players, eventually, Brendan Moloney has possession for Northampton Town Down The Right Side Of The Pitch In Gillingham’s Final Third, and Brendan Moloney cuts inside into a more central position on the pitch and unleashes a driven effort towards goal which takes the slightest of deflections off Mark Byrne, and Northampton Town can still the pile the pressure on to Gillingham’s Goal From The Resulting Corner Kick, normally, whenever the home side win A Corner Kick, it is the home supporters who raise the atmosphere, but chants of “GILLS, GILLS, GILLS” Could be heard loud and clear, as we were desperate for Gillingham to preserve parity at the very least.

And From The Resulting Corner Kick, Matty Taylor has whipped in an sensational in-swinging cross right into the heart of Gillingham’s Penalty Area and Cody McDonald does brilliantly to header the ball clear and away from danger, and Adedeji Oshilaja manages to get to the second ball first and Northampton Town Midfielder Shaun McWilliams is penalised for his challenge on The Gillingham Defender and Gillingham managed to win themselves A Free Kick to relieve the pressure building up on to our own goal, and A Minute Later, Lewin Nyatanga looks to play the ball over the top of Gillingham’s Defence Down The Left Side Of The Pitch and Adedeji Oshilaja has managed to get back and shield the ball out of play for A Gillingham Goal-Kick, you can sense how nervous every Gillingham Supporter is at the moment, and I have got to say that I am very very nervous because Northampton Town are on top and we don’t know what the score is between Fleetwood Town and Port Vale.

But From The Resulting Goal-Kick, Gillingham had a golden opportunity to open the scoring as Referee Darren England awarded Gillingham A Penalty, Stuart Nelson kicks the ball long down-field and Cody McDonald was pushed to the deck by Lewin Nyatanga, and despite the appeals from Gillingham Supporters, Referee Darren England doesn’t award Gillingham A Free Kick, but the second ball falls kindly to Josh Parker, and Josh Parker takes a touch to control the ball before threading a fantastic through-ball through to Cody McDonald and Cody McDonald was pushed to the ground by David Buchanan and Referee Darren England points to The Penalty Spot Straight Away and every Gillingham Supporter in The Moulton College Stand and the end few blocks in The East Stand were on there feet celebrating, because this is precisely what Gillingham needed, A Penalty and The Chance to open the scoring, and having survived a onslaught on to our own goal for the past few minutes, Josh Wright can give Gillingham The Lead From The Penalty Spot which could well be the goal that guarantee’s League One Football for The 2017 / 2018 season.

And up stepped Josh Wright to place the ball into the bottom right corner of the net, however, Northampton Town Goalkeeper David Cornell guessed the right way and dived to his left to turn the ball around the post and will we look back on this moment in dread and think, had that gone in then Gillingham would be safe, I think Josh Wright took the wrong option and everyone around me including David said that Josh Wright should have smashed The Penalty and gone for power, just make sure that you score, when you opt for accurate efforts like The Penalty That Josh Wright has just taken, you have got to place the ball right into the side netting to score, a powerful effort would have been parried and the re-bound could have still been scored, David added that Josh Wright was lucky to score the equaliser against MK Dons as his penalty was parried that day, and David thought that maybe with all the clips from Soccer AM and SKY Sports that Josh Wright’s Penalty Taking Routine is getting sussed out and maybe Cody McDonald should have taken The Penalty Kick Instead, I just hope that we don’t look back on that Penalty Save as the moment that sent Gillingham down into League Two.

From The Resulting Corner Kick, and Northampton Town had the chance to turn defence into attack as Lee Martin’s in-swinging cross was cleared and it looked liked for a moment that Hiram Boateng was going to hit Gillingham on the Counter Attack, but Jake Hessenthaler does brilliantly to track back and intercept the ball and pass the ball back to Stuart Nelson, can Gillingham recover from the set back of not scoring from The Penalty Spot, because that is precisely what Gillingham have got to do now ???

Eleven Minutes Into The Match, and Josh Parker is penalised for his challenge on Brendon Moloney, again, I don’t think this was a foul and this was a very poor decision from Referee Darren England, and I think play on would have been a acceptable decision, Thankfully, Northampton Town do not capitalise on The Free Kick given in there favour as Matty Taylor whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross and Marc Richards is penalised for hand-ball, and Referee Darren England awards Gillingham A Free Kick, A Free Kick which relieves the pressure building up on to Gillingham’s Goal.

Thirteen Minutes Into The Match, and Gillingham are now putting Northampton Town’s Defence under pressure, Mark Byrne wins possession back for The Gills and Jake Hessenthaler squares the ball to Josh Wright, who passes the ball further forward to Ryan Jackson, and if this was last season, Ryan Jackson would have gone on a bursting run down the right wing and take someone on, but recent hamstring injuries might have affected Ryan Jackson mentally, so Ryan Jackson drops the ball back inside to Mark Byrne, who passes the ball out-wide to Ryan Jackson, who this time does take on David Buchanan, and Ryan Jackson whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross towards the far post, and Brendan Moloney headers the ball out of play at the expense of A Corner Kick - COME ON GILLS!!!!!!!!! - As The Noise From Every Gillingham Supporter Raises In Volume.

And From The Resulting Corner Kick, Lee Martin has whipped in an sensational in-swinging cross and Northampton Town Goalkeeper David Cornell has done really well to punch the ball clear and away from danger from underneath his own crossbar and Ryan Jackson just about gets to the loose ball ahead of Alex Revell, and Ryan Jackson kicks the ball against The Northampton Town Striker to win Gillingham A Throw On in Northampton Town’s Half Of The Pitch, and again, the noise raises in volume from the back of the away end, can Gillingham open the scoring from another long throw ??? - we all hope that is the case, and Ryan Jackson has hurled in A Dangerous Long Throw into the heart of Northampton Town’s Penalty Area, and the hosts survived a real goal-mouth scramble and just about clear there lines, but only at the expense for another throw on, and Gillingham can still pile on the pressure from the resulting throw on, and again, Ryan Jackson has hurled in A Dangerous Long Throw, but Max Ehmer cannot flick the ball goal-wards or flick the ball back across the face of goal to set up A Team-Mate, and Northampton Town are awarded A Goal-Kick.

Fifteen Minutes Into The Match, Shuan McWilliams plays a long diagonal ball and Ryan Jackson’s header falls kindly to Northampton Town Midfielder Paul Anderson, who is first to react to the second ball, cuts inside into a more central position on the pitch and Paul Anderson see’s his curling effort towards goal blocked and cleared by Zesh Rehman and Ryan Jackson can consider himself very lucky to have got away with that, why jump for the aerial challenge when the ball was heading out of play for A Gillingham Goal-Kick, Gillingham have also made a tactical change by switching Mark Byrne with Josh Wright, it appears that one of the three central midfielders out of Jake Hessenthaler, Josh Wright and Mark Byrne are being asked to play out of position on The Right Wing, so that means that Gillingham are lining up with a flat 4.4.2 formation.

Seventeen Minutes Into The Match, and Cody McDonald is penalised for his challenge on Zander Diamond, but it is in The Eighteenth Minute where Northampton Town came very close to opening the scoring, again, Northampton Town look a threat down the left side of the pitch, Gillingham’s Right, as David Buchanan and Hiram Boateng are causing Mark Byrne and Ryan Jackson a lot of problems, and David Buchanan has managed to get Hiram Boateng in and behind Gillingham’s Defence, and The Northampton Town Midfielder has fired the ball across Gillingham’s Six Yard Box and Zesh Rehman has done brilliantly to slide in and clear the ball away from danger, Well Done Zesh Rehman, because had Zesh Rehman not blocked that cross, then Alex Revell would have had a simple tap in for Northampton Town.

You can tell that Gillingham are nervous and we’re conscious on not making a defensive error that leads to A Goal For Northampton Town, especially as Adedeji Oshilaja passes the ball out for A Throw On For Northampton Town, that’s nerves right there for you, we look nervous, and we as Supporters were very very nervous, because we hadn’t heard anything from The Fleetwood Town V Port Vale Match, and A Goal For Fleetwood Town would calm our nerves a bit, The First Goal In This Game is absolutely crucial and I just hope that Gillingham can recover from the set-back of missing that penalty and go on and get the opening goal of the game, and I hope that Josh Wright can be that player who gives Gillingham the lead, as he would atone for The Penalty Miss, and if Gillingham can grab that opening goal, Then the confidence gained from scoring first would be huge, we know all the permutations and scenario’s in how Gillingham can avoid relegation, the most simple scenario is to win against Northampton Town, and I just hope that is precisely what Gillingham can do.

Twenty Two Minutes Into The Match, Gillingham are awarded A Free Kick as Alex Revell is penalised for his challenge on Mark Byrne, who I have got to say is having a terrific game in Gillingham’s Midfield and it is great to see Mark Byrne back in the side again, especially for a match of this importance, and From The Resulting Free Kick, Lee Martin has aimed an in-swinging cross towards the far post and Lewin Nyatanga and David Buchanan do enough between the two of them to clear the ball away from Northampton Town’s Goal, however, Gillingham do have A Throw On In Northampton Town’s Final Third, and the noise increases in volume from the away end, as every Gillingham Supporter was hoping that this is where Gillingham were going to take the lead.

And From The Resulting Throw On, that is almost what happens, as Ryan Jackson hurls in an dangerous long throw and Max Ehmer gets the faintest of touches to flick the ball back across the fact of goal towards Cody McDonald, and Cody McDonald manages to bring the ball down but he cannot get a shot off towards goal as Alex Revell and Shuan McWilliams do enough between the two of them to block and then clear the ball away from danger for Northampton Town, although we were still scratching our heads as to why Northampton Town had A Free Kick given in there favour.

Twenty Seven Minutes Into The Match, and Mark Byrne manages to pick out Jake Hessenthaler with A Long Cross-Field Pass From Gillingham’s Final Third into Northampton Town’s Final Third Down The Left Side Of The Pitch, but The Linesman Down The Far Side had his flag raised for offside, sensational pass from Mark Byrne, and Gillingham are knocking on the door at the moment, as The Gills are looking to make the all important breakthrough in this crucial match on the final day of The 2016 / 2017 season in League One.

Twenty Nine Minutes Into The Match, And Gillingham almost opened the scoring, David Cornell kicks the ball long down-field and Marc Richards wins the initial aerial challenge up against Mark Byrne and Zesh Rehman, and Marc Richards even wins the second aerial challenge to header the ball forwards and Adedeji Oshilaja gets plenty of height and distance on to his clearance to clear the ball away from danger and Brendan Moloney headers the ball forward for Northampton Town towards the halfway line, and Josh Wright gets the faintest of touches to header the ball backwards and Mark Byrne just gets ahead of Marc Richards to the loose ball and Mark Byrne manages to pass the ball out-wide to Ryan Jackson, who takes a touch to control the ball, and Ryan Jackson runs forward in possession of the ball and Ryan Jackson continue’s his run forward - GO ON RYAN JACKSON!!!!!! - Was our response as the noise increases from the back of the away end, and Ryan Jackson takes on David Buchanan, Twists and turns to try and trick David Buchanan, and Ryan Jackson manages to get to the byline and whip in a high and hanging cross and Matt Taylor manages to header the ball partially clear and away from danger for Northampton Town, but the loose ball drops kindly to Jake Hessenthaler on the edge of Northampton Town’s Penalty Area, and Jake Hessenthaler takes a touch to control the ball before looking to accurately place the ball into the bottom left corner of the net, but David Cornell manages to dive low down to his right to turn the ball around the post when we all thought for a moment that Jake Hessenthaler had managed to open the scoring for The Gills.

Unfortunately, From The Resulting Corner Kick, Lee Martin has whipped in an over-hit corner kick towards the far post which runs harmlessly out of play for A Northampton Town Goal-Kick, and you have got to say that Gillingham have wasted a glorious goal-scoring opportunity from that corner kick there, I mentioned in My NotePad that was A Chance Wasted and that is precisely what it was, the atmosphere from The Large Gillingham Traveling Support were still in good voice and still encouraging the players and that is good to see, had this match been strict reserved seating like Charlton Athletic Away, then I don’t think the atmosphere would have been as good, because those who are standing and singing are vocally singing and chanting as much as they can, every Gillingham Supporter is doing there bit to try and encourage the players as much as possible, Hopefully Gillingham can make the breakthrough and take the lead, because both Northampton Town V Gillingham and Fleetwood Town V Port Vale is goal-less at this present moment in time.

Thirty One Minutes Into The Match, and I thought that the foul given against Jake Hessenthaler for his challenge on Shaun McWilliams was very harsh, Diane added that all these soft decisions that The Referee is giving in Northampton Town’s Favour is going to cost us the game, although, Referee Darren England did award Gillingham The Penalty Which we should have scored, Thankfully, The Free Kick doesn’t result in A Goal-Scoring Opportunity for Northampton Town, but The Hosts have got some very good players in there starting line up with Marc Richards, Alex Revell, Matty Taylor, Lewin Nyatanga, Hiram Boateng and Zander Diamond, and with the quality of players that Northampton Town have got, we cannot just assume that The Hosts aren’t going to get  chances to score themselves.

However, Gillingham had the chance to open the scoring in The Thirty Second Minute, Initially, It Is Northampton Town looking to make the breakthrough as The Host Have A Throw On In Gillingham’s Half Of The Pitch Down The Left Side and Brendan Moloney throws the ball short to Marc Richards who plays the ball back to Brendan Moloney first time, and Brendan Moloney controls the ball and evades Lee Martin’s Challenge and Brendan Moloney tries to flick the ball past Adedeji Oshilaja, but Adedeji Oshilaja blocks the ball with his chest even though Northampton Town Supporters appealed for hand-ball, but I have got to say that Lee Martin’s clearance was dreadful, up and under into the middle of the pitch in Gillingham’s Final Third, and Josh Parker gets the faintest of touches to header the ball further away from goal and Cody McDonald just manages to get to the loose ball first ahead of Zander Diamond, and Cody McDonald manages to bring the ball under his control before passing the ball out-wide to Ryan Jackson.

And it is from here where The Counter Attack is on for The Gills as Gillingham break in numbers, and Ryan Jackson has possession of the ball for The Gills, and Ryan Jackson goes on a driving run forward down The Right Wing and Ryan Jackson runs further wide with the ball to retain possession of the ball, and Ryan Jackson whips in an dangerous low cross into the heart of Northampton Town’s Penalty Area and Lewin Nyatanga manages to come across and just get to the loose ball ahead of Cody McDonald to clear the ball away from danger, and David Buchanan gets to the loose ball ahead of Ryan Jackson and David Buchanan tries to get the ball clear for Northampton Town, but the second ball falls kindly into Jake Hessenthaler’s path in a central position, and Jake Hessenthaler takes a touch to control the ball, and Jake Hessenthaler only just manages to square the ball Lee Martin as Jake Hessenthaler was being closed down by Paul Anderson, and Lee Martin takes a touch to control the ball, before cutting inside and curling a effort towards goal with plenty of whip and pace on the ball, but Lee Martin’s effort on goal lacked the power to cause David Cornell any serious problems between the sticks, but nonetheless, it is still a save that David Cornell has had to make.

Thirty Three Minutes Into The Match, and we couldn’t believe that Paul Anderson’s challenge on Cody McDonald wasn’t penalised by Referee Darren England, however, Northampton Town could have inflicted a much more severe punishment on Gillingham as The Hosts came very close to opening the scoring in The Thirty Fourth Minute, David Cornell takes several touches on the ball for Northampton Town and David Cornell boots the ball high and long down-field for Northampton Town, and Alex Revell wins the aerial challenge up against Zesh Rehman to flicks the ball on and Marc Richards manages to get in-front of Max Ehmer inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area to bring the ball down and Max Ehmer and Marc Richards are both competing for the loose ball and Shaun McWilliams comes running on to the loose ball to hit a driven effort towards goal, but Max Ehmer throws himself in-front of Shaun McWilliams effort towards goal, and Max Ehmer manages to divert the ball away from goal and out of play for A Northampton Town Corner Kick.

And Northampton Town are really putting Gillingham under a lot of pressure as Matty Taylor comes across to take the resulting corner kick for Northampton Town, and Matty Taylor whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross into the heart of Gillingham’s Penalty Area and Cody McDonald manages to header the ball clear, Northampton Town Midfielder Paul Anderson headers the ball back inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area and Cody McDonald is there again to boot the ball clear and out of play for A Northampton Town Throw On, It is resolute defending, Desperate Defending and we are understandably very nervous, but Gillingham have got to do anything and everything to stop Northampton Town scoring, and if that means clearing the ball twenty times in a row in the same attack then so be it.

Thirty Four Minutes Into The Match, and Northampton Town win another corner kick, again Max Ehmer is in the right place at the right time as Brendan Moloney almost manages to pick out Marc Richards with an dangerous in-swinging cross towards the far post and Max Ehmer gets the faintest of touches to header the ball out of play for A Northampton Town Corner Kick, From The Resulting Corner Kick, Matty Taylor whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross and Zesh Rehman manages to header the ball clear and away from danger for Gillingham, and when Paul Anderson brings the ball down and looks to pick out one of Marc Richards or Alex Revell with A Long Ball Over The Top, The Linesman Down The Near Side Of The Pitch had his flag waved for offside.

But any rest-bite for Gillingham was short lived, because The Hosts are dominating and look the more likely side to open the scoring, I have mentioned how much of A Threat David Buchanan and Hiram Boateng have been for Northampton Town up against Mark Byrne and Ryan Jackson, well these two are very problematic for Gillingham, and Mark Byrne does brilliantly to stick with Hiram Boateng and Mark Byrne is forced to concede Another Corner Kick, David mentioned that Josh Wright’s Defensive Awareness was very poor for that passage of play and if he is worth what Nottingham Forest are prepared to pay for him then he would cash in on Josh Wright, and we may well have to, regardless if Gillingham avoid relegation or drop down into League Two, one player Gillingham have been missing all season is Aaron Morris, and I mentioned that A Fully Fit Aaron Morris would be like Gillingham signing Ronaldo from Real Madrid Next Season.

From The Resulting Corner Kick, Matty Taylor couldn’t pick out anyone inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area, and Adedeji Oshilaja manages to keep the ball in play, and Adedeji Oshilaja clears the ball away from danger and Adedeji Oshilaja’s clearance turns into a good pass towards Josh Parker, who brilliantly brings the ball under control with his first touch, and then Josh Parker has the vision and awareness to play the ball through for Jake Hessenthaler to run on to and the atmosphere raised in volume in the back of the away end for a moment, however, The Linesman down the far side of the pitch had his flag raised for offside, and because we don’t have A Side On View, I couldn’t say for sure if Jake Hessenthaler was onside or if he was offside, but what a pass from Josh Parker, who has been one of Gillingham’s Best Players On The Pitch At This Present Moment In Time.

