Rochdale 0 Gillingham 1 (Weston 20) - Full Time Report

Photo: Jon Coluccio

Club captain Gary Jones and Keith Hill applaud the supporters.

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Rochdale and Gillingham will do it all again in the play-offs after results elsewhere means that the two teams will play each other in the end of season showdown.

Shrewsbury and Bury will face each other in the other play-off encounter on a dramatic final day of the season. Exeter beat Rotherham to clinch automatic promotion and in the end Wycombe only went up on goal difference after they lost at Notts County and Bury won at home to Accrington.

Curtis Weston’s eighty yard run ended when he put the ball in the back of the net for a superb solo goal to give Gillingham the points.

Twice Dale had the ball cleared off the line and Gary Jones’ volley was superbly blocked to deny Dale a leveller.

Within the opening couple of minutes Gillingham had the ball in the net but Nicky Southall’s tidy finish was ruled out for offside, after the advancing midfielder had latched onto Albert Jarrett’s excellent low cross.

Dale survived the early scare and pressed on. Twice they saw the ball cleared off the line as John Nutter scooped Will Buckley’s curled shot over the top and then, from the resulting corner, Southall was on hand to nod Jon Shaw’s looping header out from under the crossbar.

Gillingham turned defence into attack in a matter of seconds to score the opening goal. Stuart Lewis headed clear Mark Jones’ poorly taken free-kick to allow Curtis Weston to go an eighty yard run, beating men at will, and getting into the box. He evaded Tom Newey’s last ditch tackle and squirmed clear of Frank Fielding to finish an excellent solo goal.

With all of the players looking to force their way into their respective manager’s play-off plans, the game maintained an open nature, with Dale’s wingers, Joe Thompson, Adam Rundle and Will Buckley looking most eager to impress. Buckley and Shaw linked up well for Buckley to provide a low ball into the box on which no-one gambled and then Thompson supplied a cross which Gary Jones nodded just over the top.

Southall squandered a golden chance to put Gillingham two goals to the good after Marcus Holness had left a back pass short. Dennis Oli seized on the ball and Fielding was taken out of the equation when the ball was worked to Southall at the back post but he drilled his shot horribly wide.

Dale looked certain to level when Gary Jones picked up a loose ball in the box to shoot, but the captain’s goalbound volley was miraculously blocked by Gary Richards, who slid from out of nowhere to deflect the ball over the top.

The loudest cheer of the afternoon came when Dale’s assistant manager Dave Flitcroft made a cameo appearance from the subs bench, which came minutes after Buckley had drilled a shot narrowly wide of a Gillingham post. Flitcroft displayed a couple of tidy passes before he was promptly booked for scything down Jarrett.

Dale pushed for the leveller and came close when Mark Jones squeezed a free kick under the wall but Alan Julian did well to save at full stretch.

The final twenty minutes played out a bit like a pre-season friendly with neither side giving too much away in terms of what they are going to do next week.

The closest the home side came to an equaliser was in the final minute when Simon Ramsden’s attempted chip was superbly tipped over by Julian. In injury time Flitcroft nearly brought the house down as he collected the ball twenty-five yards out and hit an excellently struck volley that whistled inches past the upright with Julian beaten. 

Rochdale: Fielding, Wiseman, Newey, Holness, McArdle (Ramsden 56), M. Jones, G. Jones, Rundle (McEvilly 76), Buckley, Thompson (Flitcroft 56), Shaw.
Subs (not used): Byrne, Brown.

Booked: Flitcroft.

Gillingham: Julian, Fuller, Nutter, Lewis, Richards, Bentley, Oli, Southall, Wright, Weston (Miller 45), Jarrett.
Subs (not used): Boyce, Wynter, Barcham, King.

Booked: Jarrett.

Attempts (on target): Rochdale 6 (3) Gillingham 4 (2)
Free kicks: Rochdale 12 Gillingham 10
Offside: Rochdale 1 Gillingham 4
Corners: Rochdale 9 Gillingham 3