Voting was locked for this match at midnight on Sunday 8th December but you may still add your mini match reports. Note that members and non-members alike were able to vote.

Your Gillingham v Sunderland Match Reports

Legend added 17:05 - Sep 1 Not happy with a draw. It's going to be a very long hard season!! We are so rubbish at the back. Thank Jewell you muppet!!!
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unstableblue added 17:27 - Sep 1 OK I am sure they'll be a lot of doommongers, but let me give a view from someone who was there. There is a lot wrong, but also a lot to be positive about. Great conditions for football, pitch looks lovely and was well watered before the match. The chilled Adnams and Portman pie again gave a nice tasty start to proceedings. I went with a Huddersfield town fan, who yearned to be with the well presented away fans, but was able to scream 'come on town' without issue. Interestingly he thinks they'll do better without Rhodes, as they became a little one dimensional with him starting. Shame about the town turn out, 16.5k is gonna hurt us, but at these prices and with the stuttering start its no surprise. What is shameful is the lack of singing for the blues, only when we got on top did we start singing. We as fans need to turn this round. So to the game - 2 new starters - and 2 impacts on our sha

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unstableblue added 17:56 - Sep 1 OK I am sure they'll be a lot of doommongers, but let me give a view from someone who was there. There is a lot wrong, but also a lot to be positive about. Great conditions for football, pitch looks lovely and was well watered before the match. The chilled Adnams and Portman pie again gave a nice tasty start to proceedings. I went with a Huddersfield town fan, who yearned to be with the well presented away fans, but was able to scream 'come on town' without issue. Interestingly he thinks they'll do better without Rhodes, as they became a little one dimensional with him starting. Shame about the town turn out, 16.5k is gonna hurt us, but at these prices and with the stuttering start its no surprise. What is shameful is the lack of singing for the blues, only when we got on top did we start singing. We as fans need to turn this round. So to the game - 2 new starters - and 2 impacts on our shape. Murphy is a good addition, because he does he give us some aerial threat, however he makes us go long for the back!!! And this was the real negative from today. We bypassed luongo and drury and then were outplayed on the wing. So to the other signing Taylor was really excellent and adds bite, and pace, and attacking intent. I like him but is he wasted on the right? yes I think so. We did fair better in a 4-4-2, but again we tended to go long to murphy, whereas when we played through the middle and lunongo got forward we were excellent. Our best move of the game, which would have made it 3-1, involved luongo, martin, ainsley, and then chopra who hit the post. It was great when chops scored after chambers earlier bungled in goal. You could he and the team grew in stature. But again we lacked true shape and system. Huddersfield showed with a truly superb flowing move to equalise. I'm not sure people realise how big a blow losing Edwards was today, ainsley was miles better, but still ineffective. And his crossing was abysmal, bar one cross. Our issue at the moment is confidence and deciding on our best shape. I think we need to shift between 4-4-2 at home and 4-2-3-1 away; we need to use hyam. Today drury and luongo did not dominate the midfield. And luongo is not being instructed on his role. He is better going forward linking with hyam behind. Drury although provided much needed ball play is perhaps holding us back. But having stated negatives, there is definitely a good group of players forming. Best for some time. Now let's get in a premiership left centre back, and then get the best out of our players. The positive is that we now have a lot of competition and some and let's push on. COYB.

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TractorBeezer added 18:10 - Sep 1 I listened to the entire game which seemed to be most entertaining. Good performances from Taylor, Loach and Ainsley (who linked well with Taylor). Still wobbly at the back though which is a concern. Hopefully PJ has a loan in mind for CB with view to an eventual permanent signature.
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neillrumsey added 18:22 - Sep 1 Positives from the game were the performance of Loach, Ainslie, Taylor and the goal from Chopra, and when we decided to pass through the midfild Luongo came into the game and we looked like a football team. Too much hoof ball to the head of Murphy which I feared may happen. Negatives the defence, Cresswell continues to under perform and give the ball away cheaply and these two centre backs have to be one of the worst I've seen at PR that said Smith is excellent when attacking our corners. Very poor crowd as well. Am I alone in thinking that poor Chopra is never goona suceed in scoring regularly with this formation. It doesn't appear to suit his game. (Neat finish tho). Taylor looks a player who is confident on the ball great first touch and creates space for himself with ease. If we are to see the best of him we must play on the deck. Disappointed at dropping two points at home. New defenders are a must.

