Swindon Town suffer first home defeat against Gillingham
Swindon Town suffered their first home league defeat of the season after a frustrating evening ended in a 1-0 defeat to Gillingham.
Connor Mahoney gave the Gills the lead at the break through his deflected strike as Swindon struggled to find a way beyond a stubborn Gillingham backline.
Swindon looked to find a way back into the game in the second half, but a mixture of blunt attacking and miraculous saves meant they came away with nothing.
Defeat means that Town have won just one of their last 14 games against the Kent club and have slipped out of the play-off places down to ninth in League Two.
Michael Flynn made a change to his back three for the first time this season as Harrison Minturn came in to replace the suspended Tom Brewitt. Brooklyn Genesini returned to the bench after a two-game absence as Jake Cain dropped out of the squad.
After five minutes, Charlie Austin tried a delicate flick to get Dan Kemp beyond the last defender, he took the ball around the goalkeeper, but the angle was too tight to try a shot. The midfielder cut back inside and looked to shoot, but it came back off a defender.
Town tried one of their inventive corners at the first chance they got when Kemp played Tyrese Shade into the box. He tried to play the ball into the space behind the defenders, but Gillingham managed to recover in time to clear.
After 14 minutes Mahoney drove from outside to in and reached the edge of the area before unleashing a strike that stung the fingertips of Murphy Mahoney. The Gillingham man then took a corner that was swinging towards goal and the Town stopper once again had to tip it over the top.
Jake Young made a sharp turn in midfield to get away from Shadrach Ogie and as he reached the edge of the area decided to go for goal, but Jake Turner was able to hold onto his effort.
The Gills took the lead after 22 minutes when Mahoney came in off the right wing, found space at the top of the box, and hit a low, powerful drive. The ball took a deflection off a Swindon defender, wrong-footed Mahoney, and went into the net.
Swindon almost had an instant reply as Remeao Hutton played the ball out to Kemp. His clipped cross found Young and he slammed the ball towards the near post, only to see Turner get down at lightning speed to deny him.
Shade cut in from the left and played the ball across the box to Kemp, he tried a shot but it was deflected behind. From the resulting corner, Austin stole a march on the defenders and met the ball in front of the near post, but didn’t get enough contact to send it in.
A long ball forward from Gillingham sent Macauley Bonne through on goal, he looked to dink the ball over Mahoney, but the ‘keeper stayed big and got an arm to it. The ball bounced loose, but Harrison Minturn was on hand to clear.
Town had been able to have the lion’s share of possession during the first half, but Gillingham were proving a tough nut to crack at the back.
Gillingham could have had a stunning second goal as a corner was headed away, Cheye Alexander came onto it and hit it first time on the half volley, but Mahoney threw himself across goal to pluck it out of the top corner.
There was another opportunity for Town to fall further behind as Dom Jeffries received a pass free in the box. He looked to shoot on the spin, but Mahoney flicked it wide of the near post.
George McEachran put in a fine cross for Young after 56 minutes, but Town’s top goal scorer did not get his angles right and headed it well wide of the far post.
Town then swept the ball out to Hutton on the right. He cut inside, played a one-two with Young, and looked to curl the ball left-footed into the bottom corner. His strike was near-perfect, but Turner got down to make the save.
The visitors could have been out of sight when they won a penalty after a trip from Minturn. However, when Alexander stepped up he passed the ball miles wide of the goal and Town had a lifeline.
Swindon were then able to get around the back of Gillingham and a pass was played to Rushian Hepburn-Murphy in the centre of the box. But as he looked to shoot, Jayden Clarke came in with a perfectly timed slide tackle to get the ball away.
Despite their best effort after the break, Swindon were never able to find the moment of inspiration they needed to breach the Gillingham rearguard.
STFC starting XI: Mahoney, Hutton, Blake-Tracy, McEachran, Young, Khan, Kemp, Godwin-Malife, Shade, Minturn, Austin.
STFC substitutes: L. Ward, Clayton, Hepburn-Murphy, Genesini, Kinsella, Obodo.
GFC starting XI: Turner, Alexander, Masterson, J. Williams, Jeffries, Malone, Clarke, Coleman, Mahoney, Ogie, Bonne.
GFC substitutes: Morris, Clark, S. Williams, Lapslie, Nichols, Orji, Ehmer.
Attendance: 8,853 (610 away)