However, In The Thirty Eighth Minute Of The Match, Northampton Town Had A Golden Opportunity To Open The Scoring, Northampton Town Have A Throw On Down The Right Side Of The Pitch In Gillingham’s Final Third, and Brendan Moloney Throws The Ball Short to Alex Revell, who plays the ball back to Brendan Moloney, and Brendan Moloney runs into A More Central Position on the pitch, and The Northampton Town Right Back clips a fantastic ball towards the back-stick and Max Ehmer lost his man for a moment, and Marc Richards headers the ball back across the face of goal, and Marc Richards Header flashes just wide of Stuart Nelson’s Left Hand Post and had Marc Richards Header Been On Target then Northampton Town would have opened the scoring, I had My Head In My Hands after that, and COME ON GILLS!!!!! Was The Out-Cry Of Frustration from the vast majority of our supporters, that should be 1-0 to Northampton Town, no doubt about it.

Forty One Minutes Into The Match, and there was A Huge Controversial Decision as Cody McDonald was flagged for offside when he was clearly onside, and you could hear the frustrations and irritations from every Gillingham Supporter with that decision, and our frustrations continued A Minute Later as Matty Taylor takes Josh Parker out with a late and reckless challenge, A Challenge which see’s The Experienced Northampton Town Midfielder Shown A Yellow Card From Referee Darren England and Gillingham were awarded A Free Kick.

But instead of putting the pressure on Northampton Town’s Goal From the Resulting Free Kick, The Hosts almost hit Gillingham on The Counter Attack, as Lee Martin whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross towards the back-stick and Lewin Nyatanga headers the ball clear and Alex Revell kicks the ball long down-field, leaving a foot-race between Marc Richards and Adedeji Oshilaja, and Adedeji Oshilaja managed to get back in time to header the loose ball back to Stuart Nelson and we could breath a sigh of relief.

But as we’re approaching The Half Time Whistle, Northampton Town are dominating proceedings and they are the team on top in the closing stages at the end of The First Half, Max Ehmer is in the right place at the right time to cut out Alex Revell’s threaded through-ball, but the loose ball falls kindly to Paul Anderson, who plays the ball out-wide to Hiram Boateng, and The Northampton Town Midfielder checks the ball back to David Buchanan, and David Buchanan whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross into the heart of Gillingham’s Penalty Area and Zesh Rehman takes no chances by heading the ball out of play for A Northampton Town Corner Kick, Thankfully, From A Gillingham Point Of View, Northampton Town do not create a noteworthy goal-scoring opportunity from the resulting corner kick, and we could breath a sigh of relief when A Goal-Kick To Gillingham was awarded.

The Fourth Official Had His Board Raised and this showed Two Additional Minutes Of Added Time, and in The Second Of Those Two Minutes, Adedeji Oshilaja is penalised for A Foul Throw right in-front of the linesman, and David pointed out that this is the third time that Adedeji Oshilaja has been warned from The Linesman, I failed to spot the previous two, but that one is hard to miss when A Foul Throw Is Give Against You.

And that was the final noteworthy moment of The First Half, Neither Team has broken the dead-lock at Sixfields and the score-line is still goal-less, before kick off, I am sure that every Gillingham Supporter would have taken 0-0 at Half Time, but in the context of the match, Josh Wright’s Missed Penalty could have huge repercussions for Gillingham Football Club when The Full Time Whistle Is Blown.

HALF TIME: NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0 - 0 GILLINGHAM

The First Piece Of Interesting News that we found out was that Fleetwood Town V Port Vale was Six Minutes Behind us, as Fleetwood Town have had to substitute Cian Bolger through injury, while Port Vale have lost both JJ Hooper and Danny Pugh because of injury, Port Vale being forced to make A Double Substitution means that Michael Brown will have to hold back on that final substitute for as long as possible, because Port Vale do not want to go to ten men should they use all of there substitutes and Port Vale then lose another player through injury.

Both Teams have created decent goal-scoring opportunities in The First Half, Jake Hessenthaler and Lee Martin have both seen efforts on goal saved by David Cornell, Josh Parker had an effort which failed to hit the target after two minutes, but the best opportunity Gillingham had to open the scoring was from the penalty spot, and every Gillingham Supporter said the same-thing after The Penalty Was Saved, Josh Wright should have opted for power, because if your going to place a penalty into the back of the net, it needs to go right into the side netting if the goalkeeper dives the right way, maybe Cody McDonald or Josh Parker should have taken it, but I am hoping that Gillingham can get that all important first goal in The Second Half, otherwise we will be looking back on that Josh Wright Penalty as the moment that could send Gillingham Down Into League Two.

Northampton Town’s Best Goal-Scoring Opportunity was Marc Richards Header which went back across the face of goal and only just wide of Stuart Nelson’s Left Hand Post, there has been a lot of corner kicks and free kicks for the hosts, a lot of desperate and last ditch defending from Gillingham and Stuart Nelson hasn’t been tested to make that top draw save that severely tests your Goalkeeper In-Between The Sticks, but when you look at Northampton Town’s Starting Line Up, they have the players capable of sticking the ball into the back of the net and Marc Richards is on a good goal-scoring run for Northampton Town at the moment, which is why it was it was so surprising that Marc Richards didn’t open the scoring for Northampton Town with that header.

I sent the following Tweet On Twitter,,,, HALF TIME NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0 - 0 GILLINGHAM - My nerves are taking a battering, especially when that header went wide from Northampton Town,,,     The Next Forty Five Minutes Plus Stoppage Time are huge for Gillingham Football Club and Adrian  Pennock is preparing himself for the biggest half time team talk of his managerial career, and with Gillingham kicking towards there own Supporters in The Second Half, then maybe we can do our bit to inspire the players and inspire someone to go and get that goal which will keep Gillingham In League One.

Looking at the possible options that Gillingham can bring on, I think Elliott List for Lee Martin would be an interesting choice, Elliott List has blistering pace and he can take players on and I think Elliott List can cause Northampton Town’s Defence A Lot Of Problems, Scott Wagstaff must be fit to play if he is on the bench as well, and maybe Emmanuel Osadebe can come on to boost Gillingham’s Energy Levels In Midfield for the latter stages when players begin to tire.

One thing the players have got to do more is just shoot, try your luck from distance, maybe a deflection or ricochet will fall our way and that will be the bit of luck Gillingham will need for Gillingham to retain our League One Status, to say I am nervous right about now is an understatement, I can only imagine what other Gillingham Fans nerves are like if your listening to the game on The Radio, or following the match on SKY Sports or BBC Final Score, let’s just hope that Gillingham do enough to retain our League One Status, Massive Second Half Coming Up - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SECOND HALF:

Neither Adrian Pennock nor Justin Edinburgh made any substitutions at Half Time, with Both Manager’s probably waiting and seeing what will happen over the next fifteen minutes before deciding on making any personal changes, I just hope that Adrian Pennock makes attacking substitutions to try and go for the win, because if Gillingham win, then we are safe regardless what Port Vale are doing in there match at Fleetwood Town, Now Bury are currently losing 1-0 against Southend United, but for Gillingham to leap-frog Bury, we would need to see Bury concede another seven goals, as Bury would be ahead of Gillingham on Goal Difference with Fifty Points if the results stay as they are.

And Gillingham Make A Fantastic Start To The Second Half as The Gills have A Throw On Down The Right Side Of The Pitch in Northampton Town’s Final Third, and Ryan Jackson has hurled in an dangerous long throw into the heart of Northampton Town’s Penalty Area and the ball drops to Josh Wright who tee’s up Cody McDonald, and Cody McDonald’s First Time Shot Towards Goal Is Blocked By David Buchanan and Lee Martin manages to get to the loose ball ahead of Shuan McWilliams, and Lee Martin manages to stay on his feat and Lee Martin manages to get to the byline, pretend to whip in a cross and play the ball back to Zesh Rehman, who evades Shaun McWilliams attempted challenge and just about manages to keep the ball in play before playing the ball back to Jake Hessenthaler, who side-steps past Shaun McWilliams Challenge, and Jake Hessenthaler looks to play the ball forward to Zesh Rehman, but instead back-heals the ball back to Lee Martin, and Lee Martin whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross first time and Zander Diamond on the stretch can only loop the ball up into the air and Cody McDonald quickly readjusts himself to direct his header towards goal, but Cody McDonald’s Header fails to severely test David Cornell in-between the sticks - but this is A Good Start To The Second Half For The Gills.

Forty Eight Minutes Into The Match, and Ryan Jackson is penalised for his challenge on Alex Revell, And From The Resulting Free Kick, Matty Taylor has whipped in an sensational cross towards the far post, and Alex Revell has managed to win the aerial challenge up against Max Ehmer to header the ball back across the face of goal to try and pick out Marc Richards, but Stuart Nelson is well positioned to claim the ball and then quickly distribute the ball down-field with a long kick forwards, We are going to be in for a very long second half, I just hope that Gillingham can go and grab the goal we need to make absolutely certain that our League One Status will be secured for next season.

And we were checking the scores from other matches in League One, Fleetwood Town V Port Vale is goal-less at the break, and Southend United are still winning against Bury by the odd goal, Bolton Wanderers were winning 1-0 against Peterborough United and they look very likely to be the team who will go on to secure that second automatic promotion spot, If Gillingham cannot break the deadlock, then please Fleetwood Town score the first goal of the game at Highbury, because that would make things much more comfortable as far as we are concerned.

Fifty Minutes Into The Match, and Hiram Boateng is penalised for his challenge on Josh Wright Down The Right Side Of The Pitch, and Gillingham have the chance to open the scoring from The Resulting Free Kick, and that is almost precisely what happens as well, as Lee Martin whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross and Lee Martin’s Cross manages to pick out Adedeji Oshilaja down the opposite side of the pitch, and Adedeji Oshilaja brings the ball down, but his cross is charged down by Marc Richards, who not only blocks the cross, but manages to get to the loose ball first and run from Northampton Town’s Final Third Into Gillingham’s Final Third, and Adedji Oshilaja brings Marc Richards Down and Northampton Town have won themselves a free kick within shooting territory here.

From the Resulting Free Kick, Matty Taylor shows how ambitious he is by attempting a driven effort towards goal and Lee Martin has jumped in the wall to make the block, and the loose ball falls kindly towards Mark Byrne, who plays the ball forward to Josh Parker, and despite being out-numbered and leading Gillingham’s Attack all be himself, Josh Parker does brilliantly to win Gillingham A Throw On In Northampton Town’s Final Third, and the noise raises in volume from Gillingham’s Large Traveling Support - But Well Done Josh Parker for winning that throw on for Gillingham.

And Gillingham came close to scoring from The Resulting Throw On, Ryan Jackson has hurled in an dangerous long throw into the heart of Northampton Town’s Penalty Area and Marc Richards wins the initial aerial challenge and the second ball drops to Max Ehmer, who cannot get a shot away on goal and neither can Cody McDonald get a shot away on target as there is a very scrappy goal-mouth scramble and Matty Taylor cannot get the ball clear for Northampton Town, and the second ball falls kindly to Lee Martin, who also see’s his driven shot towards goal blocked, and Josh Parker manages to get to the loose ball and Josh Parker retains possession of the ball ahead of Shaun McWilliams attempted challenge, and Josh Parker does brilliantly to dig out a pass to pick out Ryan Jackson down the right side of Northampton Town’s Penalty Area, and Ryan Jackson is one on one with Paul Anderson, and Ryan Jackson uses his pace to take on Paul Anderson around the out-side, but Ryan Jackson’s low shot towards goal is very easy for David Cornell to save.

But Gillingham had an even greater opportunity to score A Minute Later, once again Josh Parker has been at the forefront of everything that has been good about Gillingham’s Attack, and Josh Parker managed to pick out Cody McDonald with an dangerous low cross, and Cody McDonald manages to turn Lewin Nyatanga inside Northampton Town’s Penalty Area, but Cody McDonald couldn’t quite manage to get a shot off on target and Northampton Town survive another scare and get the ball and away from danger, but it is Gillingham who are pushing to break the deadlock.

And In The Fifty Fifth Minute, Gillingham had another chance to open the scoring, Again, It Is another Ryan Jackson Long Throw which is causing Northampton Town plenty of problems as Ryan Jackson has hurled in an dangerous long throw into the heart of Northampton Town’s Penalty Area, and Zander Diamond manages to header the ball clear and Jake Hessenthaler only just about gets to the loose ball ahead of Paul Anderson, and Jake Hessenthaler plays the ball out-wide to Ryan Jackson, who checks the ball inside to Jake Hessenthaler, and Jake Hessenthaler whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross and Cody McDonald cannot header the ball towards goal because Matty Taylor has headed the ball out of play for A Gillingham Corner-Kick, and to our surprise and shock, The Officials Award Northampton Town A Goal-Kick when that clearly should have been A Corner Kick To Gillingham.

In The Fifty Sixth Minute, I thought that Lee Martin had a very soft foul given against him for his challenge on Brendan Moloney, and instead of putting the cross into the box straight away, Matty Taylor passes the ball down the line towards Paul Anderson, who was looking to take on Ryan Jackson, but Ryan Jackson slides in to make the interception and clears the ball out of play for A Northampton Town Throw In, And Northampton Town came close to opening the scoring from the resulting throw on, David Buchanan throws the ball short to Hiram Boateng, who manages to retain possession of the ball despite Ryan Jackson’s attempted challenge, and Hiram Boateng plays the ball out-wide to David Buchanan, who plays the ball back to Matty Taylor, and Matty Taylor has whipped in an sensational first time cross and Paul Anderson gets the faintest of touches to either flick the ball on for a team-mate to run on to, or go for goal himself, I nervously anticipated Northampton Town Opening the scoring from that passage of play and thankfully, the ball runs out of play for A Gillingham Goal-Kick.

Sixty Two Minutes Into The Match, and Gillingham had the chance to open the scoring, Gillingham have A Throw On Down The Left Side Of The Pitch and Adedeji Oshilaja Throws The Ball Long Down The Line and Shaun McWilliams headers the ball back to Zander Diamond, who boots the ball long down-field, and Alex Revell manages to get in-front of Zesh Rehman to retain possession of the ball, but Mark Byrne doubles up with Zesh Rehman to intercept the ball and play the ball back to Adedeji Oshilaja, who boots the ball high and long down-field and Cody McDonald manages to get in-front of Zander Diamond to chest the ball back to Josh Parker, who spins past Paul Anderson who slides to the floor to try and intercept the ball, and Josh Parker see’s his driven effort towards goal take the faintest of touches off Lewin Nyatanga, and that deflection only just went wide of David Cornell’s Left Hand Post - The Atmosphere Increases in Volume Behind The Goal as we were hoping and praying that Gillingham would open the scoring from the resulting corner kick.

But Gillingham tried to be too clever with the corner kick routine, as Lee Martin tries to go for the short corner kick routine to Max Ehmer, and Max Ehmer plays the ball back to Lee Martin, who see’s his cross charged down by Hiram Boateng, and Gillingham can try again from the resulting corner kick, however, From The Resulting Corner Kick, Lee Martin’s out-swinging cross must have gone out of play and curled back into play again as The Linesman and Referee Darren England awarded Northampton Town A Goal-Kick, What A Waste, we’re not going to get many opportunities to score and in matches where there is nothing to separate either side, a set play can make all the difference, I mentioned to David that perhaps it is time for Jake Hessenthaler to take a few corner kicks, try changing our set piece takers to see if that will work.

A Minute Later, and Ryan Jackson does his defensive duties diligently by playing the ball back to Stuart Nelson, however, In The Sixty Fifth Minute, Northampton Town made there intentions very clear with there first substitution as Keshi Anderson replaces Hiram Boateng, and Keshi Anderson Is A Winger / Striker on loan from Crystal Palace, Keshi Anderson has got a lot of pace and he can cause teams a lot of problems, The fact that every Gillingham Supporter was nervous when he came on shows how good a player we think Keshi Anderson is, but also, we know just how important the next twenty five minutes is going to be, not just in our match at Sixfields, but Fleetwood Town V Port Vale, now if Gillingham and Port Vale both score, it is Bury who drop into The League One Relegation Zone, as they are still currently losing 1-0 to Southend United.

But I am looking across at our substitute options, Joe Quigley, Harry Cornick, Elliott List and Scott Wagstaff are all on the bench, Gillingham need to win against Northampton Town to make absolutely sure that League One Football is guaranteed for next season, David mentioned that what are the odds that Gillingham keep a clean sheet but we still end up being relegated into League Two, because that is still a distinct possibility.

Gillingham are putting the pressure on to Northampton Town’s Goal, Ryan Jackson can attempt two long throws in quick succession for The Gills, The First Long Throw from Ryan Jackson is headed clear at the near post by Lewin Nyatanga, and Ryan Jackson shields the ball out of play so that he can try again for Gillingham, and again, Ryan Jackson has hurled in an dangerous long throw in into the heart of Northampton Town’s Penalty Area, and David Buchanan headers the ball clear at the near post, but the second ball comes back to Ryan Jackson, who squares the ball inside to Jake Hessenthaler in an more central position on the pitch, and Jake Hessenthaler looked up to see who he can pass the ball to before taking the safe option by passing the ball out-wide to Ryan Jackson, who takes a touch to control the ball before seeing his cross charged down by Paul Anderson, and Gillingham have the chance to open the scoring from the resulting corner kick.

And that is almost precisely what happens, as Lee Martin whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross from the resulting corner kick, and Lewin Nyatanga headers the ball clear, but the second ball falls kindly to Lee Martin, who takes a touch to control the ball, and Lee Martin manages to dig out a cross to the far side of Northampton Town’s Penalty Area and this time it is David Buchanan heading the ball clear and away from danger and the loose ball falls kindly to Shaun McWilliams, who was looking to breakaway and start a counter attack for Northampton Town, but Jake Hessenthaler times his challenge on The Northampton Town Midfielder to perfection, and Max Ehmer lays the ball off into Mark Byrne’s Path, who takes a few touches in possession of the ball, and with The Gillingham Supporters Behind the goal urging Mark Byrne to shoot, that is precisely what Mark Byrne does, although Mark Byrne drags his shot wide of David Cornell’s Right Hand Post With The Northampton Town Goalkeeper diving to that side in-case Mark Byrne’s effort had gone in - in-fact, Mark Byrne’s shot almost turned into a good pass towards Josh Wright, who was onside and Josh Wright came close to scoring for Gillingham in that same attack there.

Still, It is Gillingham who are asking the question of Northampton Town’s Defence and can Gillingham score that all Important opening goal of the game ???, In The Sixty Ninth Minute, and Ryan Jackson has hurled in another long throw and Zander Diamond is forced to header the ball out of play at the expense of a corner kick, and the noise increases in volume in the back of the away end, Lee Martin whips in another dangerous in-swinging cross, but this time Northampton Town are awarded a free kick as Adedeji Oshilaja is penalised for a foul, We’re into the final twenty minutes here, and surely Adrian Pennock must be considering a substitution to try and go for the winner, because one goal for The Gills now will go a long way for Gillingham to retain our League One Status.