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BlueJewells added 18:43 - Sep 1 Draw was a fair result, Tommy Smith is not good enough.
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EssexTractor added 18:44 - Sep 1 My first posting of this new season No surprise that disappointment outweighs contententment. Not really because of lack of effort on the pitch, but a lack of quality. I am sure all our players attempted to play to their individual strengths . But it continues to be evident to the majority of paying customers and loyal supporters that our rearguard, indivdually and as a unit is simply not good enough, True Loach did well toward the end and his penalty save and then subsequent block from the talented but odious Vaughan effectively prevented another defeat But he must suffer the same nerves as we do in the stands as he sees time and again his back four struggling to cope with the oncoming oppostion. We have during the transfer window been lured into thinking all manner of newcomers were being sought and hopefully on a permanant basis but how many mentioned were defenders of any quality? And how many arrived? All last season it was obvious that we would make no signifcant progress with the defenders we had and witnessed a series of woeful defensive performances. So surely the serious and professional search for competent quality defenders should have been paramount and shoud have been successfullya accomplished well before the season started , let alone during this rdiculous madcap "beat the transfer deadline week". Here lies my continuing and deepest worry about the management of this club. Time and again PJ bemoans the teams inability to hold on to leads , to leak poor goals, to be naive in the last third. Well you PJ have had more than enough time to have achieved proper and long lasting remedies for those failures, in existence from your arrival 18 months ago. But instead during that time we have witnessed a procession of failed signings and loans and it feels like for every step forward we take two back. As pleasing as it was to witness an excellent debut today by Paul Taylor and see some touches of class from Luongo and Chopra, everyone in the viewing gallery has the major concern that for every two goals ITFC may (and will) score they are likey to concede three. Be it via the impending loan window, or the January transfer opportunity please please strengthen that defence and improve the coaching of all players in the aspect of retaining a lead at home with only 10 minutes remaining . Huddersfield are a competent team but nowhere near the best in the division but today may well have left PR with all 3 points. I believe that the ever recurring question is still legitimate to be asked.."Are we truthfully any better than the day Jim Magilton was asked to vacte his position?"... Lets hope that come the end of this season we can unanimously say yes.... but I doubt we will with what we currently have...

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bluebare added 21:43 - Sep 1 my first game of what will be a long season on that performance. thoughts loach did ok and prob saved us the game ainsly was also ok and grew into the game but we missed edwards chambers showed why he was free smith best of a bad back line cresswell is not what he was before the villa interest martin lacked his usual buzz but good in places drury tried and bizzarly booked made some good passes but a little off the pace luongo showed he had class but only in patches murrphy was what we expect won a lot in the air but flicked on to who? chops works hard but not much service but took goal well maybe should have had 2 but went down too easy looking for a pen taylor grew into the game but looked lost out wide needs to play instead of chops not with ref was inconsistant and didnt know the rules re booking drury huddersfield were nothing special but prob should have won if wasnt for the lucky goals we scored our crowd was quiet but need something to shout about jewel needs to sort it out and quick maybe the new boys will add the power needed in center midfield and def need a doninant centerhalf maybe time will make them into a team as they looked like a bunch of strangers today

