Gillingham’s long unbeaten run is over after AFC Wimbledon completed the SKY Bet League double over Steve Evans side with a hard-fought performance at Priestfield which was simply too much for the home side.
Indeed it was a bad day all round as the Gills finished with ten men as hugely influential skipper Max Ehmer was helped off with a shoulder injury with the visitors ahead courtesy of former Gills loanee Joe Pigott’s strike just after the break after Jack Bonham produced a wonderful save to deny Kwesi Appiah.
The ten men thought that they’d preserved the unbeaten run when substitute Regan Charles Cook was able to follow up after keeper Joe Day had pulled off a stunning save to deny Brandon Hanlon’s header, but it was another Gills old boy – Callum Reilly – who won the game for AFC in stoppage time in his first return to Priestfield since having his contract cancelled in the summer.
It was a strange performance from the home side as they never really got out of first gear and in some respect Evans side were given a taste of their own medicine with the visitors bending the rules of the game to all but breaking point with another former Gills old boy – Scott Wagstaff – leaving “his mark” on his return to Priestfield in more ways than one.
With the temperature dropping and the bitterly cold win increasing, it was the visitors who looked to carry the threat early on and Ehmer was the hero, somehow getting back to clear Piggott’s chip off the line after the AFC striker got the better of Jack Tucker.
John Akinde saw a header go wide from a long cross, but the Gills really struggled to get anything going creatively. Stuart O’Keefe – who must have felt like he was fighting a losing battle in midfield – then shot straight at Day, whilst Bonham pulled off a good reflex save to deny Wagstaff.
Piggott’s goal in the opening minutes of the second half did little to improve the Priestfield mood as the relegation strugglers dug in.
The Gills belatedly started to create some threats to Day’s goal with half time sub Jordan Graham the one picking holes in the AFC defence.
It was from one of those balls that Akinde again went close as he forced Day into another fine save low his left, whilst at the other end Piggott blazed over when he really should have settled the game.
Gills then suffered a major blow when skipper Ehmer was forced off and many feared that any hope Gills had went with him as the Gills boss had already used his three subs – Charles-Cook and Matt Willock having “joined” Graham as second half replacements.
But then Charles-Cook was on hand – throwing himself almost into the net to follow up after Day’s magnificent save had denied Hanlon’s header (from Connor Ogilvie’s long throw) – to head into the empty net.
However the point and the unbeaten run disappeared in stoppage time as Reilly fired into the bottom corner. Despite all their setbacks, the ten men did nearly grab an unlikely point as Tucker got on the end of a Graham cross only for his header to be beaten superbly again by Day.
With the first taste of defeat in 2020, Gillingham slip to 11th and are now seven points from the Play Off places with ten games left. Steve Evans side now face two games that could easily make or break the rest of the season as opponents Sunderland and Fleetwood lay in wait.
GILLINGHAM – Bonham, Fuller, Ehmer, Tucker, Ogilvie, Jones (Willock 62), O’Keefe, Lee (Graham 46), O’Connor (Charles 72), Akinde, Hanlon.
Subs – Mandron, Pringle, Roberts, Walsh
AFC WIMBLEDON – Day, O’Neill, Thomas, Wagstaff, Hartigan, Appiah (Roscow 76), Guinness-Walker, McLoughlin (McDonald 92), Sorensen, Reilly, Pigott
Subs – Trott, Pinnock, Rudoni, Lamy, Sanders
Referee – Mr Busby
Assistants – Mr Read & Mr Fitch-Jackson
Fourth Official – Mr Cooper