Seventy Three Minutes Into The Match, And Northampton Town have put Gillingham under an sustained spell of pressure, Keshi Anderson is causing Gillingham Problems with his pace and even though Gillingham might get the ball clear, there is no out-ball, and there is a reluctance from Gillingham to push out, and that’s why Gillingham Supporters Were Chanting - PUT A TACKLE IN - And - GET INTO THEM - We were getting aggravated and nervous, and finally, when Keshi Anderson plays the ball out-wide to Brendan Moloney, The Northampton Town Right Back whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross which is too high for Marc Richards to header on target or back across the face of goal, and we can finally breath a sigh of relief when A Goal-Kick is awarded in Gillingham’s Favour.

A Minute Later, And In The Seventy Fourth Minute, Brendan Moloney is booked for his challenge on Lee Martin, but then came the biggest controversial talking point in The Seventy Sixth Minute Of The Match, Gillingham Have A Throw On Down The Right Side Of the Pitch, and Ryan Jackson has hurled in another dangerous long throw into the heart of Northampton Town’s Penalty Area, and Lewin Nyatanga headers the ball clear for Northampton Town, but the second ball comes back to Ryan Jackson, who takes a touch to control the ball before playing the ball back to Jake Hessenthaler, who also takes a touch to bring the ball under control, and Jake Hessenthaler’s cross is charged down by David Buchanan, but Jake Hessenthaler does at least get to the loose ball first, and Jake Hessenthaler plays the ball over the top of Northampton Town’s Defence Towards Ryan Jackson, and you can clearly see that Shaun McWilliams has handled the ball, and there was a massive hand-ball shout from every Gillingham Supporter Behind The Goal - the only thing you can question is if it was A Penalty Or A Free Kick On The Edge Of The Penalty Area, but a decision needed to be given there and that is poor from The Official’s, 100% hand-ball and A Talking Point we are going to be talking about between now and The Full Time Whistle, and beyond that as well, as Fleetwood Town V Port Vale is six minutes behind our game.

Seventy Seven Minutes Into The Match, and Cody McDonald is harshly penalised as David Buchanan throws himself to the deck in a defensive position to win Northampton Town A Free Kick which relieves the pressure building on to there goal, but at least In The Seventy Eighth Minute Marc Richards is penalised for his challenge on Adedeji Oshilaja, however, In The Seventy Ninth Minute, Mark Byrne is penalised for his challenge on Brendon Moloney, and Northampton Town have A Free Kick Twenty Five Yards Out in an central position on the pitch and they have got a set piece specialist in Matty Taylor, now we were really nervous, thankfully, Matty Taylor couldn’t curl the ball over Gillingham’s Wall and Gillingham manage to clear the danger.

Eighty Three Minutes Into The Match, And Both Teams are pushing for what will surely be the goal which will go on and win the game, Northampton Town Goalkeeper David Cornell has possession of the ball, and David Cornell kicks the ball long down-field and Alex Revell flicks the ball on before Max Ehmer can get to the ball first, but Zesh Rehman was well positioned to kick the ball clear and away from danger, but Brendan Moloney manages to bring the ball down and looks to get Northampton Town on the front-foot, and Josh Parker comes across and manages to intercept the ball before threading a sensational through-ball through for Cody McDonald to run on to, and Cody McDonald has the pace to get the better off Lewin Nyatanga, and just when Cody McDonald cuts back inside, Cody McDonald slips at the crucial moment, as soon as Cody McDonald was in and through on goal, Cody McDonald should have taken the chance on first time, what a chance for Gillingham to score, and will The Gills get a chance as good as that between now and the full time whistle ???

The Clock On The Scoreboard next to us had disappeared, so I am left guessing how much time had past, but Adedeji Oshilaja conceded a real cheap corner kick and Northampton Town had the chance to score what surely will be the winning goal from the resulting corner, what surprised and irritated us, was the fact that we’re in The Eighty Fifth Minute - We were guessing Eighty Five Minutes -, and still Adrian Pennock hasn’t made A Substitute for Gillingham, surely we should be thinking about tactical changes to try and go on and win the game, Matty Taylor goes across to take the resulting corner kick for Northampton Town, and Matty Taylor has whipped in an sensational cross and Josh Wright has done brilliantly to header the ball clear and away from danger, but only as far to Paul Anderson on the edge of Gillingham’s Penalty Area, and Paul Anderson’s cross / shot is easy for Stuart Nelson to save, It is still goal-less at Highbury, but how we can do with Fleetwood Town scoring right about now, because we are really really nervous at the moment, I just hope that David’s prediction isn’t true, Gillingham keep a clean sheet but Gillingham drop down into League Two.

And as we’re approaching the closing stages of this match, Gillingham have the chance to score the winner which would guarantee League One Football For The 2017 / 2018 season, David Buchanan has possession of the ball for Northampton Town Down The Left Side Of The Pitch On The Halfway Line, and David Buchanan plays the ball forward to Keshi Anderson, who retains possession of the ball and runs towards the right side of the pitch, and Keshi Anderson plays the ball out-wide to Brendan Moloney, who takes a touch to control the ball, and Brendan Moloney see’s his cross take a huge deflection off Lee Martin and that deflection see’s the ball loop up into the air and Adedeji Oshilaja headers the ball clear, but only as far to Matty Taylor, who headers the ball out-wide to Brendan Moloney, who cuts inside into an more central position, and Brendan Moloney see’s his chipped cross / shot headed clear by Zesh Rehman, and Matty Taylor squares the ball first time to Paul Anderson, who brings the ball under his control and runs forward in possession of the ball, and Paul Anderson whips in an sensational cross which only just clears Marc Richards and Alex Revell’s Heads and Adedeji Oshilaja headers the ball clear.

And From Here, Gillingham can turn defence into attack, as Adedeji Oshilaja’s Header falls kindly to Mark Byrne, who takes a touch to control the ball, and Mark Byrne threads the ball through to Cody McDonald on The Halfway Line, and Cody McDonald is running forward in possession of the ball and just as Cody McDonald is looking to take on Zander Diamond, Cody McDonald slips again, Cody McDonald needs to put longer studs on as he keeps slipping, it just hasn’t happened for Cody McDonald at the moment, but I keep Cody on, because if ever Gillingham need a goal, then Cody McDonald is more then capable of sticking the ball into the back of the net.

I am still surprised that Adrian Pennock hasn’t made a single substitute - MAKE A CHANGE PENNOCK!!!!!!!! - Could be heard chanted loud and clear from the back of the away end, There was also another controversial talking point as Cody McDonald is penalised for his challenge on Zander Diamond when it was the other way around as Zander Diamond had fouled Cody McDonald, Matty Taylor goes short to David Buchanan from the resulting free kick, and David Buchanan runs down The Left Wing and Jake Hessenthaler times his challenge to perfection, from the resulting throw on, David Buchanan throws the ball back to Matty Taylor, who plays A Cross-Field Pass Towards Brendan Moloney, and The Northampton Town Right Back Brings The Ball Down, looks to take on Lee Martin and whip in an dangerous in-swinging cross, and Lee Martin has tracked back to make the block, but by making that block, Northampton Town have the chance to score what will surely be the winning goal here from the resulting corner kick.

And Matty Taylor has whipped in an sensational in-swinging cross towards the far post and Stuart Nelson does brilliantly to pick that cross out of the air, and Stuart Nelson goes to ground to relieve the pressure building on to Gillingham’s Defence, Unfortunately, Stuart Nelson has sliced his attempted drop kick out of play for A Northampton Town Throw On, On The Halfway Line, And From Here, Northampton Town can still pile on the pressure on to Gillingham’s Goal, David Buchanan throws the ball centrally towards Zander Diamond, who takes no chances by booting the ball high up into the air and Max Ehmer headers the ball clear and Matty Taylor headers the ball forward towards Shaun McWilliams, and I thought that Mark Byrne does brilliantly to not only make the block, but come away with possession with the ball, and I like to know how Shaun McWilliams sliding in on Mark Byrne results in Northampton Town winning A Free Kick ???, shocking decision from Referee Darren England.

There is just time left for Matty Taylor to whip in an dangerous in-swinging cross which runs all the way through to Stuart Nelson, and Stuart Nelson had to watch the bounce of the ball very carefully, and Stuart Nelson gathers the ball and dives on to the deck to relieve the pressure building on to Gillingham’s Goal, and once Stuart Nelson booted the ball long down-field, Referee Darren England blew his whistle for Full Time, And Now We Wait On The Out-Come Of The Fleetwood Town V Port Vale Game.

FULL TIME: NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0 - 0 GILLINGHAM

I was checking My Phone and I was constantly Refreshing Twitter, and then we heard the news we were waiting for as Fleetwood Town had opened the scoring, however, our celebrations had died down as Ashley Eastham’s Goal was chalked off for offside, still we were waiting, and waiting, and waiting, because Fleetwood Town V Port Vale still had six additional minutes plus stoppage time to play, every Gillingham Supporter was nervous, if we were nervous during the game, then times how nervous we were by A Thousand waiting for The Fleetwood Town V Port Vale Result to come through.

Then, We Heard The News That We Wanted To Hear, Fleetwood Town V Port Vale also ended goal-less and when the news broke, The Celebrations In The Back Of The Away End Can Finally Begin - WE ARE STAYING UP, WE ARE STAYING UP!!!!!! Could be heard chanted from every Gillingham Supporter In The Away End, ONE JOSH WRIGHT, OH CODY MCDONALD AND ENGLAND’S NUMBER ONE Chanted Towards Stuart Nelson were also sang loud and clear, And THE LAST WALTZ Was also sang at full volume as well.

But Those Five Minutes we spent waiting and waiting for The Fleetwood Town V Port Vale Game to finish in Gillingham’s Favour were torture, My Nerves were complete shot in those five minutes, hoping, praying, pleading with Fleetwood Town to either draw or win, but when the news broke that Fleetwood Town V Port Vale ended goal-less, then The Celebrations Could Begin, and at The Start Of The 2016 / 2017 Season, Gillingham’s Aims For The Season were to challenge for The League One Playoff Places, and we have failed to challenge for the playoffs by some considerable distance, our celebrations are a massive sigh of relief, because it is essential that Gillingham are playing in League One For The 2017 / 2018 Season, while there isn’t too much of a financial difference between League’s One And Two, There is still A Financial Difference, and also, you want to see the club you support competing in the highest possible division that they can play in, and for Gillingham League One is Higher Then League Two, we want to be playing in League One Again Next Season.

Also, It Was Nice To See Supporters Smiling and Cheering once The Fleetwood Town V Port Vale Result had come through, We As Gillingham Supporters haven’t had much to cheer about this season, Watford Away Probably being the best result of the season, but it is nice to finish The 2016 / 2017 Season With Gillingham’s League One Status Safe And Secured, I would have preferred it had Josh Wright scored The Penalty And Gillingham stayed up and we won the game, but what is crucial is that Gillingham have stayed up and we now have a massive re-building process for the off season, but that re-building process is slightly easier when your talking to new players to sign for Gillingham Football Club and play in League One, compare to, Come To Gillingham Football Club and help Gillingham bounce back into League One.

In-Terms Of Taking Pictures, I took Pictures before and after the game only, I was writing a lot of notes in My NotePad and I didn’t take as many pictures this time, as My Nerves were shot throughout that game, and you can tell just how relieved everyone was in the away end, and this was defiantly one of those “I WAS THERE” Moments, However, there was one moment after the game I didn’t participate in, and that was the language aimed in Justin Edinburgh’s direction and some of the gesturing from some of our fans, I thought that crossed a line, now everyone will have different opinions on how to react towards Justin Edinburgh at the end of the match on Sunday, But I disagreed with the reaction and that over-stepped a mark in my opinion - but what does everyone else think ??? Was the reactions towards Justin Edinburgh justified or acceptable, or, do you think that those responses crossed a line and were out of order ???

I made sure I had everything on me before making my way to The Exit, I met up with Stephen, who like everyone else was delighted that Gillingham had managed to retain there League One Status, but those five minutes we spent waiting for The Fleetwood Town V Port Vale Result to come through were the most nerve wrecking minutes I have experienced in a long long time, and I was just expecting Port Vale to score A Winner In Added Time, as that has been the way this season has gone for Gillingham, thankfully, Fleetwood Town V Port Vale Finished Goal-Wards and we can look forward to another season in League One for The Fifth Consecutive Season, which means that Gillingham can start looking forward to trips to Portsmouth, Charlton Athletic, MK Dons, Peterborough United, Oxford United, Doncaster Rovers, Plymouth Argyle, Southend United, AFC Wimbledon, Rotherham United and Wigan Athletic, I have never been to Fratton Park before, so it would be nice to travel to Portsmouth Next Season.

Stephen added that he was going to buy a few pints when he got back home, I added that Stephen was probably going to buy a few pints anyway, but at least these are going to be celebratory pints and not drowning your sorrow because Gillingham have been relegated into League Two, Stephen added that he got his NoirCat Prediction Spot On, I had A Gillingham Win, Diane Had A Northampton Town Win and Stephen had A Draw, but the result that really matters is Gillingham avoiding relegation, so The NoirCat Presentation Evening is going to an enjoyable evening, I wonder who the player is going to be this time ???

Me And Diane got speaking with Stuart Nelson’s Mum, And A Clean Sheet and Avoiding Relegation Is Probably what Stuart Nelson would have wanted, the only thing that was missing was Josh Wright scoring from The Penalty Spot, I mentioned that I was convinced that Port Vale were going to score in added time, such has been how this season has been going, and that five minute wait was just so nerve wrecking that My Heart Rate Probably Jumped to Two Hundred Beats A Second.

At Least The Trip Back Home Is Going To Be An Enjoyable Trip, we can finally put The 2016 / 2017 Season Behind Us, We can breath A Huge Sigh Of Relief and because Northampton Town V Gillingham Kicked Off At Mid-Day, we can get back earlier then expected as well, Then, Something That Rarely Happens Happened, Stewart got in contact with Me First and His Text Message Of - You Lucky Ducks - Summed Up Our League One Survival In Just Three Words, So I Rang Stewart Up to mention that Gillingham had stayed up and how we had to wait for five minutes for The Fleetwood Town V Port Vale Match To Finish Before Our League One Status Was Confirmed, Stewart then mentioned to me what will I do after the season has ended, not much was My Response, Saturday’s are not the same without A Football Match To Go To - Or In This Case, Sunday - After the way this season has gone, and how those five minutes went waiting for The Fleetwood Town V Port Vale Result to come through, I think Every Gillingham Supporter can do with a much needed rest, because it has been a difficult season.

After My Phone Call With Stewart Had Ended, I Saw Jim And Brad, and everyone was just so relieved that Gillingham had managed to avoid relegation into League Two, And Me, Diane, David and Dave headed round to The Players Entrance, Dave had managed to get Lee Martin’s Shirt, which wasn’t very big and some boots, he just needed, shorts, socks and shin-pads to complete the kit.

We Congratulated The Players As They Made There Way On To The Coach, Jake Hessenthaler, Cody McDonald, Josh Wright, Lee Martin, Max Ehmer and co were all willing to stop and speak to Supporters and Stuart Nelson got his photo taken with many fans as well, Malcolm Steadman needed a smoke to calm his nerves down, And many members of Gillingham’s Staff were checking The Fleetwood Town and Port Vale Score Every Second - I Know We Were constantly checking the score from The Fleetwood Town V Port Vale Game - I have to offer My Commiserations to Rocket-Man and Other Port Vale Supporters, As Port Vale Have Suffered Relegation into League Two and that could have quite easily been Gillingham who went down instead, I do like going to Port Vale Away, it’s not a bad away trip to travel to from Gillingham, but I am obviously pleased that Gillingham have retained there League One Status,

The Coaching Staff were out next and Adrian Pennock took plenty of time to speak to Gillingham Supporters who stayed behind to see The Players Get On The Team Coach, Adrian Pennock Signed Autographs, he thanked us for our support, but he also looked very tired and fatigued, When your appointed as Manager during the middle of the season, it usually means that your coming in because The Previous Manager hasn’t done a good enough job, but I was hoping that Adrian Pennock would walk away with his iconic status at Gillingham Football Club in-tact and we can at least thank him for keeping Gillingham In League One, that will obviously be a discussion which will take place during the week as Gillingham have no more league matches to focus on now, and we also now know what division Gillingham are playing in next season.

I Then sent The Following Four Tweets In A Row,,,,, ONE YES!!!! - WE ARE STAYING UP - But don’t Gillingham make hard work of it - But Gills retaining our League 1 status was what was important today, TWO Josh Parker Was Gillingham’s Man Of The Match Today, well worth a new deal for next season THREE YES ROB!!!!! - Gillingham are staying up!!!!!, I then followed that tweet up by mentioning that, FOUR That was the toughest 90 minutes of football we have watched for a long long time, delighted Gills managed to get over the line.

And Me and Dave were both very impressed with Josh Parker’s Performance for Gillingham, The only thing missing from his performance was a goal, and looking ahead to next season, we can start planning trips to Charlton Athletic, Southend United and MK Dons, For David, Bristol Rovers and Plymouth Argyle are nice trips, but it is Portsmouth Away which is going to be very exciting because I have never been to Fratton Park before.

Once The Team Coach Had Left, We Decided to make A Move, although Me, David, and Dave stopped out-side The Northampton Town Club Bar to speak to A Few Northampton Town Supporters, Diane mentioned that she was going to get her car so that The Car Park doesn’t lock her inside, I mentioned On Facebook that I would meet up with Diane at McDonalds, While we were speaking to A Few Northampton Town Supporters, they mentioned just how terrible A League, League Two was for them and how it really is a blood and thunder league at times, also, there are some long trips in League Two, Blackpool, Morecambe, Accrington Stanley, Hartlepool United and Carlisle United, and when you compare that to traveling to Charlton Athletic, Millwall, Southend United, AFC Wimbledon, MK Dons, Peterborough United and Portsmouth, the mileage is a lot more favourable, but we could be playing against one of Blackburn Rovers, Nottingham Forest or Birmingham City Next Season as well.

We Wished Northampton Town All The Best For Next Season, and likewise, they wished us all the best, I then Said C Ya To Dave, and David, and we can look forward to any transfer rumours and speculation over the summer, and I started to make my way to McDonalds, only stopping briefly to speak to A Few Northampton Town Supporters, who mentioned that I must have been very nervous at the end of the game, and I mentioned that I was, as we were waiting for The Fleetwood Town V Port Vale result to come in, The Two Northampton Town Supporters then mentioned that Northampton Town could be cutting there playing budget for Next Season and they have heard unconfirmed reports that Northampton Town could sign Rory Donnelly, and they wanted my thoughts on him as A Player, I mentioned that although Rory Donnelly has only score two goals this season, he hasn’t had a consistent run in the team in one position, but he has also been linked with a move to Motherwell as well.

The Two Northampton Town Supporters confirmed that Justin Edinburgh didn’t shake Adrian Pennock’s Hand, and this surprised me, because other then both being Manager’s At Gillingham, there is nothing to suggest that a spat is warranted, Justin Edinburgh played for Tottenham in his playing career, and Adrian Pennock was A Very Good Lower League Defender, so there path’s wouldn’t have crossed too much, I wasn’t sure what to make of the spat at the time, I was just glad that Gillingham managed to stay up.