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siralfstrackie added 00:02 - Sep 2 Two points lost rather than one gained, I fear. As easy as it is to criticise our back four (and it is frighteningly easy), our profligacy in front of the opponents net has also to be mentioned; PJ knows as well as the rest of us that our defence needs bolstering (and hopefully he can do that before our next game), our attack needs to "Score one more than you". Too many times promising attacks broke down as we played one pass too many when we should have tried a shot/run at a defender in the box. Not sure who's the quietest these days: The crowd, the defence or Marcus Evans. There were positive signs though that we're not that bad a side, Taylor looks like he could definitely become a cult figure, able to play on the wing or up front and looks tricksy and dangerous; Loach had a really good second half with a couple of really good stops, including the penalty save; the midfield looked busy and moved the ball about well; and, overall, we were probably the better side we just look like a side suffering the hangover of two shockingly bad results. We need to string together three or four good results/displays and you get the feeling that, with the confidence those games could bring we would definitely be a top ten team this season and a playoff pushing side the next. Patience, people, patience. (Oh, and a bit of noise please) COYB!!!

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La_Paz added 01:46 - Sep 2 Afraid to say that I'm really struggling to find many positives in the performance today. After two great displays against Blackburn and Watford it has all gone out of the window and we are back to square one. Constant hoofs up the pitch, an inability to keep the ball and an unwillingness to make a challenge meant that without two great saves from Loach we would have lost this game badly. Jewell got it wrong today and we paid the price. When you finish the game with your star striker hanging around on the wing trying to pick up the ball from deep then you know something is wrong. Waiting till the last minute or so to make the changes that are so obviously needed, and then taking off the wrong player (Taylor) was incredible. Taylor is obviously a great little player, but I simply don't understand where he fits in. As we start and play the vast majority of games with one up front, are you telling me that he is going to replace Chopra on a regular basis? If, as happened today, PJ wanted a winger to challenge JET for his place (not a bad idea, as it goes), then why didn't he buy a winger? Paying all that money for a second striker and then playing him out of position is just ridiculous. Taylor put in a good shift on the right, but has no left foot and so when he cuts inside has few options. This is obviously not his position and he was far more dangerous when he moved into the centre. Which begs the question; why has PJ spent all that money on a player whose best two positions are already occupied by our best two players (Martin and Chopra), especially when we are so obviously lacking in other areas? Sorry, but I just don't get it. We missed Carlos today, although I thought Ainsley did well, certainly defensively at least, and we missed Hyam. Without him there was no-one to collect the ball from the back four and no-one to put their foot in in midfield. The problem with Premiership loanees is that you have to play them, even at the expense of our own players, and today Drury and Hyam would have been a far more effective pair than Drury and Luongo, who were far too easily overrun, although to be fair the ball was flying over their heads most of the time. How long is it going to be this season before we see Hyam again? I really hope it doesn't take as long as it did last year. To sum up then, today we made Huddersfield look like world-beaters and were lucky to get a draw. Frightening to think what is going to happen when someone decent turns up. Sort it out PJ, and quick. My faith took a big knock today.

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bluebell32 added 02:06 - Sep 2 Those slating smith clearly don't realise what he does for the team. If you were actually at the game you would have seen that he got chambers out of the s*** a number of times, covering when he made errors. This sort of thing goes unnoticed but is vitally important. Yes smith makes the odd mistake, but when he does there is no one covering him which makes it look worse than it actually is. In my opinion, he was the better of the two centre halves today. I really do wonder if some people have watched the same game as I have....

