Gillingham slipped to their third successive defeat as Accrington Stanley took the points at MEMS Priestfield with a winner four minutes into stoppage time. 

Boss Mark Bonner was left fuming afterwards as his side slipped off the top of SKYBet League Two, saying, “Frustrated as you would imagine we would be.

“Probably the team that was going to win it was them, we gave them far too many chances in the second half, we were too easy to create a chance against.

“The second goal was a disgrace from us, it was a free kick deep in the pitch – we don’t head it and then we are so easy to work through! When you look back at the earliest part of the season when we were so difficult to work a chance against, and now we are giving up goals – Grimsby ran straight through the middle of the pitch; Crewe ran all the way through us, we have been soft and too open in games!” 

The Gills had gone ahead as Armani Little netted early in the second period, but goals from Ben Woods and Dara Costelloe, with the winner coming four minutes into added on time, compounded with the loss of Glenn Morris through injury, it really wasn’t Gillingham’s day. 

The home side were convinced that Elliott Nevitt’s shot had hit an arm but the official wasn’t moved, and this came after a diving header from Ethan Coleman from the first attack of the match had thudded into the chest of Stanley keeper Billy Crellin. 

The home side had started really brightly and at the half’s midway point created a glorious chance. Romeao Hutton and Jack Nolan combined well down the right and it was Hutton’s low ball that was inches away from Jayden Clarke whilst following up Marcus Wyllie’s effort was block. 

Morris then showed just why he had been voted League Two’s Player of the Month with a superb save to keep out Costelloes deflected effort, before Morris again performed heroics to keep out the Stanley striker as he raced clear seemingly yards offside but the flag did not come, the 41-year-old faced from his line as palmed the shot around the post. 

An end-to-end half, ended with Wyllie and Max Ehmer going close. First Wyllie drilled a shot inches past the post before the Gills skipper saw a fine header brilliantly cleared off the line. 

The Gills took the lead on forty-nine minutes when Little was on hand to hammer a loose ball into the roof of Crellin’s net.  

Costelloe was a constant menace to the home side were then indebted to a fine Ehmer clearance to keep the lead as the Stanley striker was denied a tap-in. The visitors did though level shortly afterwards when Woods shot took a massive deflection out of the reach of Morris and into the Gillingham net. 

With eighteen minutes left, Morris was forced to hobble off and young Luca Ashby-Hammond who magnificently denied Costelloe as he raced through for a second time. The young keeper stood his ground brilliantly taking the ball off the Stanleys strikers’ boot when he seemed to have rounded the keeper. 

Sadly, for the home side, Costelloe would have the final laugh as four minutes into stoppage time he drilled home the winner to send 71 Stanley fans home happy and leave the other six and a half thousand in the crowd scratching their heads and leaving Bonner with a big week ahead of his side as they prepare for the trip to Bradford City next weekend. 

GILLINGHAM – Morris (Ashby-Hammond), Hutton, Ehmer, Ogie, Max Clark, Nolan (Jonny Williams), Coleman (Hawkins), Little, Jayden Clarke (Gbode), Wyllie (Lapslie), Nevitt 

Subs – Dieng, Wakeling  

ACCRINGTON STANLEY – Crellin, Aljofree, Love, Rawson, Awe, Batty, Whalley, Conneely (Coyle), Ben Woods, Costelloe (Henderson), Knowles (Walton) 

Subs – Kelly, Popoola, Trickett, Josh Woods 

REFEREE – Mr. Howard 

Attendance – 6622

Image courtesy of Gillingham FC