We wished each other all the best for next season, as I made my way to McDonalds, and as I arrived at McDonalds, Diane was only in-front of me In The Queue By Three People, and I waited to be served, once I was served, I brought Nine Chicken Nuggets, Large Fries and A Large Coke for £5.90, and while I was waiting for My Order, I had Re-Tweeted The Following Tweet From The Football Pyramid - Breaking news: Kenny Jackett is at Sixfields today watching the #gills game. Possible manager if Ady goes? @GillsDebate - I then Re-Tweeted Luke’s Tweet which said the following - Ady Pennock and Justin Edinburgh shared a beer after the game, nothing personal apparently before the game, with no hand shake. - I think Justin Edinburgh not shaking Adrian Pennock’s Hand Before Kick Off was really poor, but I also thought that the gestures and swearing at Justin Edinburgh after the game as he walked around the pitch was out of order and over-stepped the mark in my opinion.

Diane picked out A Table that was free, and I picked up My Meal and we could sit down and eat, and also, I was Re-Tweeting Tweets From Ryan Jackson, Emmanuel Osadebe, Josh Wright, Mark Byrne, and Max Ehmer, and I also Re-Tweeted Tweets From Former Gillingham Players John Egan, Barry Ashby and Mark Lovell as well, The Journey Back Home Shouldn’t Take Too Long, and Also, It will be great traveling back to Kent With Gillingham’s League One Status In-Tact for another season.

Once we had finished our meals, we headed back to Diane’s Car, and Diane wanted to fill up at The Petrol Station before we headed back home again, So we got into the car and looked around for A Petrol Station, and once we had found A Petrol Station and had parked up, I got out of the car while Diane was filling up her car with fuel, As I decided to go into The Shop to buy A 500ML Bottle Of Coca Cola for £1.80, once I paid for My Drink, Diane was queuing up to pay for the fuel, and Diane then mentioned to me that My Percentage Of The Fuel Costs was £16 - not bad, not bad at all - if only most of our away trips were that cheap.

Once we were back in The Car, I decided to check Facebook and I had so many notifications that I needed to take a look at, The First Message I got was From Chris who said that, Good to see Gills survive to sort the squad out for next season and what would be better to follow up then A FIFA Tournament at the guys house in Rochester, I replied back, When was The FIFA Tournament as I was on my way back from Northampton Town so I should be back home at 6.30PM - 7PM, I also mentioned to Chris that Gillingham need to sort the squad out for next season, mid-table next year wouldn’t be too bad.

I have played in that FIFA Tournament Since then and One Win, Two Draws and Two Defeats saw Me End In Fourth Position Out Of Six, I need to come up with A Different Tactic for the next tournament and maybe My Tactic With Aberystwyth Town On Football Manager will do the trick, where I completely flooded the middle of the pitch, That’s the thing with these tournaments and how we pick players, The Formation You Play can make A Difference.

Gary Had Tweeted that Gillingham were the last of all Twenty Four Teams In League One to draw 0-0, and we managed to get that result on the final day of The 2016 / 2017 Season, and I Re-Tweeted Chris Hope’s Tweet, There Was The Official Gillingham Twitter Account Tweeting That Gillingham had stayed up, Luke had posted A Link To Kent Online, Gillingham Ladies were crowned Champions so it had been A Good Day For Both Gillingham Teams, Finn O’Mara had also tweeted his delight that Gillingham had avoided relegation.

I Then Tweeted The Following Tweet,,,,, NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0 - 0 GILLINGHAM - What are your thoughts on Gills 0-0 draw against Northampton Town? - Feel free to ask me your questions, and Andrew asked me if Adrian Pennock should carry on as manager next season, think we should try and get someone with more experienced in, I replied back saying that, I think we need to try and get someone else in, Staying In L1 will see quite a few manager's interested in The Gills Job., Katie had tweeted her delight that this dreadful season was over and Gillingham were still in League One, and I replied back saying that, Same Here Katie, at least we can look forward to Charlton Athletic and Portsmouth home and away next season.

I had also replied to Brad Saying That, You can look forward to local trips to Doncaster Rovers and Rotherham Next Season, that was a tough 90 mins to watch today., and Brad replied back mentioning that the match against Northampton Town was a scrap, and he, like many Gillingham Supporters were glad that this season was over, and Brad wished me a safe trip back to Rainham.

Mark, who celebrated Torquay United retaining there Conference National Status before Gillingham Played, was someone I sent A Message to on Facebook, and I mentioned that, Now we can enjoy a great escape on the final day of the season as well, and Mark replied back saying that, glad you did it, and when I mentioned to Emily that I am looking forward to Portsmouth Next Season, I got quite A Few Responses From Gillingham Supporters who were also looking forward to Portsmouth Away, I had also re-tweeted plenty of tweets on Twitter and Zesh Rehman was the latest Gillingham Player to send A Tweet, and Diane mentioned that when she will get the chance, Diane will reply and retweet as many tweets as she possibly can, and Diane also wanted to know what Date is The NoirCat Presentation Night at Priestfield Stadium ??? - I mentioned that I will check again on My Phone, and it is on The Nineteenth Of May, I am not sure who the player is going to be who turns up this time round though.

Steve’s Tweet said the following,,,, @BBCKentSport interviews with AP and Nels, never heard anything like it in all my footballing years #raw #emotional #passion #poison #gills,,,, I Re-Tweeted The Tweet and I tried to play Stuart Nelson’s Interview On My Mobile, but I couldn’t hear what was being said clearly, I have listened to that interview since then, and here is The Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRgc0e4vnaM - And Stuart Nelson really does speak with a lot of passion in this interview.

I mentioned to Richard that We did it the hard way, but Gillingham have managed to retain there League 1 Status, but that was a really nervy 90 mins today. and Richard replied back saying that, you’ve supported The Gills for a long time, let’s face it it’s standard, you have to have a heart of steel and nerves of rock, I replied back to Richard saying that, Nice to be able to celebrate avoiding relegation, it's been a difficult season and a testing one for supporters as well. and I sent David A Tweet and asked him the following, Hello David, What was it like listening to today's match on The Radio ???, David’s Response back was stressful to the extreme, Had Cod Army Wall On PC, JED fulfilled his expectation of crassness, and I replied back saying that, My voice was gone at the end of the game today David, & when we found out Gillingham had stayed up, that's when the celebrations could begin, I also got plenty of responses about Portsmouth Away as well.

Danial Replied back to me that Josh Parker has been Adrian Pennock’s Best Signing and he deserves A New Deal And A Pay Rise, and that Josh Parker has looked good regardless of what position he has played, I would offer Josh Parker A One Plus One Contract, But The One Player I Think That Gillingham should move heaven and earth to re-sign is Cody McDonald, we have got to offer Cody McDonald at least A Two Year Contract, possibly longer to try and hang on to him, I just hope that David’s Comments about Cody McDonald signing for Billericay Town are untrue and we can do everything we can to sign up Cody McDonald to A New Deal.

We had made very good time, and other then A Few Traffic Problems At The Dartford Crossing, there were no other road delays, I guess playing On A Sunday Afternoon might be a contributing factor to this, and I mentioned to Diane that we won’t have much to do on A Saturday Afternoon Now, But Diane was traveling to Anfield to watch Liverpool V Southampton At Anfield In A Week’s Time, and Diane has been trying and trying to get a ticket to watch Liverpool at Anfield for ages, and also, go to A Liverpool Game that doesn’t clash With A Gillingham Match, Diane had parked up out-side My House At 7PM, And I thanked Diane for the lift before paying My £16 share of The Fuel Costs.

And The Football League Season Is Over For Gillingham Football Club For Another Season, The 2016 / 2017 Season had more lows then highs, and we went through every emotion, waiting and waiting for that Fleetwood Town V Port Vale Result To Come Through, and it was nice to see Gillingham Supporters Smiling and Cheering, because we haven’t had much to smile or cheer about this season, Watford Away being the stand out moment this season, but Gillingham have done it the hard way, we have managed to retain our League One Status, and now our attentions turn to the summer, Who will be Gillingham’s Manager ???, Which players will we keep and release ???, Who will be our new signings ???, How will Gillingham Line Up Formation Wise Next Season ???, But at least Gillingham will be lining up in League One Next Season, and that is what matters.

And Finally, Thank You To Every Gillingham Supporter for the comments, the feed-back, the notifications on Facebook and Twitter, they are genuinely most appreciated, I hope everyone has an enjoyable summer, and let’s hope that The 2017 / 2018 season is a much better one for Gillingham Football Club On And Off The Field, For The Last Time This Season - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[junker-town]

Cleveland Cavaliers have the first sensory inclusive sporting arena. Here’s what that means and why it matters

The team adapted their home court after a fan with non-verbal autism was turned away.

It was just over a year ago during Autism Awareness night at a home Cleveland Cavaliers game that the Quicken Loans Arena staff was faced with a significant new issue. A young fan with non-verbal autism wanted to watch his hometown heroes play, but the boy communicated through an iPad that had an external speaker attached to his body.

The arena staff, unequipped to address such a delicate matter, gave the young fan a choice: Remove his device or be denied access. The spine-chilling ultimatum not only robbed the boy of his voice, but his dignity.

His mother tweeted her displeasure at the Cavaliers. How could they treat her son like an outcast? Through social media, the team reached back out to the family.

@amy_belles @cavsdan saw your tweet! Can you please follow and DM us so that we can learn more about what happened? Thanks!

— The Q Assist (@TheQAssist) February 28, 2016

When upper management caught wind of the quandary, they were determined to fix the problem once and for all. No one should ever feel excluded at any event, certainly not at the Q.

On Thursday night, Quicken Loans Arena revealed itself as a sensory inclusive arena, the first such in all of American professional sports.

Twenty percent of the population, just like that young boy, suffer from a disability, and 80 percent of that 20 percent — or four of every 25 people — have disabilities you cannot see.

Sensory inclusion means the the arena and its staff cater to those dealing with conditions like autism, PTSD, Parkinson’s disease, and early onset dementia. They provide a sensory bag, with items like sound-bending headphones, fidget toys, weighted lap pads, and a feelings thermometer. In the event the scene becomes too overwhelming, those guests can enjoy the night in the Q’s sensory room, a safe space designed to ease the mind and calm the senses.

“This is the very first time that you’re reaching out to a population that any league has never tapped into,” said Julian Maha, founder and CEO of the Kulture City company that trained Quicken Loans Arena team members. “This is actually saying you guys are our fans as well, and we’re going to include you in everything that we do.”

Not too long ago, Maha and his wife took their nine-year-old son to an Atlanta Hawks game. Their son loves basketball dearly, but he too deals with non-verbal autism and has heightened sensitivity to sound.

Ten minutes into the game, Maha’s family had to leave. The noise had overwhelmed his boy and they needed a break. But Philips Arena, like many professional sports stadiums worldwide, has stringent exit-entrance policies. Once they left, the family couldn’t re-enter.

That day, Maha knew he had to find an answer not just for his family, but for others like them throughout the nation. Now, he’s parlayed the dismay from that night into an opportunity to create a better environment for sports fans.

“We wanted to figure out a way to really create change in our communities,” Maha said in a phone interview with SB Nation. “Despite our external differences, all of us long to belong to a community. It boils down to that essence of what makes us human.”

Maha happened to bump into a member of the Cavaliers upper management on a flight. “Serendipity,” he called it. The two discussed inclusion, and how Kulture City could help tackle the Q’s issue head-on. He suggested providing inclusive experiences at all venues, including sporting arenas, waters no one had treaded before.

Some venues provide sensory-friendly spaces during one-off events with smaller crowds and softer noises than at NBA games. Maha wanted to promote daily accessibility at sporting events for all suffering from autism, PTSD, Parkinson’s Disease, early onset dementia, and other disabilities.

To do that, he had to start at the fundamental level: Education.

Maha and his Kulture City team observed the total fan experience at Quicken Loans Arena during last year’s NBA Finals. They began secondary analyses in November, where they trained 2,000 Quicken Loans Arena team members. The three-hour training session dragged into overtime, when the ‘students’ stayed late to get a full grasp of sensory inclusion.

“After the training, most people take off, but the staff at the Q stayed for about 30-35 minutes asking questions after the fact,” Maha said. “They wanted to make sure that every guest that comes to the arena gets treated and accepted equally.”

The Quicken Loans Arena has now created an inclusive experience for its new audience. Guests walk in and have the option of grabbing a sensory bag. If they don’t take it upon entrance, they can always pick one up during the game.

The arena staff, which now features 500 trained, full-time assistants, is always on-hand to assists in the aisles. Inside the bag, there’s a lanyard. Wearing it immediately lets staff know you may be non-verbal or have sensory disabilities. You’re given a feelings thermometer: If you can’t verbalize your feelings, you can check-off boxes on the card and hand it to a staff member.

“A lot of folks that are on the spectrum or have sensory sensitivities can’t always communicate the way they want,” Patrick Scanlon, director of fan experience at Quicken Loans Arena, said in a phone interview with SB Nation. “So the guest can communicate through icons and verbiage that’s on these cards to let us know how they’re feeling, if they’re happy, if they’re content, if they’re tired, if they’re sad, if they’re frustrated.”

“Electric” is a word oft-used to describe an NBA atmosphere. Sometimes, that environment can be overwhelming.

In the bag are sound-bending headphones to keep guests calm. There are toys to play with to keep the hands occupied. There’s a weighted lap blanket if one needs that sense of security.

Sometimes, it takes a breath of fresh air. New policies allow guests to leave and take a break without the fear of restricted re-entry.

Finally, the new sensory room serves as a safe haven. It calms the senses to prevent an overload. There’s a bubble wall that calms the eyes. There’s a puro listening station to soothe the ears. And there’s a ‘sensory wall’ that appeals to the touch.

The Q’s new community sensory room is the first of its kind in the United States.

More sensory inclusive arenas are coming

The NBA’s league offices have been “incredibly receptive” to the idea, Scanlon told SB Nation. In fact, the league wants to spread it to the league’s remaining 29 teams, he said.

Scanlon doesn’t have children dealing with health issues, though his father spent 20 years in the air force and 20 years in the post office. For him, his passion stems from educating the public on the issues they may not see.

Scanlon hops on a monthly call with 29 other teams, where they share best practices in elevating the guest experience. He admitted that he didn’t want the other teams to know what Quicken Loans Arena was up to until it had been rolled out and implemented. Now, his focus had shifted to spreading the knowledge he’s picked up over the past months and helping the rest of the league get on board.

“We want your experience, no matter where you are as an NBA fan, to be the same and more importantly, to be inclusive, no matter what city you live in,” he said. “We’re seeing people come back and say, ‘This is amazing because now I can take my son to a Cavs game, or I can bring my family to a Cavs game.

“That means the world to us.”

[fan-of-mulligan]

FOM BLOG: GILLINGHAM 1 - 1 MILLWALL

My Thoughts On Gillingham V Millwall……………………….

I Left My House at 12.50PM in the afternoon and I made sure I had the following things on me,,,,,,,, (Money, Keys, My Gillingham Season Ticket, My Samsung Galaxy S2, Spare Battery, My Gillingham Jacket, Spare Lids, My Gillingham Scarf, My Gillingham Bag, A Packet Of Polo’s, Pad and Pens, Stephen’s Charlton Athletic Ticket and a 500ML Bottle Of Coca Cola) - and I made sure I had everything on me before making the fifteen / twenty minute walk from my house to Rainham Train Station, and once I arrived at Rainham Train Station at 13.10PM, I brought My Return Train Ticket To Gillingham for £3.90, just before leaving My House, I had posted the following status updates on Facebook And Twitter,,,, On My Way To Priestfield Stadium as Gillingham take on Millwall, hopefully, Gillingham can pick up all three points today, we have to, COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got on The 13.15PM Train, and I got A Message From Stephen, and Stephen mentioned that he is getting a later train and he will be looking to get to the ground around 1.45PM, While I was on the train, I checked for any responses and notifications on Facebook and Twitter and I had also posted how I think Gillingham will line up against Millwall, I also saw A Few West Ham United Supporters on the train as West Ham United are at home to Swansea City this afternoon, and one thing I have noticed with West Ham United Home Matches, Is that Gillingham’s Home Attendances have taken a dip whenever Gillingham and West Ham United are at home at the same-time.

I arrived in Gillingham at 13.20PM, and one thing I couldn’t help but notice, was the number of Police Officers I saw around Gillingham High Street and Gillingham Train Station, There was at least Five Police Vans and Thirty Police Officers around Gillingham Town Centre, now I normally stay behind after the game waiting for the crowd to disperse, but I think I will stay behind longer then usual just to make absolutely sure, and as I made my way to Priestfield Stadium, I saw more Police Officers out-side Sainsbury’s and you can tell that Kent Police are expecting something to happen out-side the ground this afternoon, and here is a link to The Kent Online Article speaking about additional Police Officers for The Gillingham V Millwall Game - http://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/sport/extra-police-for-lions-visit-123558/ - It is regrettable yet understandable why so many police officers are needed for this match, and I had posted on Gills Debate to anyone going to the game that I hoped that everyone going to The Gillingham V Millwall Match will arrive and depart from Priestfield Stadium safely.

As I made my way towards Priestfield Stadium, two supporters asked me for any recommendations for places to go for a drink, I recommended The Cricketers, and I mentioned that if you walk past Priestfield Stadium to the very end of the road and walk straight up, then you can get to The Cricketers in five / ten minutes, and there is also The Factory as well, I am sure that both The Cricketers and The Factory will be packed, and there will be plenty of supporters going to the pub to get something to drink before the game.

I also spoke to Malcolm Steadman briefly, welcoming him back to the club as our kit-man before I caught up with Peter, Sharon and Diane, and we spoke about The MK Dons Match The Previous Saturday and just how devastated we were when MK Dons scored that late winner, just a minute after Josh Wright’s equaliser saw the away end exploded in celebration, because everyone was jumping up and down and celebrating what would have been a decent 2-2 draw, considering that Gillingham were 2-0 against MK Dons at half time, and Gillingham were rubbish in The First Half at Stadium MK, but it was such a dreadful goal to concede for the winner and that’s now two late goals that Gillingham have conceded, and those two additional points could well make the difference come the end of the season.

Diane had asked me about our travel plans for Charlton Athletic Away, What we will most likely do is meet up at Rainham Train Station and the three of us will travel from Rainham and we still need to arrange a time that we are going to leave to get to Charlton Athletic, I mentioned that we should get to the ground early enough to get food and drink and we want to make sure that whoever travels with us doesn’t mind leaving early to get to the ground, and then leave late so we can see the players post match, you need three for A Group Save Ticket, So Me, Diane and Stephen going together makes A Group Save Train Ticket Possible, and also more affordable, I can see several supporters traveling to Charlton Athletic via train and I think that Peter and Sharon will be going to The Valley as well, Stephen has been looking forward to this match ever since Charlton Athletic appeared on the fixtures list.