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TimmyH added 10:51 - Sep 2 Shouldn't we have gone 3-2 up just after they equalized? Chopra missed an absolute sitter in front of goal (against the post). Looked an entertaining game but only again due to our inability to defend once in the lead.
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debenturedave added 12:04 - Sep 2 No Match programmes for sale in West Stand at half-time - all sold out we were told - and only 16,000+ at the game ! My thanks to the kind lady who came out of the Hospitality area at the end of the game with a handful of programmes and kindly gave me one to read .
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h32 added 12:26 - Sep 2 bluebell32 - agree with you - some of the critism Smith gets from moronic minds is totally unjust. The lad is still learning his trade, and as Mick Mills rightly said yesterday, he needs a 'commanding / leading' centre back beside him for at least another season or so, i.e someone of the Mowbray, DeVos, MaCauley calibre. Why our excuse of a Manager has not, or refuses to, recognise this - only he knows, but the fact is he has had ample time, and more, to do something about it. If you look at the rubbish Smith has had to try and play with - he has done well, so get of his back people. Jewell has, and continues, to do the lad no favours - Smith shouldn't have to be getting people like Chambers out of the sh#t - he's still very the pupil himself. Sign that 'leading centre back' Jewell - it seems that only you would have a problem doing so. They are out there, and available - AT THE GOING RATE of course.

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h32 added 12:29 - Sep 2 ..... should read 'very much the pupil' .
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TimmyH added 19:11 - Sep 2 Agreed posts about Smith above, amazing just how many posters who says 'he's just not up to this level' then totally forget or don't want to know the fact that he was quite a few times MOM second half of last season. I do feel he needs a break for a few weeks, hardly had a break during the off season.
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runaround added 21:23 - Sep 2 An exciting match with the draw being a fair result, we had more of the play but Huddersfield looked the more dangerous. I thought the back 4 looked nervous throughout with only Ainsley really impressing, we are still all to easy to score against with just long clearances causing our defence problems although to be honest we've been like that for years! The 2 goals yesterday yet again came from us giving players too much room and lacking organization. With second goal, Hamill had taken a knock and was slow to get up and our whole team forgot about him as he ran to rejoin the move, I said to Mrs Runaround they forgotten him and five seconds later it was 2-2! If I could see that from SBR lower then surely 1 of our team should have? On the positive side we put together some good play at times and Taylor showed promise but once again didn't take enough chances although at least they showed the fight they clearly hadn't in previous 2 matches. You can see what Jewell is trying to achieve with a younger, hungry team with energy and good passing however its still obviously we need further defenders and a real organizer in there. If Jewell can get one we could challenge top 10, without it we're only a couple of injuries way from struggle

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dalianwasexciting added 09:00 - Sep 3 My first game of the season but not my last!, being a resident of Yorkshire I was down for the weekend, thought I would look at individuals, some of whom I have now seen in action for the first time. Loach - My MOM for not just the penalty save, but also a couple of good stops from a very lively Vaughan. Unsighted for the first goal and exposed for the second. I have to say I am pleased we have a proper number 1 at last. Ainsley - Played in his proper position and did not look out of place, defensively ok, he also overlapped a few times and put in one peach of a cross, although other crosses were not of that standard. Cresswell - Nothing to write home about, but then made no errors either. Smith - Decent in the air, but lacks pace (in common with Ipswich defences of recent years). Did not have a bad game but is he really what we need to do well? Chambers - Defensively poor, one paced and did not win much at all in the air. Going forward he seemed to win more and obviously in the right place for the goal. Nice to see a "captain" coming to clap fans both before and after the game. Jury out! Luongo - Very neat and tidy, did not set the world alight but has good ball skills and will be a valuable squad player this year. Drury - Small flashes of creativity but for me a tad disappointing. Murphy - Does add something to us, despite his lack of pace he won nearly everything in the air. The only trouble then was that we seemed to play that long ball to his head for every move, in the second half Chopra did start to get some of the flick ons. Reminds me of the Steve Whitton out wide days. Martin - Hot and cold, is obviously talented but no end product. He was not in position to track back with their Number 11 (who had previously been on the floor) when he set up the Huddersfield 2nd. Chopra - Ran his socks off, the first half was not really in the game but in the second much better. Comes alive in the box and always likely to score, I would love to see him with a big partner. Taylor - Looks a good signing, skilful on the ball, bursts of acceleration stunning and definitely a great acquisition - I was impressed.

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