Tag: Gillingham Town FC

Warminster Town 4. Gillingham Town 0

Warminster Town 4(3) Gillingham Town 0(0)
Attendance 146

Ahead of today’s game Warminster were in 20th place in the Division One table, Gillingham in 22nd, bottom place. The visitors had just one league win this season against Warminster!

Warminster started the game well and took an early 2nd minute lead. Reece Collyer’s cross field pass found left winger Jake Wright. Jake played the ball into the danger area and Kieron Burpitt turned the ball past the Gills keeper Ben Eastman, 1-0. On 22 minutes a poor Gillingham clearance fell to Jack Duck who fired in left footed to double the home side’s lead, 2-0. Just two minutes later it was three. Jake Wright was brought down in the box and the referee awarded Warminster a penalty. Corey Gardner fired the spot kick past Eastman, 3-0. In the 33rd minute Gillingham went close to pulling a goal back when they hit the post after a free kick from wide right was played into the box.   

As it neared halftime the odds were tipped dramatically in Warminster’s favour. Gills’ substitute Ben Pitman had only been off the bench a few minutes when he was involved in a tussle with Warminster’s Corey Gardner and both players were shown yellow cards. In the 40th minute Pitman received a second yellow for scything down Gardner as the Warminster forward ran down the left touchline. Just five minutes later the visitors were reduced to nine men when Mike Calverley who had already been cautioned for throwing a punch was dismissed for another offence after intervention by a linesman.

As often happens when teams have a numerical advantage performance levels can drop. Warminster continued to dominate but lacked the killer instinct after the break. Chances were squandered and they only added one more goal to their tally. It came in the 65th minute when a Gillingham hand ball in the box led to Warminster being awarded a second penalty. With Corey Gardner having been substituted, Jake Wright stepped up to take the spot kick and fired it past Eastman, 4-0. Thereafter the hosts were never troubled and ran out comfortable winners. The win lifted Warminster above Odd Down to 18th in the table and more importantly opened a five point gap over second from bottom Keynsham Town.

Match report: Geoff Jackson

Warminster Town 2 Gillingham Town 1

History was in the making as Warminster Town gained all three points in the season’s final match. A 2-1 win over Gillingham Town sealed them as Western League Division 1 runner-up, the best finish in their history and a place in the playoffs for promotion. 

Two hundred thirty-seven turned up to watch the match and were entertained by a good football game. At times it seemed that the ball would not go into the back of the net for the home side, and that second place might elude them. 

On several occasions, the home side threatened to score; perhaps the best was when Martin Johnson intercepted a back pass and shot just wide of the far post. It was Conner McKay who opened the score in the 19th minute. Running down the left, McKay switched on the turbocharger to beat the right-back, cut in and slotted the ball into the far corner of the net.

Lewis Graham forced the Gillingham keeper into making a first-class save. Graham’s free-kick was surely going to be a goal but for the keeper’s athletic dive to his left and pushed the ball out for a corner.  

Towards the end of the first half, Gardner had to be substituted due to injury and on came Wain in his place. Gardner had collided with the Gillingham keeper earlier in the match and couldn’t shake off the effects.

Warminster this season seems to score more goals in the second half. This looked very likely in the opening two minutes, and Wain saw his shot go over the crossbar. Not long later, he slid in for a cross from the left only to see the ball flash by his feet, so agonisingly close.

However, it was Gillingham against the run of play that equalised. Uncharacteristically, the Warminster defence allowed Gillingham an easy chance to score. The keeper took a free-kick from halfway inside their half. The ball reached the left edge of the penalty area, De-Silva fell over the attacker, leaving Gillingham’s number 3 to run onto the ball, Graham covering slipped, and keeping Jeffery at bay, the player fired home into Thomson’s far post.

In the 64th minute, surely Warminster would regain the lead after McKay was brought down in the box. Warminster’s captain and top goal-scorer, Ian Jeffery, stepped up to take the penalty. The keeper went the correct way to his left and safely gathered the ball.

McKay was ten-minute sin-binned in the 75th minute leaving Warminster with ten men. As is often the case in football, ten men on the pitch can rise to the situation. In the 80th minute, Graham (voted man of the match) forced his way down the left, cut inside, and slid the ball out to the right to find Wain on the edge of the box. Wain fired low, and a defender deflected the ball into his own goal. 

And that was the final score 2-1 to Warminster. At the end of the match, the team were awarded the runners-up cup by the Western League representatives, and the players each received a medal. 

Team: Thomson, Graham, Cockerill, Jeffery, De Silva, Humphreys, Gardner, Mortimer-Taylor, Johnson, Butler, McKay

Subs: (used) Vincent, Miluk, Wain

(unused) Bartley, McFerran

Warminster Town 2021/22 Toolstation Western League Division 1 Runners-Up

Gillingham Town 1 Warminster Town 0

Tuesday, October 5th

A win at Gillingham would have moved Warminster Town into second place in the league table. The new pitch at Gillingham looked good under their new and very bright floodlights, a welcome addition at this level of football.

The match did not go according to plan. The visitors were dominant and remained so for most of the game. In the 14th minute, the Red & Blacks were a man down after McKay was sent off for a challenge in the middle of the pitch. Any latecomers would not have noticed that Warminster was playing with ten men as the domination continued. 

The game’s only goal came in the 39th minute when Bevis for the home side broke through down the left. Warminster’s right-back, Graham, pulled his hamstring chasing the attacker, leaving Bevis free to fire home past the onrushing Thomson.

The second half once again saw Warminster dominating play but unable to capitalise on it. The closest they came to scoring was in the final minutes when the keeper tipped over Seth Wain’s 18-yard shot over the bar. 

A disappointing result for Warminster as they could not create enough clear cut chances to score. 

Team: Thomson, Graham, Cockerill, Jeffrey, De Silva, Churchyard, Miluk, Lisowksi, Johnson, McKay, Wain

Subs: (Used) Humphrey, Pollock, Seviour 

(Unused) Atkins