I decided to go inside The Club Shop to Buy One Match-Day Programme for £3 before I queued up at The Ticket Office, only tickets for The Millwall Home Game were being sold, so I will probably be able to buy My Northampton Town Ticket when we play Bristol Rovers in our next home league match at Priestfield Stadium, I queued up and asked Julie if there was a way that I can sort out some of the technical problems I was having on Gills Player, Julie Told Me That I would need to ring up The Sales Department On Monday to try and fix any problems I was having With Gills Player, I am not sure what has happened to it and why I cannot re-new, and this is so annoying, as I haven’t had problems renewing in the past, maybe there is a glitch on the website that needs to be repaired, I will hopefully find out precisely what has happened on Monday.

I met up with Peter, Sharon and Diane outside the ground after exiting The Ticket Office, And Diane mentioned that there are some Millwall Supporters who are ashamed of elements of there own support, like The Lady Me and Diane spoke to before Millwall V Gillingham In The Football League Trophy, because of Millwall’s Well Documented Problems With Hooliganism and Crowd Trouble, this seems to attract several Trouble Makers like moths to a flame, the club have obviously tried very hard to move on from those dark days, but I remember A Conversation Me and Stephen had last season, It seems that Millwall play up to The “No-One Likes Us” Mantra, Millwall chant that chant every game, I also think the club play up to this mantra at times, and more needs to be done to condone actions from “some of there supporters” especially if the club are making giant strides forward to move away from a mob mentality.

But The Additional Police Presence is always going to be here for Gillingham V Millwall, and it is important to mention that some of our own supporters have caused trouble in previous Gillingham V Millwall Fixtures, there has been a very strict ticketing policy from the club for this game, Stephen mentioned to me on Facebook that he had problems buying his ticket for Millwall, and the club at least have learned from the lessons of last season, as we only gave Millwall 1200 tickets in The Brian Moore Stand, and Millwall had Supporters in all three home ends and that caused problems, this time, Millwall have been given the entire Brian Moore Stand, and they might have the end block in The Gordon Road Stand as well.

Peter And Sharon decided to go inside, while Diane decided to head round with Alan and Irene to there seats in The Gordon Road Stand, I also spoke with Lisa and Gary briefly and Lisa is also traveling to Charlton Athletic via train, it seems that everyone I know will be going via train, for me, traveling from Rainham to Charlton Athletic is roughly A Thirty Five / Forty Minute Train Journey, as Charlton Train Station is right next to The Valley, it is also much cheaper if you were to get A Group Save Ticket, and I think that is precisely what everyone is going to do as well.

Stephen finally caught up with me, and Stephen gave Me £23 for his Charlton Athletic Ticket, I mentioned that even though The Ticket say’s Row B, We can move somewhere else if we want, chances are Charlton Athletic Away will be reserved seating, but I just cannot see how Reserved Seating is going to work with what should be a 3,000 away allocation, because I am sure that Gillingham will fill up the entire away allocation at Charlton Athletic, because it is so easy to get to Charlton Athletic, this is our closest away game and I can see so many supporters traveling to this match, as it is essentially a home game, and for some of our supporters, it is actually closer to get to Charlton Athletic, then it is to get to Priestfield Stadium.

And When you look at our latest home fixture against Millwall, where Millwall will bring over 2,000 supporters to Priestfield Stadium, Gillingham taking potentially 3,000 Supporters to Charlton Athletic, and with local matches against Southend United and AFC Wimbledon, then you want to be playing in these matches next season, and that is why it is so essential to avoid relegation into League Two, you also have got the likes of Oxford United, MK Dons and Peterborough United who should bring a decent sized support to Priestfield Stadium, Portsmouth are in contention to secure promotion into League One this season, and Nottingham Forest are still involved in A Relegation Battle in The Championship as well, I cannot remember a time where Millwall, Charlton Athletic, Gillingham and Southend United were in the same division, and if we can do enough in our remaining league matches, then Gillingham could playing in these type of matches again next season, that is what Adrian Pennock needs to be telling his players in his pre-match team talk, If we want these type of matches next season, then Gillingham need to start picking up points now.

Eventually, We Saw Gillingham’s Team News On Twitter, and Gillingham Lined Up As Follows,,,,,, Tomas Holy, Max Ehmer, Zesh Rehman, Adedeji Oshilaja, Ryan Jackson, Mark Byrne, Josh Wright, Lee Martin, Harry Cornick, Cody McDonald, Joe Quigley SUBS: Stuart Nelson (GK), Emmanuel Osadebe, Jake Hessenthaler, Ollie Muldoon, Elliott List, Rory Donnelly and Josh Parker - I am surprised that Tomas Holy has started after his costly error against MK Dons The Previous Saturday, Most Gillingham Supporters I have spoken to had the opinion that Stuart Nelson should be starting because we need A Goalkeeper who has been there, seen it, and done it, especially as Stuart Nelson has been involved in A League One Relegation Battle with Gillingham, One Player who should be in the squad is Noel Mbo, who played for Gillingham’s Youth Team and Noel Mbo posted A Tweet On Twitter confirming that he had played for Gillingham’s Youth Team, so we knew Mbo won’t be in the squad, but it is time for Noel Mbo to be given a chance.

Martin met up with Me and Stephen, and he didn’t like the fact that Tomas Holy was starting either, he also had the opinion that Jake Hessenthaler should be starting, but at least Joe Quigley is starting alongside Cody McDonald in attack, I also thought that Josh Parker would start in Harry Cornick’s place, because we need goals, we need to start winning games and picking up points, I just hope that Adedeji Oshilaja isn’t playing at Left Back, like he was against MK Dons the previous weekend, while I do think we need to find another way of playing formation wise, I think we’re lining up with three centre back’s because Millwall are such a threat in attack.

Me, Martin and Stephen were talking about Mahlon Romeo who is playing for Millwall and how we should have never let him go, and now Mahlon Romeo is being linked with a move to West Ham United, same with Brennan Dickenson at Colchester United, who is being linked with A Move to Ipswich Town, and Leon Legge was voted as Cambridge United’s Player Of The Season the season after we let him go, Justin Edinburgh cannot build A Defence, he inherited perhaps one of our best ever defenders in recent times in John Egan, Adam El-Abd turned out to be a great signing but why didn’t we try and sign him permanently, We replaced Brennan Dickenson with Paul Konchesky and that hasn’t worked out as well as we hoped, there has been no Right Back Cover and while Finn O’Mara can play at Right Back, he looks more comfortable at Centre Back, The Defence needs a serious over-haul in the summer, Seventy One Goals against is proof of this.

Martin decided to head off inside the ground while Me and Stephen waited for Gary, and I spoke to Stephen about The Last Waltz’s Blog Interview With Danny Jackman LINK IS HERE: https://twitter.com/TheGillsBlog/status/850063108966100997 - And Danny Jackman could well be in The Away End with us at Northampton Town On The Final Day Of The Season, I mentioned to Stephen that this was a brilliant interview and well worth listening to, as Stephen has missed out on some Gills News over the past week, so I am sure he want to catch up on the news that he has missed out on.

We spoke about potential managerial candidates, and apparently Steve Cotterill turned down Shrewsbury Town and considering that Steve Cotterill lives in The South West this is surprising, I suppose he is waiting for A Better Job Offer to come along, Chris Powell has managed Charlton Athletic and guided them to promotion into The Championship and he would be another manager worth looking at, but the fact that Kenny Jackett was seriously considering The Barnet Job suggests that Kenny Jackett lives in London and having done so well with Swansea City, Wolves and Millwall previously, then I am sure that Kenny Jackett would be interested in The Gillingham Job, Kenny Jackett is Diane’s First Choice as well because of his experience and he would be a fantastic appointment, I am sure that Kenny Jackett may well be in The Director’s Box for this match as he is A Former Millwall Manager, and Kenny Jackett will be looking to get back into Football Management again and he is waiting for the right opportunity to come along.

Another Manager I like is Gareth Ainsworth, as he has done A Fantastic Job With Wycombe Wanderers on A Very Limited Shoestring Budget, and we could well have A Look at someone like Alex Neil who was sacked by Norwich City, Stephen mentioned that if we’re going to down The Legends Route, which isn’t A Route Either Of Us want to go for, then we would be much better off appointing Andy Hessenthaler As Manager, at least he has Experience As A Football League Manager with Gillingham and has the passion for the club, Adrian Pennock has no Experience and we shouldn’t have appointed him in the first place, I just hope that Adrian Pennock can keep Gillingham up and we start looking for A New Manager in the summer.

This is harsh on Adrian Pennock in someways, because this isn’t his squad, the playing budget was all used up and there is No Emergency Loan System to take advantage off this season, however, There Have Been Clubs who have made Managerial Changes and there has been an improvement in there results and performances, and we’re not seeing that improvement under Adrian Pennock, It was unfortunate timing that Paul Scally was recovering from illness at the time and clearly we didn’t want to go through the entire managerial process in the middle of the season while The January Transfer Window Was Open, But someone else could have been given the job until the end of the season and we could have Interviewed A Number Of Managerial Candidates and Appointed Them As Manager During The Off Season.

It was gone 2PM and we hadn’t seen Gary, so he must have arrived really early, or he gets to the ground with minutes to spare before kick off, Stephen added that this happened in our previous match against Millwall, where we didn’t see Gary pre-match, I am sure that Gary will be at the ground for this match, In The NoirCat Prediction League, I had A Draw and Diane Had A Defeat and I was hoping that we are both wrong and Gillingham pick up all three points, we’re into the closing stages of the season and Promotion And Relegation Spots should start to take shape, and we will see who will be Promoted, and who will be relegated at the end of the season, Me, Stephen, Gary, Diane and Nicholas are all in Promotion Contention in our respective divisions, I know that Stephen wants to get back into The Premier Division at the first time of asking.

Stephen decided to head towards his seat in Block B In The Medway Stand and we were going to meet up again after the game, Hopefully Celebrating A Hard Fought Gillingham Win, I got My Season Ticket Out and I entered The Family Enclosure Entrance of The Medway Stand, and After My Gillingham Bag was searched, I went through the turnstiles, brought one fifty / fifty match day lottery ticket and headed toward My Seat, Millwall had completely sold out the away end in The Brian Moore Stand, While there were a few gaps in The Gordon Road Stand and The Rainham End, With West Ham United at home and the complications over buying tickets for Millwall At Home, this explains why the ground isn’t as packed as we thought it should be, Gillingham’s League Position also is another reason why we’re not getting the attendance we should be getting for Millwall At Home.

I know it is difficult to judge A Attendance before the game kicks off, as some people might arrive just before kick off, or miss the first few minutes of the match, but there were a few empty seats around me and I think many Supporters just cannot wait for this season to end, which is a disappointing thing to say, but that sums up our frustrations with The 2016 / 2017 Season, because it has been A Frustrating Season For Gillingham Football Club, and hopefully, Gillingham can do enough to retain our League One Status and do plenty of hard graft over the summer to make sure that we’re prepared for The 2017 / 2018 season, and our squad is much stronger to make sure we’re not in this situation again next season, assuming that we do enough to stay up this season of course.

I Saw Martin and Colin pre-match, and we weren’t confidant, if we can get something out of this match then that would be a bonus, it is the last two matches against Peterborough United and MK Dons where Gillingham should have picked up points, even two draws from those two matches would have put Gillingham in A Much Better Position, We are also going to miss Bradley Dack for the next two matches, both home games against Millwall and Bristol Rovers, Home Matches that Gillingham really need to pick up points from, thankfully, The Results In Mid-Week went our way and that’s how I see Gillingham avoiding relegation now, if results go our way, rather then avoiding relegation through our own achievements, which is a such a disappointing comment to make, but Gillingham are on a downhill spiral at the moment, and we need to start winning games, draws are better then nothing, but it is wins Gillingham need as soon as possible.

Martin and Colin went over to there seats close to The Dugout, while I went to my seat, I sent the following tweet before kick off - Gillingham V Millwall - Fingers Crossed For Three Points Today - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!! - And just as I finished sending that tweet, Both Teams Came Out Of The Tunnel ready for kick off, and the atmosphere raised in volume inside Priestfield Stadium on a warm April Afternoon, both teams lined up in-front of The Medway Stand and we were ready for kick off, and our players had one final warm up in-front of The Rainham End, While Adrian Pennock applauded The Gillingham Supporters, Referee Charles Breakspear didn’t switch ends, meaning that Gillingham and Millwall will be kicking towards the ends where there own supporters are situated In The Second Half, Gillingham will kick towards The Rainham End, and Millwall will be kicking towards The Brian Moore Stand.

This is one match where A Team Talk just isn’t necessary, But we cannot be too passionate and too up for the game, otherwise we might get another sending off, play the game and not the occasion is usually a phrase used by most manager’s, and hopefully, Gillingham do enough over the next ninety minutes to pick up all three points, regardless of how well or how poorly we play, SO COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FIRST HALF:

And Millwall could and perhaps should have opened the scoring in the opening minute of the match, Millwall Goalkeeper Tom King has possession of the ball for Millwall, and Tom King kicks the ball long down-field and Adedeji Oshilaja wins the aerial challenge to header the ball partially clear and away from danger and Mahlon Romeo headers the ball clear and Mahlon Romeo’s header is more up and under and Adedeji Oshilaha wins the aerial challenge up against Steve Morison, Harry Cornick mis-kicks the ball and Ben Thompson manages to get to the loose ball first, but Ben Thompson’s pass back to Mahlon Romeo is poor, and Harry Cornick redeems himself by intercepting the ball and Harry Cornick had managed to pass the ball forward to Joe Quigley, who takes a touch to control the ball and play the ball back to Lee Martin, who tries to play the ball through to Harry Cornick on the over-lap, but Lee Martin’s threaded through-ball takes a slight deflection off Joe Quigley, and the ball rolls through to Byron Webster.

And it is from here where Millwall create the first goal-scoring opportunity of the game, as Byron Webster plays the ball short to Shaun Williams, who boots the ball long down-field and Steve Morison cushions his header back to David Worrall - and myself and many other Gillingham Supporters thought that Steve Morison was standing in A Offside Position - but play continued as David Worrall ran forwards in possession of the ball, and David Worrall continue’s his run right to the edge of Gillingham’s Penalty Area before playing the ball out-wide to Steve Morison down the right side of the pitch - Gillingham’s Left - and Steve Morison has driven in a dangerous low cross which has managed to pick out Aiden O’Brien, and Aiden O’Brien doesn’t make the strongest of connections on the ball and cannot direct his effort towards goal, and Tomas Holy prevents the ball from going out of play for A Gillingham Goal-Kick.

Two Minutes Into The Match, and Excellent Defending From Max Ehmer prevents Aiden O’Brien from getting in and behind Gillingham’s Defence, however, that clearance from Max Ehmer has seen The Visitor’s Win The First Corner Kick Of The Match, And From The Resulting Corner Kick, David Worrall has whipped in an dangerous in-swinging cross, and Joe Martin has headed the ball over Gillingham’s Crossbar and Millwall have created another chance where they could have tested Tomas Holy between the sticks, Looking at the way Millwall have started this match, this is going to be a very long afternoon for Gillingham.

And From The Resulting Goal-Kick, Gillingham Manage to win themselves there first Free Kick Of The Match After Four Minutes, as Tomas Holy has booted the ball long down-field and Joe Quigley has managed to get himself between the ball and Shaun Hutchinson, and Joe Quigley has managed to retain possession of the ball, and The Millwall Centre Back has been penalised for shirt pulling, and from the resulting free kick, Gillingham are quick to get the ball moving as Lee Martin plays the ball out-wide to Harry Cornick, who manages to get to the byline and Harry Cornick see’s his cross blocked by Joe Martin, and Gillingham have won themselves there first corner kick of the match - Very Clever From Gillingham to take that free kick so quickly.

Unfortunately, From the Resulting Corner Kick, Lee Martin’s In-Swinging Cross doesn’t beat the first man - which was Steve Morison - and Millwall manage to clear there lines, it is so infuriating when that happens, because it is a complete waste of A Set Play Opportunity, But The Chance Was Still There For The Gills as Gillingham Have A Throw On In Millwall’s Final Third, And Ryan Jackson has hurled in an dangerous long throw into the heart of Millwall’s Penalty Area and Max Ehmer has flicked the ball on and Referee Charles Breakspear - who replaces Keith Stroud For This Match - has blown his whistle for A Millwall Free Kick, and we weren’t sure why A Free Kick has been given for Millwall, the lack of complaints about the decision from our players suggests that The Free Kick was the correct decision.

Six Minutes Into The Match, and Mark Byrne does really well to win A Free Kick For Gillingham as Aiden O’Brien is penalised for his challenge on The Gillingham Midfielder, and Lee Martin gets the ball moving again, playing the ball out-wide to Ryan Jackson, who runs down the by-line, keeps the ball in play, and Ryan Jackson kicks the ball against Jed Wallace to win Gillingham there second corner kick off the match, And It Is From This Corner Kick where the big controversial talking point of the game had happened, Gillingham this time go short from the resulting corner kick, with Lee Martin playing the ball short to Mark Byrne, who pretends to whip in a cross and play the ball back to Lee Martin, who gets to the ball first inside Millwall’s Penalty Area and Lee Martin goes to ground under A Challenge From A Millwall Player and I wasn’t sure who made the challenge, and like every other Gillingham Supporter Inside Priestfield Stadium, I was calling for A Gillingham Penalty, but Referee Charles Breakspear didn’t point to The Penalty Spot, Millwall’s Live Feed Suggests that Lee Martin has fallen to the deck very easily, and I wrote down in My Notepad - that could have been A Gills Penalty - It wasn’t clear cut, the appeals were there, and those in Block’s A, B and C in The Medway Stand had no doubts that was A Penalty, but I didn’t have the best of views and there are no highlights of this incident either, so I cannot say one way or another if this was the correct or incorrect decision.

Seven Minutes Into The Match, and Jed Wallace is penalised for his challenge on Mark Byrne, who has been on the end of a few challenges from Millwall Players already, And From The Resulting Free Kick, Lee Martin has whipped in an dangerous in-swinging cross first time and Byron Webster has managed to header the ball clear and away from danger for Millwall and Joe Martin has kicked the ball long down-field, leaving a foot-race between Aiden O’Brien and Ryan Jackson, and Ryan Jackson has managed to get himself between the ball and Aiden O’Brien to shield the ball out of play for A Gillingham Goal-Kick - Good Defending From Ryan Jackson There.

Ten Minutes Into The Match, and Millwall had the chance to open the scoring, Millwall Goalkeeper Tom King kicks the ball long down-field and Ryan Jackson headers the ball clear and Joe Martin wins the aerial challenge up against Harry Cornick and Max Ehmer headers the ball clear before Steve Morison can get to the loose ball and Joe Martin again wins the aerial challenge up against Harry Cornick, but this time, Steve Morison gets in-front of Max Ehmer to cushion his header back to Jed Wallace, who plays the ball first time over the top to Aiden O’Brien, who has the strength to shrug off Zesh Rehman’s challenge and Aiden O’Brien moves into A More Central Position On The Pitch, and Aiden O’Brien was looking to go for goal and we all thought that Adedeji Oshilaja was going to clear the ball away from danger until he completely missed the ball with a air-shot and Aiden O’Brien and Jed Wallace get in each other’s way, and Jed Wallace tee’s up Steve Morison, who looks to place the ball accurately into the far right corner of the net, and Tomas Holy dives to his left at full stretch to not only save the ball, but gather the ball at the first attempt, excellent save from Tomas Holy, and that save will give Tomas Holy A Confidence Booster for sure, but you got to say that Adedeji Oshilaja has got to do much much better there.

In The Same Minute, Josh Wright is harshly penalised for his challenge on Shaun Williams, and Millwall Have A Free Kick In Gillingham’s Half Of The Pitch Down The Right Side, and From The Resulting Free Kick, David Worrall plays the ball short to Ben Thompson, who runs down the right side of the pitch in possession of the ball, And Ben Thompson almost picks out Steve Morison with a brilliant cross towards the back-stick, but Ben Thompson’s cross is slightly over-hit and runs harmlessly out of play for A Gillingham Goal-Kick.

Thirteen Minutes Into The Match, and pressure from Cody McDonald forces Millwall Centre Back Byron Webster to concede A Corner Kick, and Gillingham came close to opening the scoring from the resulting corner kick as Lee Martin whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross and Cody McDonald climbs highest to header the ball wide of Tom King’s Right Hand Post, Cody McDonald scored against MK Dons The Previous Week and he won The Penalty which Josh Wright managed to score from, Gillingham will need Cody McDonald in top form against Millwall if we’re to get at least a point against Millwall, although, we are hoping that Cody McDonald can score the winner for Gillingham, because this is A Match That Gillingham need to win.

A Minute Later, and Millwall are awarded A Free Kick In Gillingham’s Half Down The Right Side Of The Pitch as Lee Martin is penalised for his challenge on Mahlon Romeo, and Millwall had a chance to open the scoring from The Resulting Free Kick as David Worrall whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross towards the far post and Steve Morison chests the ball and brings the ball under his control, and Steve Morison thought that Joe Martin had made an over-lapping run behind him, and because Joe Martin hadn’t made the run, Steve Morison has passed the ball out of play for A Gillingham Goal-Kick - Steve Morison is A Very Good Player and when you look at the players Mark Stimson signed from Stevenage, Barry Fuller, John Nutter, Stuart Lewis, Adam Miller and Alan Julian, Steve Morison is probably the one player we couldn’t quite get over the line, and can you imagine how good Simeon Jackson and Steve Morison could have been as A Strike-Partnership for Gillingham.

Seventeen Minutes Into The Match, and Ryan Jackson has gone on A Brilliant Run Down The Right Side Of The Pitch For Gillingham and Ryan Jackson is being tracked all the way by Jed Wallace, and The Millwall Midfielder is forced to intercept the ball and knock the ball out of play for A Gillingham Corner Kick, and Gillingham have the chance to open the scoring from the resulting corner kick, however, before the corner kick can be taken, there is a lengthy delay and I wasn’t sure why there was a delay at the time, but I did find out later on that Lee Martin had coins and other objects thrown at him from The Millwall Supporters In The Away End, and if that turns out to be the case then I can see there being some punishment going in Millwall’s Direction over the next few weeks, I don’t think there will be A Points Deduction, most likely A Warning For Future Conduct or maybe even A Fine.

Eventually, The Corner Kick can be taken, and from The Resulting Corner Kick,  Lee Martin plays the ball short to Mark Byrne, who whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross into the heart of Millwall’s Penalty Area and No-One In A Gillingham Shirt can get A Telling Connection On The Ball to divert the ball goal-wards, and Millwall Survive this latest scare as the ball runs harmlessly out of play for A Millwall Goal-Kick.

Twenty Minutes Into The Match, and Ben Thompson is penalised for his challenge on Ryan Jackson, who does brilliantly to win A Free Kick For Gillingham, However, A Minute Later, And Lee Martin goes into Referee Charles Breakspear’s book for A Very Late Challenge On David Worrall, and David Worrall had already passed the ball down the line before Lee Martin dived in to make the challenge, no complaints about that Yellow Card, and The Booking was the correct decision in my opinion.

Twenty Three Minutes Into The Match, and Millwall Manage to win themselves another corner kick, Gillingham Have A Throw On In There Own Final Third Down The Left Side Of the Pitch, and Adedeji Oshilaja throws the ball down the line and Mahlon Romeo manages to win the aerial challenge up against Cody McDonald, and Shaun Williams plays the ball first time down-field and Adedeji Oshilaja manages to get to the loose ball first and kick the ball clear and away from Aiden O’Brien, but Ben Thompson kicks the ball high and long down-field and Steve Morison’s First Touch was superb and Zesh Rehman has no other choice but to concede The Corner Kick, And From The Resulting Corner Kick, Millwall almost opened the scoring in spectacular fashion, David Worrall whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross to the far side of Gillingham’s Penalty Area and Shaun Williams spectacular first time volley clears Gillingham’s Crossbar by a few inches and Tomas Holy was at full stretch because he thought that effort from Shaun Williams was on target, and I thought that was in as well.

From The Resulting Goal-Kick, And Gillingham have managed to win themselves A Free Kick In Millwall’s Final Third, as Tomas Holy kicks the ball long down-field, and Joe Quigley manages to get in-front of Joe Martin, who pulls Joe Quigley to the ground and Gillingham have won A Free Kick, and again, Instead of looking for the quick free kick, Lee Martin stands over the ball waiting for Referee Charles Breakspear to signal he can take the free kick, as there was a bit of pushing and pulling going on inside Millwall’s Penalty Area, and Lee Martin has whipped in an dangerous in-swinging cross into the heart of Millwall’s Penalty Area, and Joe Martin is forced to header the ball behind at the expense of A Corner Kick.

Unfortunately, Gillingham waste The Corner Kick Completely as Lee Martin plays the ball short to Mark Byrne, who losses out to Joe Martin, and Joe Martin plays the ball back to Shaun Hutchinson, who plays the ball forward to Jed Wallace, and Jed Wallace boots the ball long down-field and this leaves a foot-race between Max Ehmer and Aiden O’Brien, and Max Ehmer has done enough to shield the ball out of play for A Gillingham Goal-Kick, good defending from Max Ehmer, but Gillingham have wasted a rare goal-scoring opportunity from that corner kick.

A Minute Later, and It Is Ryan Jackson’s Turn to prevent Aiden O’Brien from getting on the end of Jed Wallace’s Long Kick Down-Field, as Ryan Jackson has the pace to make the recovery run and get in-front of Jed Wallace to shield the ball out of play for A Gillingham Goal-Kick, and Millwall continue to pile on the pressure on Gillingham’s Goal, as the visitor’s created a very good goal-scoring opportunity in The Twenty Eighth Minute, Mahlon Romeo has possession of the ball for Millwall and Mahlon Romeo runs from Millwall’s Own Half Of The Pitch into Gillingham’s Final Third and Mahlon Romeo plays the ball out-wide to David Worrall, who takes a touch to control the ball, and David Worrall runs into a more central position on the pitch, and David Worrall whips in an dangerous cross towards the back-stick and Aiden O’Brien wins the aerial challenge up against Ryan Jackson to try and cushion his header back to Jed Wallace, but Zesh Rehman has done enough to stop Jed Wallace from getting a shot off on goal, however, The Millwall Midfielder still has possession of the ball and Zesh Rehman is sticking with Jed Wallace, who was looking for someone to make an over-lapping run, and Jed Wallace takes several touches on the ball before playing the ball back to Joe Martin, who takes a touch to control the ball, and Joe Martin whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross to the far side of Gillingham’s Penalty Area and David Worrall wins the aerial challenge up against Adedeji Oshilaja to header the ball across the face of goal and Aiden O’Brien falls to the floor underneath Max Ehmer’s challenge and the second ball falls kindly to Steve Morison, who slides in and attempts a acrobatic effort which only falls just wide of Tomas Holy’s Left Hand Post.

Despite The Penalty Appeals From Millwall Supporters, I didn’t think that Max Ehmer had fouled Aiden O’Brien, who was slightly looking for it, but what has concerned me is the fact that both Aiden O’Brien and David Worrall are winning aerial challenges at the far post, and Steve Morison came extremely close to opening the scoring with that awkward effort there, Millwall have created the better goal-scoring opportunities and there league position reflects there dominance of play despite the score-line remaining goal-less, I was hoping that this was going to be one of those matches where Millwall don’t take there chances, but Gillingham take the one or two chances that do come our way.

Fouls By Harry Cornick and Josh Wright on Mahlon Romeo and Jed Wallace respectively started to slow the pace of the game down, and despite reaching The Thirty Minute Mark, there was no stoppage in play as it was A Warm Day, and I thought that Referee Charles Breakspear was going to allow for a stoppage in play, Gillingham look like they need a stoppage in play as we’re on the back-foot at this present moment in time.

Thirty Two Minutes Into The Match, and Tomas Holy was required to make another save to preserve parity, Millwall created this goal-scoring opportunity from the back as Byron Webster takes a few touches in possession of the ball before playing the ball out-wide to Mahlon Romeo, who takes a touch to control the ball, and Mahlon Romeo is allowed plenty of time and space to clip the ball down the line and Aiden O’Brien wins the aerial challenge up against Zesh Rehman to cushion his header down towards David Worrall inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area, and David Worrall manages to get to the byline and is being closely observed by Adedeji Oshilaja, and David Worrall manages to turn back on himself and play the ball square to Steve Morison within shooting territory, and Steve Morison’s first time effort towards the far left side of Gillingham’s Goal was on target and Tomas Holy dives at full stretch to not only make the save, but also held on to the ball as well - and I was critical of Tomas Holy’s error for Gillingham against MK Dons the previous week, but I am going to say well done to Tomas Holy here, because his performance between the sticks for Gillingham against Millwall so far has been very good and there has been a better improvement in Tomas Holy’s handling so far.

And this dominance in play from The Visitor’s Continued, Harry Cornick is the latest Gillingham Player to be penalised for his challenge on Ben Thompson and Millwall have been awarded A Free Kick In There Half Of The Pitch, From Here, The Visitor’s came close to breaking the deadlock as David Worrall hits a high and hanging cross towards the back-stick and Byron Webster headers the ball back across the face of goal and there was Zesh Rehman to header the ball partially clear and away from danger, but the second ball drops to Aiden O’Brien, who tee’s himself up to hit a driven effort towards goal which is brilliantly blocked by Max Ehmer, and Mark Byrne clears the loose ball further away from goal - It was desperate defending from Gillingham, and The Gills are defending with A Deep Defensive Line - but the score-line remains goal-less and if Gillingham can go in at the break with the score-line at 0-0 then we would have done very well for ourselves.

Thirty Eight Minutes Into The Match, And A Foul Throw From Mahlon Romeo relieves the pressure building on to Gillingham’s Goal, and In The Fortieth Minute, Gillingham had the chance to break the deadlock, Max Ehmer plays the ball out-wide to Ryan Jackson, who runs forward in possession of the ball before stopping inside Millwall’s Half and squaring the ball to Mark Byrne, who retains possession of the ball before playing the ball through to Joe Quigley, who shrugs off the attempted challenge from Shaun Hutchinson, and Joe Quigley plays the ball out-wide to Ryan Jackson, who whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross first time and Byron Webster only partially headers the ball clear, and Cody McDonald controls the ball first time on the edge of Millwall’s Penalty Area and Cody McDonald’s shot on the turn is blocked by Shaun Hutchinson and the ball loops up into the air, and why Mark Byrne needed to get a touch on the ball when he could have let the ball go out for A Gillingham Corner Kick, I have No Idea.

Forty One Minutes Into The Match, And Zesh Rehman does brilliantly to kick Mahlon Romeo’s Driven Low Cross Out Of Play For A Millwall Corner Kick, and Millwall Create A  Half Chance Opportunity From The Resulting Corner Kick, as David Worrall whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross towards the far post and Byron Webster cannot direct his header on target and the ball runs harmlessly out of play for A Gillingham Goal-Kick, but when you look at the size and physical presence that Millwall have got in there side, Byron Webster, Shaun Hutchinson, Steve Morison, Aiden O’Brien and Shaun Williams, then Millwall are obviously going to be a threat from set plays, Gillingham just don’t have that type of physical presence or experience in there side, and our league position is proof of this.

A Minute Later, And Gillingham have been awarded A Corner Kick and the chance to break the deadlock just before half-time would be the perfect time for Gillingham to score, however, The Resulting In-Swinging Cross From Lee Martin was very poor as Ben Thompson partially clears the ball away from danger, however, Lee Martin does get to the loose ball ahead of Ben Thompson and I wasn’t sure that Gillingham should have been awarded A Free Kick Here, But Referee Charles Breakspear saw enough in that challenge from Ben Thompson to award Gillingham A Free Kick, This Time, The Cross From Lee Martin had a lot more quality on it as Lee Martin whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross into the heart of Millwall’s Penalty Area, and Steve Morison is in the right place at the right time for Millwall to header the ball out of play at the expense of another corner kick.

Lee Martin goes across to take the resulting corner kick for Gillingham, and Lee Martin whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross towards the back-stick and Shaun Williams is in the right place at the right time to header the ball behind at the expense of another corner kick, and Gillingham can try again, And From The Resulting Corner Kick, Lee Martin’s Corner Kick Towards The Far Post Is Over-Hit and looked to be going out of play, and Max Ehmer has done enough to keep the ball in play, and Max Ehmer plays the ball back to Ryan Jackson, who whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross first time and Byron Webster manages to clear the ball partially clear and away from danger, and Ben Thompson gets to the loose ball first but he was fouled by Harry Cornick and Millwall are given A Free Kick In There Own Half.

Harry Cornick was also down taking a breather as he had the wind knocked out of his sails as Ben Thompson had kicked the ball into The Gillingham Midfielder, and Harry Cornick needed a moment or two to get his breath back again, and after Two Additional Minutes Of Added Time, Referee Charles Breakspear blew his whistle for Half Time, and you have got to say that Millwall have been the better of the two sides at Priestfield Stadium, and Gillingham have got to improve and apply more quality in the final third, hopefully, that is something that Adrian Pennock will point out to the players in his Half Time Team Talk.

HALF TIME: GILLINGHAM 0 - 0 MILLWALL

I had sent The Following Tweets On Twitter At Half Time, HALF TIME: GILLINGHAM 0 - 0 MILLWALL - I think if you asked most Gills fans pre-match, we would have taken 0-0 at Half Time - More needs to be done attack wise, But Tomas Holy has made two decent saves in The First Half. - Big Second Half Coming Up, results going against us and Gillingham really can do with three points this afternoon - COME ON THE GILLS

I think if you spoke to mist Gillingham Supporters before kick off, then we would have taken 0-0 at Half Time, Tomas Holy has saved two efforts on goal from Steve Morison and Shaun Williams spectacular first time volley clears Gillingham’s Crossbar by a few inches and Millwall have created the better goal-scoring opportunities, in-fact, Millwall could and perhaps should have opened the scoring within the first minute, as Aiden O’Brien has had a great chance to score, Steve Morison’s acrobatic effort went just wide of Tomas Holy’s Left Hand Post, and Millwall should be in-front based on what we have seen in The First Forty Five Minutes.

Defensively, Gillingham have done what we have had to do, now we have had a bit of luck, but you need that luck against the better teams, Tomas Holy has played very well between the sticks and I was critical of his error against MK Dons and I thought that Stuart Nelson should come back into the side, but well done to Tomas Holy for putting in a very solid performance between the sticks for Gillingham so far, I have mentioned that defensively, Gillingham have done what we have had to do, and that’s because the attack needs to improve, we need to supply the service and support to Joe Quigley and Cody McDonald, we have got to deliver better corner’s, mind you, Millwall have got the height advantage and it is going to take a pin-point accurate corner kick to pick out one of our players, and I also think that Harry Cornick has struggled in The Central Attacking Position, and I would consider swapping Harry Cornick with Lee Martin and bring on Josh Parker, as Lee Martin picked up a booking in The First Half.

Despite The Goal-Less Score-Line, I still had plenty of notes in My NotePad, mentioning chances created, the number of fouls and corner kicks given for and against both teams in this match, the saves that Tomas Holy has made, and of course, the biggest talking point, the penalty that wasn’t given when Lee Martin was fouled in The Seventh Minute, there was plenty of out-cries from Gillingham Supporters demanding for A Penalty Kick at the time, but maybe, those appeals came from the supporters more then they did from the players.

However, there was some bad news with the scores from elsewhere as Oldham Athletic were 1-0 up against Fleetwood Town and Shrewsbury Town were winning against Rochdale, we’re now in a situation we probably knew pre-match, but we now know for sure, Gillingham have got to win and we have got to pick up all three points against Millwall, and hopefully, Gillingham can put in a much better performance in The Second Half and get the goal or goals we will need to go on and win the game - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SECOND HALF:

Both Teams came out on to the pitch for the start of The Second Half and neither Adrian Pennock or Neil Harris made any half time substitutions, With Both Manager’s content to go with the teams they selected at the start of the match, If Gillingham need to go for it late on, then Elliott List, Rory Donnelly and Josh Parker all provide Adrian Pennock with various attacking options that we can call upon, it may well be that all three players will come on if Gillingham need A Substitute or Two to come on and make an impact from the bench.

And It Is Gillingham who are looking to make the breakthrough after the re-start, as Harry Cornick does enough to win Gillingham A Corner Kick by kicking the ball against Joe Martin, and the noise raises in volume around the ground, Lee Martin goes across to take the resulting corner kick for Gillingham, and Lee Martin has whipped in an dangerous in-swinging cross into the heart of Millwall’s Penalty Area, but with there additional height and experience, it is going to be difficult for Gillingham to win anything in the air and Byron Webster headed the ball clear and away from danger for Millwall, And Looking at players like Byron Webster for example, he is the type of Centre Back Gillingham need to be signing in the summer, Thirty Year Old Centre Back with plenty of experience and also plenty of years ahead of them as well, but these players cost decent money, but there players that Gillingham are clearly lacking at this present moment in time.

Forty Nine Minutes Into The Match, and this match goes from end to end as both teams look to make the breakthrough early on in The Second Half, It Is Millwall who are looking to strike first however as Jed Wallace looks to pick out Aiden O’Brien with A Early Cross, but Tomas Holy is well positioned and quick to anticipate the path of the ball and make the catch before Aiden O’Brien can get to the ball first, and from here, Gillingham look to turn defence into attack as Tomas Holy rolls the ball out to Max Ehmer, who passes the ball forward to Mark Byrne, who plays the ball out-wide to Ryan Jackson, Ryan Jackson plays the ball back to Mark Byrne, who passes the ball forward to Cody McDonald, and Cody McDonald shrugs off the challenge from Shaun Hutchinson before playing the ball out-wide to Ryan Jackson, who whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross towards the far post to try and pick out Joe Quigley, however, Ryan Jackson’s cross is over-hit and runs harmlessly out of play for A Millwall Goal-Kick.

Fifty One Minutes Into The Match, and It Is Millwall who are looking to break the deadlock in this latest attack, Ben Thompson plays the ball from right to left to Jed Wallace, who brings the ball down brilliantly with his first touch, and Jed Wallace is one on one with Ryan Jackson, and Jed Wallace checks the ball back to Joe Martin, who has whipped in an sensational cross towards the far post and Steve Morison has headed the ball back across the face of goal to try and pick out the top left corner, and Steve Morison’s Header only just about clears Tomas Holy’s Crossbar - by a few inches - Steve Morison is A Quality Player, he has been involved in most of Millwall’s Goal-Scoring Opportunities and he not only knows where the goal is, but Steve Morison’s intelligence to bring others into play is top draw as well.

And Millwall’s Dominance In Play Continued A Minute Later as Millwall created another decent goal-scoring opportunity in The Fifty Second Minute, Gillingham Have A Throw On In There Own Final Third, Down The Left Side Of The Pitch, and Adedeji Oshilaja throws the ball down the line and Joe Quigley cannot flick the ball on and the ball ricochets off Ben Thompson and David Worrall boots the ball high up into the air, and Steve Morison manages to get in-front of Zesh Rehman and chests the ball down into Aidan O’Brien’s Path, Aiden O’Brien squares the ball to Jed Wallace in A More Central Position Roughly Twenty Five Yards Out From Goal, and Jed Wallace waits for support before passing the ball out-wide to Joe Martin on the left flank, and Joe Martin takes a touch to control the ball before playing the ball back to Shaun Williams, and Shaun Williams plays the ball forward to Jed Wallace who plays the ball back inside first time to Shaun Williams, who is now bearing down on Gillingham’s Goal and Harry Cornick manages to intercept the ball and Max Ehmer looks to clear the ball away from danger.

However, Max Ehmer’s clearance falls kindly to Ben Thompson, who controls the ball first time, evades Josh Wright’s Attempted Challenge and Harry Cornick cannot quite get the ball clear and away from danger as Joe Martin boots the ball high up into the air, and Aiden O’Brien manages to keep the ball in play and The Millwall Striker is forced to run wide with the ball, but Aiden O’Brien manages to dink the ball through to Jed Wallace with A Fantastic Pass, and Jed Wallace looks to fire the ball across the face of goal, but there was Josh Wright to make the block to concede the corner, and Millwall Supporters in The Brian Moore Stand were raising the volume inside Priestfield Stadium, and it was The Visitor’s who were putting in the better performance, as you have got to say that Gillingham are struggling at this present moment in time.

And Millwall came even closer to opening the scoring from the resulting corner kick as well, as David Worrall whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross and Tomas Holy does brilliantly to come off his goal-line and get two strong fists to punch the ball clear and away from goal, and Jed Wallace plays the ball back to Ben Thompson, who scoops the ball back into Jed Wallace’s path, and Jed Wallace takes a touch to control the ball before losing out to Mark Byrne, and Jed Wallace just gets a touch on the ball to play the ball back to Ben Thompson, and Ben Thompson runs forward in possession of the ball, and Ben Thompson runs into a more central position and evades the challenge from Mark Byrne and Ben Thompson drags his shot wide of Tomas Holy’s Left Hand Post - Another Chance spurned by the visitor’s - maybe this will be one of those games where Millwall create ten chances and don’t take them, Gillingham will get one chance and will score one goal.

And From The Resulting Goal-Kick, Millwall almost scored again as Tomas Holy kicks the ball long down-field and Byron Webster has headed the ball over the top of Gillingham’s Defence, and Aiden O’Brien is almost on to this loose ball and Tomas Holy only just about gets there first and dives on to the loose ball, after that, both teams are treating the football like a hot potato, especially Gillingham, although understandable, as we don’t want to over-play the ball at the back and make a error that leads to a goal.

Fifty Seven Minutes Into The Match, and Harry Cornick tries his luck from distance with a speculative volley which is high and wide and doesn’t test Millwall Goalkeeper Tom King in-between the stick’s, However, In The Fifty Eight Minute, David Worrall is forced to concede A Corner Kick right in-front of The Rainham End and Gillingham have the chance to open the scoring from the resulting corner kick, and Lee Martin has whipped in an dangerous in-swinging cross right into the heart of Millwall’s Penalty Area and Cody McDonald cannot direct his header on target, as Cody McDonald headers the ball just wide of the near post - That was the chance for Gillingham to open the scoring - And set plays do appear to be the best chance that Gillingham have got to get themselves on the score-sheet, because The Gills haven’t done enough in open play to supply goal-scoring opportunities for Cody McDonald or Joe Quigley to get on the end of.

Fifty Nine Minutes Into The Match, and Adrian Pennock turned away thinking that Millwall were going to be awarded A Penalty, as Ben Thompson looks to lift the ball over the top of Gillingham’s Defence and Aiden O’Brien is knocked off balanced by Zesh Rehman, but Referee Charles Breakspear doesn’t give a decision, nor does he signal no penalty either, Gillingham do manage to sort themselves out defensively, as Adedeji Oshilaja plays out-wide to Lee Martin, who clips the ball forward to Joe Quigley, who does brilliantly to get in-front of Byron Webster, and Joe Quigley manages to relieve the pressure building up on to our own goal.

A Minute Later, and Mark Byrne is The Second Gillingham Player to go into Referee Charles Breakspear’s Notebook for his challenge on Shaun Williams, and in the aftermath of that decision being given, there is a stoppage in play for A Drinks Break as players from both teams have put in a big shift in warm weather conditions, looking across at our options on the substitutes bench, I can see Josh Parker coming into the fray very soon, we need to get more attacking players into the final third to try and give Cody McDonald and Joe Quigley something, because the support and service for our front two has been non existent at times.

Sixty Three Minutes Into The Match, and Ben Thompson is penalised for his challenge on Mark Byrne and Gillingham have A Free Kick Right On The Halfway Line in-front of the dugout, and instead of putting the ball into the box like we expected to happen, Adedeji Oshilaja passes the ball short to Lee Martin, who runs down the line in possession of the ball, and Lee Martin plays the ball down the line towards Cody McDonald and Lee Martin carries on his run forward, but Cody McDonald runs into A More Central Position On The Pitch, and Cody McDonald looked liked for a moment he was going to shoot and Cody McDonald squares the ball to Harry Cornick right on the edge of Millwall’s Penalty Area, but Harry Cornick cannot get a shot off towards goal, but The Winger On Loan From AFC Bournemouth does manage to keep the ball in play, and Harry Cornick is waiting for some service and support, and Harry Cornick kicks the ball against Joe Martin and does at least win A Corner Kick For The Gills.

And From The Resulting Corner Kick, Lee Martin whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross towards the near post and Steve Morison manages to header the ball clear and away from danger, but the chance is still there for Gillingham from the resulting throw on, as Lee Martin is quick to throw the ball short to Ryan Jackson, who plays the ball out-wide to Lee Martin, and Lee Martin is twisting and turning and trying to whip in an dangerous cross, but there is no crossing angle, so Lee Martin drops the ball back to Ryan Jackson, who whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross towards the near post, and Max Ehmer cannot quite direct his acrobatic over-head kick on target, it was well worth the attempt from Max Ehmer, but maybe Max Ehmer could have flicked the ball across the face of goal and tried to pick out either Cody McDonald or Joe Quigley.

Sixty Five Minutes Into The Match, and Neil Harris replaces one striker with another as Lee Gregory comes on and replaces Aiden O’Brien, who has gone down and required treatment just a few minutes earlier and Aiden O’Brien cannot continue, but Millwall have the fire-power and the depth in there squad to bring on A Striker who has scored Fifteen Goals in Thirty Nine Appearances, that’s the depth and quality Millwall have in there attack that Gillingham just have not got.

Then A Minute Later, Gillingham Get A Corner Kick From Nothing, Tomas Holy rolls the ball out to Adedeji Oshilaja, who takes a touch to control the ball, and Adedeji Oshilaja runs forward in possession of the ball up to roughly ten yards away from the halfway line before Adedeji Oshilaja boots the ball long down-field, and Adedeji Oshilaja’s high ball almost picks out Cody McDonald and Millwall Goalkeeper Tom King Gathers the ball and is forced to run the ball out of play and there were massive appeals from Gillingham Supporters in The Rainham End, and The Linesman Down the Rainham End / Gordon Rod Stand does flag for A Gillingham Corner Kick and you can clearly see that Tom King is furious with that decision, he isn’t happy with The Linesman and once Tom King throws the ball away in frustration, there is no escaping A Yellow Card, which is precisely what Referee Charles Breakspear shows to Tom King, Now The Millwall Goalkeeper makes the case that he was pushed out of play by Cody McDonald, I don’t think enough contact has been made, if any at all, in-fact, If Tom King just leaves the ball to go out of play, then Millwall are awarded A Goal-Kick.

I then said to Andrew before The Corner Kick was taken, what are the chances that Gillingham open the scoring with this corner, and that is precisely what Gillingham Did, As Gillingham take the lead after Sixty Seven Minutes, Lee Martin whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross towards the near post and Max Ehmer gets the faintest of touches to flick the ball goal-wards and Tom King makes a unbelievable save, but the second ball drops kindly towards Joe Quigley who fires in the re-bound into the back of the net, and despite being second best for much of this match, it is Gillingham who have taken the lead, did Harry Cornick flick the ball back to Joe Quigley ??? - I don’t think so, but Joe Quigley scores his first goal for Gillingham, and what a time to get that goal as well.

I was looking across to our substitutes bench thinking who could come on for the remaining Twenty Three Minutes Plus Stoppage Time, Lee Martin and Mark Byrne are both on Yellow Cards, so they could both be substituted if we want to try and protect them and keep eleven players on the pitch, Josh Parker and Rory Donnelly are both available if Adrian Pennock wants to bring on another attacking player, I am surprised that Adrian Pennock hasn’t considered making a substitution at the moment.

However, Three Minutes Later and Millwall should have levelled the game up at 1-1, and from where I was sitting, it looked liked there was a possible penalty appeal in there as well, Mahlon Romeo has possession of the ball for Millwall just out-side Millwall’s Eighteen Yard Box, and Mahlon Romeo kicks the ball long down-field and Steve Morison headers the ball down into Lee Gregory’s Path, but Ryan Jackson manages to get the ball partially clear and away from danger, however, The Second Ball falls kindly into Jed Wallace’s path, and Jed Wallace plays the ball back to Joe Martin, who plays the ball out-wide to Jed Wallace, who takes a touch to control the ball, and Jed Wallace takes several touches in possession of the ball before passing the ball square to Shaun Williams, who controls the ball just inside Gillingham’s Half Of The Pitch, and Shaun Williams brings the ball under his control before playing the ball out-wide to Mahlon Romeo, who plays the ball inside to David Worrall, and David Worrall plays the ball back to Shaun Williams and Shaun Williams switches the ball to the other side where Ben Thompson was, and Ben Thompson brings the ball under his control before running towards the left side of the pitch and passing the ball out-wide to Joe Martin.

Joe Martin then takes A Touch To Control The Ball, and Joe Martin whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross towards the far side of Gillingham’s Penalty Area and David Worrall headers the ball down into Lee Gregory’s Path, and Lee Gregory gets to the ball first, manages to go past Tomas Holy who had made himself big and Lee Gregory scuffs his shot wide and that should have been 1-1, I did think at the time that Millwall could have had A Penalty as Lee Gregory went to ground, but Lee Gregory was off balance when he scuffed his shot wide hence why he fell over, but at the time, I said to Andrew that is one penalty appeal turned down by both teams now, so at least we’re both level in that regard, had one team had a penalty given, and the second penalty decision wasn’t given, then that would be a constant talking point post match, but with both Gillingham and Millwall not getting penalty decisions given in there favour, then this does level things up.

Gillingham do seem content to let Millwall have possession of the ball, and try and remain as defensively disciplined and A Team that is hard to break down, which means we’re sacrificing possession, however, I can think of at least three occasions where Millwall have won the aerial challenge inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area, and better finishing could have seen Millwall at least 2-1 in-front by now, but with no Centre Back’s On The Bench, there is not much Adrian Pennock can do to improve Gillingham Defensively, but with Rory Donnelly, Elliott List and Josh Parker on the bench, Adrian Pennock does have attacking options available to try and get that all important second goal that will boost Gillingham’s Chances Of Winning, and I am surprised that one of those three haven’t come on for Gillingham Just Yet.

But while Gillingham could breath A Sigh Of relief for Millwall not taking that chance in The Seventieth Minute, Millwall did equalise after Seventy Two Minutes, and you have got to say that the goal was fully deserved, Gillingham are on the attack, which has been a rarity all game it has to be said, as Mark Byrne has possession of the ball in Millwall’s Final Third In A Central Position On The Pitch, and Mark Byrne looks to play the ball out-wide to Ryan Jackson, but Mark Byrne cuts back into A More Central Position, and Mark Byrne plays the ball inside to Harry Cornick, who looks to thread the ball through to Joe Quigley, but Harry Cornick’s Threaded Through-Ball runs through to Millwall Goalkeeper Tom King, who actually drops the ball before recovering quickly to get on to the loose ball.

From Here, Tom King throws the ball out-wide to David Worrall, and David Worrall takes a touch to control the ball before running forward in possession of the ball, and David Worrall plays the ball forward to Steve Morison, who plays A First Time Ball Back to Mahlon Romeo, who takes a touch to control the ball and Mahlon Romeo plays the ball out-wide to Steve Morison, who plays the ball back inside to Mahlon Romeo, who plays the ball out-wide to Jed Wallace, who plays a one touch layoff back into Mahlon Romeo’s Path, and Mahlon Romeo runs forward in possession of the ball before playing the ball out-wide to David Worrall Down The Right Side Of The Gillingham’s Penalty Area, and David Worrall lays the ball off to Jed Wallace on the edge of Gillingham’s Penalty Area, and Jed Wallace runs into A More Central Position before unleashing A Driven Effort towards the bottom right corner of the net and Tomas Holy does brilliantly to make the save, and Steve Morison is on to the loose ball quickly and places the ball past Tomas Holy with A Brilliant Strike, and the atmosphere from The Millwall Supporters In The Brian Moore Stand can be clearly heard around Priestfield Stadium.

There was some brilliant one touch passing and movement football from Millwall and if there is one player we didn’t want the loose ball to fall to, it was Steve Morison, Tomas Holy has done brilliantly to deny Jed Wallace From Scoring, and I don’t think that Gillingham were alert enough defensively to react to the loose ball, Steve Morison was there quickly for Millwall and he has scored the goal which has brought this game back level, just barely over five minutes after Gillingham had taken the lead, both goals have been scored from re-bounds, after brilliant saves from Tomas Holy and Tom King to keep the initial effort out, There Is Seventeen Minutes Plus Stoppage Time Remaining, Can Gillingham go on and find the winner from here ???

And Millwall could have turned this match on it’s head A Minute Later, With Gillingham still sacrificing possession for defensive stability, this gave the freedom for Millwall Midfielder Ben Thompson to take a touch to control the ball before firing A Driven Effort Over Tomas Holy’s Crossbar by some considerable distance from Twenty Five Yards Out, it is clear that Gillingham have got to do something to try and get ourselves back into this match, and Gillingham do have A Substitute Ready And Waiting To Come On as well.

But Jake Hessenthaler coming on for Harry Cornick wasn’t the substitute we were expecting, and we are Seventy Five Minutes Into This Match, granted, Harry Cornick may not be able to last the full ninety minutes, but we do have Rory Donnelly and Josh Parker on the bench, I would have thought that one of those two would have come on, Millwall have brought on Lee Gregory For Aiden O’Brien, so they have shown there intentions with the one substitute they have used so far, but Jake Hessenthaler coming on for Harry Cornick looks like Gillingham are settling for A 1-1 Draw, when it is wins we need not draws.

And after Ben Thompson’s Effort had failed to test Tomas Holy between the sticks, Millwall create A Goal-Scoring Opportunity From Our Own Goal Kick, as Tomas Holy kicks the ball long down-field and Joe Martin wins the aerial challenge on the halfway line and headers the ball forward to Lee Gregory, who flicks the ball on into Steve Morison’s Path, and Steve Morison plays the ball inside to Lee Gregory, who plays the ball down the left side of the pitch and Jed Wallace only just about does enough to keep the ball in play, and Jed Wallace waits for support and plays the ball back to Joe Martin, and Jed Wallace plays the ball back to Joe Martin, who looks to whip in a dangerous cross before playing the ball out-wide to Jed Wallace, and Jed Wallace whips in an sensational cross towards the far side of Gillingham’s Penalty Area, and Steve Morison’s Bullet Header Towards Goal clears Gillingham’s Crossbar and Millwall are on top, and they look like they are going to be the side who will go on and collect all three points, And this dominance in play shows no signs of slowing down, as Millwall thought they had A Penalty Claim as Lee Gregory kicks the ball against Adedeji Oshilaja’s rib cage, Millwall Fans chanted Hand-Ball, and this lead to ironic cheers of hand-ball from Gillingham Supporters every-time Millwall completed a pass, again, Millwall are on top, but Gillingham are just about keeping Millwall Out, all be it, with desperate defending.

Seventy Seven Minutes Into The Match, and Mark Byrne wins Gillingham A Free Kick after he was fouled by Millwall Midfielder Ben Thompson, and after that challenge from Ben Thompson, Mark Byrne’s Game Was Done, Not Because Of Injury, But Because Adrian Pennock decided to replace Mark Byrne with Emmanuel Osadebe, maybe Emmanuel Osadebe will play behind Joe Quigley and Cody McDonald and Jake Hessenthaler and Josh Wright will sit in-front of Zesh Rehman, Max Ehmer and Adedeji Oshilaja, but Gillingham Supporters were disappointed that one of Rory Donnelly or Josh Parker haven’t come on for Gillingham just yet.

The Pressure on Gillingham’s Goal just isn’t dying down as Adedeji Oshilaja is penalised for his challenge on Lee Gregory, and now Millwall have got themselves A Free Kick In A Promising Position On The Pitch, and From The Resulting Free Kick, Millwall have got the chance to score what surely now will be the goal that will win the game, as David Worrall whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross which is headed clear by Zesh Rehman, and Jake Hessenthaler headers the ball further away from Gillingham’s Goal, but with Gillingham having everyone back to defend The Free Kick, this is only a temporary reprieve, as Joe Martin has possession of the ball, and Joe Martin squares the ball to Ben Thompson in Gillingham’s Final Third, and Ben Thompson plays the ball out-wide to David Worrall, who whips in an sensational cross towards the far post, and Steve Morrison headers the ball back across the face of goal and Lee Gregory just cannot make that telling connection on the ball to give Millwall the lead, and the chance has been and gone for Millwall.

But From The Resulting Goal-Kick, Millwall were causing Gillingham more problems defensively as Tomas Holy kicks the ball long down-field and Byron Webster wins the aerial challenge up against Joe Quigley, and Shaun Williams looks to play the ball over the top of Gillingham’s Defence for David Worrall to run on to, but Adedeji Oshilaja has the pace to get back to make the recovery run and shield the ball out of play for A Gillingham Goal-Kick, there was a bit of a altercation between Adedeji Oshilaja and David Worrall after that, but Referee Charles Breakspear only gives A Warning to both players.

And The Same-Thing Happened from The Resulting Goal-Kick After That, with Tomas Holy kicking the ball long down-field and Millwall almost creating A Goal-Scoring Opportunity from our own Goal-Kick, It is getting to the point now that I would rather see Tomas Holy kick the ball out of play for A Millwall Throw On In Millwall’s Half Of The Pitch, Because Gillingham aren’t winning the aerial duels, and there not doing enough to win The Second Ball Either, I am looking at our options available on the bench, and surely Josh Parker or Rory Donnelly need to come on now while the score-line is 1-1 to see if Gillingham can go on and grab all three points, Millwall have made one sub and that was to replace one striker with another, Gillingham have attacking options on the bench and Adrian Pennock is reluctant to bring them on.

Eighty Three Minutes Into The Match, and Emmanuel Osadebe wins Gillingham A Free Kick, Unfortunately, Gillingham Waste This Rare Attacking Opportunity as Lee Martin tries to pick out Max Ehmer with A Driven Cross Towards The Back-Stick, But Lee Martin’s Cross Is Over-Hit and goes out of play for A Millwall Goal-Kick, and you can hear the frustrations from Gillingham Supporters Around Priestfield Stadium, The Attendance Inside Priestfield Stadium was also announced as 7,221, of whom 2,262 are Millwall fans, and I have got to say that the turnout from Gillingham Supporters is very disappointing for this match, granted, there were complications with the ticketing structure for this match and Gillingham are involved in A League One Relegation Battle, but these types of matches should see Gillingham get 8,000+ plus, fair play to Millwall for selling there allocation, and at least we learned from last season by giving Millwall The Entire Brian Moore Stand, But I think the attendance is at least 1,000 lower then what it should be for these type of matches.

Eighty Seven Minutes Into The Match, and Millwall make there second substitute of the game as Fred Onyedinma replaces David Worrall, and Joe Quigley is named as Gillingham’s Man Of The Match and I have to disagree with that decision, now Joe Quigley has scored his first goal for Gillingham and that is great, however, there have been games this season where Joe Quigley has performed better without sticking the ball into the back of the net, I do think that The Sponsor’s just pick The Goal-Scorer at times as that is the easiest thing to do, Mark Byrne would have been My Choice For Man Of The Match, as I was impressed with his performance in Gillingham’s Midfield.

Joe Quigley and Max Ehmer are penalised for there challenges on Shaun Williams and Steve Morrison as Gillingham’s Foul Tally Increases, and it is after the second foul where Millwall Have A Free Kick Within Shooting Territory Here, and I had both of my hands clinched - Please Keep This Out Gills - Jed Wallace puts his laces through the ball and Jed Wallace see’s his effort towards goal blocked, then, Lee Gregory see’s his follow up effort on goal blocked by Adedeji Oshilaja, Corner For Millwall and Gillingham are hanging on, Jed Wallace goes across to take the resulting corner kick for Millwall, and Jed Wallace whips in an dangerous in-swinging cross and Tomas Holy is quick off his goal-line to make a fantastic catch, if ever you need your Goalkeeper to take the pressure off your defence, then that is it - Excellent Catch From Tomas Holy.

Josh Wright then is booked in The Ninetieth Minute, and then The Fourth Official Shows - FIVE ADDITIONAL MINUTES OF ADDED TIME!!!!!! - On The Board, the noise increases in volume around Priestfield Stadium, can Gillingham kick on from here and find the winner ??? - Unfortunately, it is The Visitor’s who are piling on the pressure as Fred Onyedinma and Mahlon Romeo link up nicely for Millwall down The Right Side Of The Pitch, and Mahlon Romeo kicks the ball against Emmanuel Osadebe to win Millwall A Corner Kick, And From The Resulting Corner Kick, Jed Wallace has whipped in an dangerous in-swinging cross and Zesh Rehman wins the first aerial challenge, but the second ball drops to Lee Gregory who see’s his driven shot towards goal blocked by Adedeji Oshilaja, and Lee Martin plays the ball long down-field, and Cody McDonald flicks the ball on into Joe Quigley’s Path, and I thought that Joe Quigley had done really well to turn past Byron Webster, but Referee Charles Breakspear controversially awards Millwall A Free Kick.

Millwall continue to be the team who dominate and only one team is going to go on and pick up all three points now, as Max Ehmer and Lee Martin have both been forced to concede corner kick’s, In Lee Martin’s case, it was blocking an effort on goal from Fred Onyedinma, and from Jed Wallace’s Third In-Swinging Corner Kick In A Row, Byron Webster climbs highest at the far post, but he cannot direct his header on target.

Still it is Millwall who continue to dominate the final minute or two of added time, Tomas Holy kicks the ball long down-field and Shaun Williams headers the ball down-field, and Zesh Rehman wins the first aerial challenge and Jed Wallace is first to the loose ball to hook the ball into Lee Gregory’s Path, and Lee Gregory tee’s up Steve Morison to try his luck from range, but it is a shot that is too simple for Tomas Holy to save, and that effort on goal from Steve Morison was the final noteworthy moment of the match, and The Full Time Score see’s neither side pick up all three points, but both teams will be happy for the point, for Millwall, it is a point that moves them back into the playoffs, for Gillingham, It Is A Point that stops the rot and potentially, something to build on.

FULL TIME: GILLINGHAM 1 - 1 MILLWALL

Gillingham Players Applauded The Supporters, Who Likewise, applauded the players, because that was a tough match against Millwall and The Point does stop the rot, yes we really could have done with all three points, and I did tweet before the game that Gillingham have to start winning now, but given how that match went and how Millwall were pushing for the winner, then I would take the point, and we move on to the next game against Bristol Rovers On Good Friday, which is going to be another difficult match, I mentioned In My FOM BLOG Previewing Gillingham V Millwall that Home Form Is Going To Be Crucial If Gillingham want League One Football Next Season LINK IS HERE: http://fan-of-mulligan.tumblr.com/post/159299890047/fom-blog-home-form-crucial-for-league-one - And so far, Gillingham have picked up one point from our three remaining matches, if Gillingham can build on this point against Millwall with a win against Bristol Rovers, then Gillingham stand a great chance of avoiding relegation into League Two.

I listened to The PA System for how the other results have gone in League One, and you have got to say that the results have gone against us as Oldham Athletic and Shrewsbury Town both won and Charlton Athletic won as well, It is only thanks to Chesterfield’s win against Port Vale which keeps Gillingham out of The League One Relegation Zone, now we’re in deep deep trouble and we need to find a way to win, Easter Weekend will define this season for Gillingham one way or another, hopefully, Gillingham can put the points on the board against Bristol Rovers and Charlton Athletic so that Gillingham retain our League One Status, For Fans thinking that Relegation into League Two means an instant return back into League One is more then achievable, look how long it took for Gillingham to get promoted last time round, Most of Our Supporters Know This, they know just how essential it is to avoid relegation this season, and hopefully Gillingham can do just that in our final four league games.

I made sure I had everything before heading for the exit, and I headed down towards The Players Entrance to wait for Stephen, Diane and Gary and while I was waiting, GillsInTheBlood was asking for suggestions for Man Of The Match, and I had sent the following Tweet,,,, Mark Byrne was very good today, I thought he deserved MOTM, Holy was also much better between the sticks this afternoon - I thought that Mark Byrne had a very good game and he deserved The Man Of The Match Award more then Joe Quigley did, great to see Joe Quigley score his first Gillingham Goal and that is a positive, is that enough for Man Of The Match? - Not For Me.

Stephen caught up with me first and we were looking at a few results throughout the divisions and The Surprise Result Was Norwich City Winning 7-1 against Reading, Stephen mentioned that Norwich City were 6-1 up at half time as well, I mentioned that surely there has been a sending off whenever you see a result so one sided as that, great result for Norwich City, who have a slim chance of reaching the playoffs, but maybe Norwich City are looking to build some momentum for next season, and look to start The 2017 / 2018 season very strongly.

Diane and Gary caught up with Me and Stephen, And Me, Gary, Diane and Stephen spoke about the poor attendance, because a attendance of 7,221 for Gillingham V Millwall is very poor, and there was 2,262 Millwall Supporters In The Brian Moore Stand, which meant that there was only 5,000 Gillingham Supporters Inside Priestfield Stadium, I know that West Ham United are at home, and there has been a strict ticketing policy for this match, but there should be at least 8,000 inside Priestfield Stadium for this game, I had empty seats next to me and sections in The Rainham End and The Gordon Road Stand were empty as well.

That Attendance sums up Supporters Frustrations With This Season and I also think that Supporters have made it very clear that they want A Change In Management For Next Season, A Gillingham Season Ticket Holder for many season’s a few rows behind me isn’t renewing, Andrew and Charlotte next to me aren’t renewing, I have heard of other supporters around the ground who are not renewing there Season Tickets Either, Gillingham should be getting better support considering the size of our catchment area, but if you compare our off the field plans, they are Championship with Premier League Potential, If They Come Off, But The Management Is Not At There Same Level, The Management Needs to reflect the clubs ambition, and that is why Kenny Jackett, Steve Cotterill and Chris Powell constantly get mentioned, because they achieved success at this level with Wolves, Bristol City and Charlton Athletic respectively.

We spoke about The Josh Wright Rumour, and Gary is surprised that Nottingham Forest are interested in signing Josh Wright just because of A Purple Patch, obviously, if we were to go down then it may well be a case of cashing in on Josh Wright and try and get some money for him, the same also applies to Bradley Dack, Because Gillingham may have to cash in on Bradley Dack, get what we can for him rather then see him walk for nothing at the end of next season, Because Bradley Dack turns Twenty Four In A Year’s Time and he can walk for A Tribunal Fee at the end of the following season, I am sure that because Bradley Dack has come through the ranks at Gillingham, then The Tribunal Fee would be close to £1,000,000, But that wouldn’t be close to what Bristol City were offering over A Year Ago, which was over £2,500,000.

You could clearly hear The Police Helicopter Above us and I normally wait after the game until the crowd disperses, but more so this time as it is Millwall at home, and while we were waiting, The Four Of Us Spoke about The NoirCat Prediction League, I mentioned that I got My Prediction Spot On For NoirCat and I am on course for promotion, Gary mentioned that he cannot think of anyone who has done A League And Cup Double, and I thought that surely if your doing well in the league then there is a good chance that you will progress well in the cup as well, However, Gary pointed out that you only have to get a few predictions right to progress in the cup, and also, there might a occasion where you get through on home advantage, as someone might have put the same predictions as you.

Stephen is hoping to bounce back into The Premier League at the first attempt, and Stephen has got three predictions spot on in a row so he has gone from dropping out of the promotion places, to now cementing himself into a top two position, Diane is also in promotion contention in her own division, and all four of us are doing well in our own divisions, I have got Three Wins and A Defeat in my final four league predictions, and I hope I get those predictions spot on, as that will mean that Gillingham will retain there League One Status, I think Diane has Two Wins and Two Defeats, so that might well be enough for Gillingham to avoid relegation as well.

I was convinced that Lee Martin was fouled in The First Half and Gary mentioned that was A Penalty, but there was also a possible penalty for Millwall as well, which Gary was surprised about as Millwall had the chance to score from just two yards out, I found out after watching The Highlights that Lee Gregory was off balance when he took the shot on which is why he fell over and not because of any challenge from A Gillingham Player, but Referee Charles Breakspear chose not to give either decision, had one been given and not the other for or against either team, then there would have been a huge talking point, but not giving both penalty decisions shows a level of consistency.

Gary Mentioned to Me, Diane and Stephen that Lee Martin had A Few Coins thrown at him before A Few Corner Kicks were being allowed to be taken, and this explained why it took so long before those corner kicks were kicked back into play by Gillingham, And if that is the case, then surely there is going to be a level of punishment coming Millwall’s Way, either a warning or a fine, it won’t be as steep as a points deduction or A Ban On Away Supporters, I think it will most likely be a warning first and foremost, The Vast Majority Of Millwall Supporters were well behaved though, and Me and Diane have seen what it is like whenever Gillingham go to local away matches, there easier to travel to and Gillingham bring a fantastic away following, however, you also see people at these matches who have never been to A Gillingham Home Or Away Game Before, and they are usually the ones who cause the trouble, and it is difficult to police this, because once tickets go on General Sale, anyone can buy a ticket, I am sure that Millwall Supporters will also self police there own supporters to remind them that there conduct could well see genuine supporters punished for future away matches.

Gary decided to head off, and Me and Diane said C Ya At The Next Home Game, while Stephen Said C Ya, as Stephen isn’t going to The Bristol Rovers Home Game, but he is going to Charlton Athletic On Easter Monday, and speaking of Charlton Athletic, Me, Stephen and Diane were making our own preparations for Charlton Athletic Away, we were going to group save from Rainham Train Station and get to Charlton Athletic early enough so we can buy some food and drink, there is A Chip Shop Near The Ground and I think there is A Retail Park within walking distance as well, A lot Of Supporters were looking to travel to Charlton Athletic Via Train On Easter Monday - I even asked Stewart if he wanted to go to Charlton Athletic. - This is A Match we have been planning for for quite a few months now and we just need to sort out the finer details now.

Looking at Promotion And Relegation Position’s Which Have Been Confirmed In The Football League So Far, Rotherham United’s Relegation Into League One was confirmed a while ago, but Sheffield United have secured promotion this weekend, Bolton Wanderers look increasingly likely to go up with them as well, and Doncaster Rovers have managed to bounce back into League One at The First Attempt, Darren Ferguson has done a fantastic job there and how or why we didn’t try and sign John Marquis on a permanent basis I have no idea, because John Marquis is scoring goals for fun, why didn’t we sign Alfie May, why didn’t we go for Harry Smith who is at Millwall, and why did we let Mahlon Romeo go ??? and you have to seriously question some of the decisions made by Justin Edinburgh here, because the players he didn’t sign have gone on and done well at other clubs - and that happens - but releasing Mahlon Romeo who is now linked with A Move To West Ham United is a shocking decision.

Looking Ahead to our Match On Good Friday, Bristol Rovers at home is now A Must Win Game, but there are in a position where The Playoffs is still possible, Fleetwood Town are dropping off and they might be in dreadful form by the time we play them, which will help of course, but if Gillingham win against Bristol Rovers, then this would be a very good point, as four points from these two fixtures would be a good points tally, I mentioned in My FOM BLOG that home form is crucial in deciding on what division we are in, well we have got a point at the moment, hopefully, we can build on this with a win against Bristol Rovers.

As we were leaving from the ground, Stephen mentioned why is Mitchell Dickenson not in the squad as Adrian Pennock started him against Rochdale and praised him after his league debut, now he is not in the side at all ??? - And you would think that with no Centre Back On The Bench that Mitchell Dickenson would be in the squad at the very least, and also, Noel Mbo needs to be Gillingham’s First Team for every match between now and the end of the season, speaking of strikers, Why didn’t one of, or, all three of Elliott List, Josh Parker or Rory Donnelly come on ??? I can understand defending the point and making sure that four defeats in a row do not turn into five, but Gillingham needed wins, and when we went 1-0 up, that was the time for Adrian Pennock to bring on another attacking substitution to try and grab that all important second goal.

We went into Sainsbury’s as Me and Stephen wanted to get something to drink, Diane wanted to get some shopping done, and I brought A 500ML Bottle Of Coca Cola for £1.30, I then got A Call On My Mobile, It Was Dad saying that Mum wanted A Small Portion Of Chips and A FishCake, I mentioned the score-line and how the match went briefly before mentioning that I would ring again when I get back to Rainham, as I didn’t know what The Train Times were so I could be stuck on Gillingham Train Station for Twenty Minutes, After Diane had done some shopping, Diane said C Ya Saturday to Me - I mentioned that, well you can go to the ground on Saturday Diane, but no-one else will be there, as Gillingham Play On Good Friday, And after Bristol Rovers, it is A Away Match against Charlton Athletic On Easter Monday - The Match we have been looking forward to going to.

Me and Stephen then made our way to Gillingham Train Station, and We Got Speaking With Danial and another Gillingham Supporter, One Of The Questions I was asked was about my thoughts on Five At The Back At Home ??? - I think this system is our attempt to try and plug any gaps defensively and keep two strikers on the pitch, but you are out-numbered in midfield, and this system can switch quickly to A 3.4.1.2 Formation, but when your Full Backs / Wing Backs are pushed back, this then turns into a back five straight away.

We all had the same opinion on The Millwall Match, If Gillingham can build on this point over Easter Weekend against Bristol Rovers and Charlton Athletic, then this is a good point, failure to build on this point, and Gillingham are in deep deep trouble, and we spoke about Bristol Rovers being close to the playoffs, so they will be another difficult side for Gillingham to play against, hopefully, it is a case of the better the opposition, the better the performance, because Gillingham do seem to raise there game against better opposition, and boy don’t Gillingham need to start raising there game.

As The 18.20PM Train was about to arrive on Platform Three, I said C Ya To Danial, and Me and Stephen just about got on the train in time, I then rang home to say I was On The 18.20PM Train and I mentioned to Stephen that I will create The Man Of The Match Thread On Gills Debate, and hopefully, try and solve the issues I was having with Gills Player, as I am sure that Stephen will want to listen to the game against Bristol Rovers On Good Friday, and then it is the big match and the game we have been planning for for some-time, Charlton Athletic Away, Because The Trains will be packed, we will be looking to get to the ground very early so that we can get some-thing to eat and see the players before kick off, Can we not have Andy Barcham back just for that one game, because that goal Andy Barcham scored against Charlton Athletic was superb.

As The Train Arrived In Rainham Train Station at 18.25PM, I Said C Ya To Stephen before heading To George’s Plaice, and I Brought A Portion Of Chips And Two Jumbo Plain Sausages, and A Portion Of Chips and One FishCake for £8.50, I also went to The Co-Op to buy A Two Litre Bottle Of Pepsi, before getting a lift back home, and I was back home at 18.40PM, All In All, Not A Bad Result Against Millwall, but what is important, is if Gillingham cash build on that point against Millwall with back to back results against Bristol Rovers and Charlton Athletic, Two Draws Won’t Be Enough, A Win And A Draw Would Be Excellent, Back To Back Wins would be sensational, hopefully, Gillingham can build on this result against Millwall with back to back wins against Bristol Rovers and Charlton Athletic, because six points from these two games would keep Gillingham In League One - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!