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(Sorry, I’ve thought hard about a cheesy thread title to honour Durham, but nothing is coming to mind – we can’t clip the Gills wings, can we?)
Colchester versus Gillingham; the most common fixture in the U's history. This will be the 111th competitive meeting between the two clubs, with past results being fairly even - 40 wins, 32 draws, 38 defeats (according to coludata).
Originally this game was due to be played this coming Tuesday night, but one positive of being out of the FA Cup means both clubs have a free weekend, allowing this to be brought forward and hopefully encouraging a sizable crowd. The 12:30pm kick off time also means it'll still be on Sky Sports+ and ifollow.
We go into this game in great form and I don't expect DC to make any changes to the line-up unless they're forced. Aside from all of the long term injuries, Kyreece Lisbie is probably the only doubt, having picked up a shoulder injury against Cheltenham last week. There's been no news on his fitness, so I assume it'll be the same XI. [Update: Lisbie will have a fitness test]
I'll be honest, I've not paid much attention to Gillingham this season. We beat them 2-1 in the car sales cup (aka EFL/Vertu Trophy) in October, but you can't read much into that. Looking at their season so far, they started well going 11 games unbeaten, but have then won once in their last 12. They're eighth in the league with one point more than us. Their recent form is three draws on the bounce and their last win and clean sheet was at Bristol Rovers in early November.
Last 5 Shrewsbury (away) D 3-3 Barnet (home) D 1-1 Crawley (home) D 2-2 Wycombe (home - Vertu Trophy) L 0-3 Bristol Rovers (away) W 1-0
I don't expect this to be an easy game, but form is very much in our favour, so I'm going to predict a narrow 2-1 win with goals from Jack Tucker (either a header or strike from outside the box) and Harry Anderson (just because he’s on fire).
Played for both Joe Dunne is the obvious one here. He started his career at Gillingham and is currently their youth team manager. His ColU career should need no introduction but covers most of the time between his spells at Gillingham! 188 appearances over two spells as a player, youth team manager, coach, assistant manager, caretaker manager and manager (99 games) - he'd done it all. Hopefully the BWA Joe Dunne flag will be flying proud tomorrow. Of the current Gillingham team, Jake Turner is the only player to have played for both - 13 appearances for the U's while on loan from Newcastle and 76 appearances for the Gills so far. He'll likely be in goal against us. Of the current U's squad, Jack Tucker and Ellis Iandolo came through youth ranks at Gillingham, Tucker went on to make 137 appearances for the first team. Tom Flanagan played 14 games on loan from MK Dons in 2012/13.
Memories The stand-out game for me is the 1-0 win on the opening day of the 2013/14 season. I don't really remember much about the game, just Andy Bond scoring an 89th minute winner, sending the faithful wild in the ‘temporary’ stand at Priestfield. More recently is the promising 3-0 win under Ben Garner in August 2023, or the new year's day defeat in 2024, which signalled the end of Matt Etherington's short reign and the beginning of the Cowley era (all in the same season!).
Weather The forecast keeps changing - the Met Office currently says cloudy with a 50% chance of rain, 11 degrees (feels like 8), and a mild northerly wind.
Up the U's!
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U's Vs Gills - Preview and Match Chat on 16:47 - Dec 5 with 1070 views
Excellent work Daniel. That day out at the Priestfield was a cracker - likewise I can't remember too much about the game itself, but Andy Bond's stunner and bedlam on the terrace after I certainly do remember! With no one else playing, this is an opportunity for either team to sneak into the play-offs, at least for a few days. So, odds on for a drab 0-0 and neither of us do then...
"The U's to leave Ainsworth green about the gills"? Might be in poor taste considering he hasn't been well though.
Nice one Daniel. They needed to be Gulls not Gills to have their wings clipped. Was a tough one to be fair. I thought maybe something to do with being jilted or fish gills but neither really work.
Good call on the Joe Dunne flag, he always gave everything he could for this club in whatever role he was in.
I was at the 1-0 defeat which turned out to be Etherington's last game in charge. Was possibly the worst atmosphere I've ever experienced at a Col U home game. It was toxic from the start and was a pretty horrible experience.
Apparently they’ve sold just under 800 tickets. Pretty good for away support at the Jobserve, but perhaps slightly disappointing given it’s basically a local derby?
I watched the Lee Partridge pre-match video last night, and he was stood in front of a name plate for Lisbie in the changing room. Hope that means he’s going to be fit for today?
U's Vs Gills - Preview and Match Chat on 16:47 - Dec 5 by wessex_exile
Excellent work Daniel. That day out at the Priestfield was a cracker - likewise I can't remember too much about the game itself, but Andy Bond's stunner and bedlam on the terrace after I certainly do remember! With no one else playing, this is an opportunity for either team to sneak into the play-offs, at least for a few days. So, odds on for a drab 0-0 and neither of us do then...
"The U's to leave Ainsworth green about the gills"? Might be in poor taste considering he hasn't been well though.
Well, it was far from a drab 0-0, but still a 0-0. Tough game against a very physical Gillingham side, who set their stall out right from the off. U's could have won it, but just as easily lost it, so a solid point overall.
Spot on Wessex. Defence vs defence. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't ugly. The more the game went on, the more I was happy to taken the draw. Tucker put in a shift and I don't recall him putting a foot wrong, but the rest of the team weren't at their best. Too many mistakes for my liking.
One of the better refereeing performances as I didn’t detect any errors. But spoilt by a lack of bottle as regards yellow/red cards. Tovide was rugby tackled in the first minute, and no card there set the tone for the afternoon. Admittedly this helped Lisbie escape a yellow when kicking the ball away. But I find teams like Gillingham and Bromley frustrating. Over aggression kills quality. I’d hate to watch that every week.
The wind also impaired things. Macy kicks struggled to reach half way in H2. A decent point, but disappointing game.
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U's Vs Gills - Preview and Match Chat on 14:11 - Dec 7 with 457 views
Can get decent goalless affair, which this was one. Started an open expansive game which was not to their liking due to the pace, so spoil tactics come to the fore. So much improvement from this time last season, with credit to management in implementing the change in a more quick, fluid and flexible approach.
Some pretty accurate observations and reflections there. Tucker would've probably been my Man of the Match too, not sure how they came up with Lisbie to be honest. Anyone across the back four could've won it, attacking wise we weren't at our best but I think that was more down to Gillingham than us. Gillingham seemed to be building up a good head of steam in the second half but after the whole team (apart from Iandolo) went and had an impromptu team talk midway through the second half something changed in the game we gained an element of control again.
One of the most disappointing things for me on Saturday was the attendance. Not even 5,000 and Gillingham brought a fair few. Was only our 7th best home attendance of the season in the league and I was expecting it to be up there with the Cambridge game. Where was everyone? The West Stand looked pretty much deserted. Were numbers impacted by Christmas shopping? Ipswich being at home? Chelmsford being at home in the FA Cup? Surprised if any of them had much of an effect though. I've also heard that West Ham have sold over 1,000 tickets for tomorrow night which more than we've sold so far!
U's Vs Gills - Preview and Match Chat on 17:56 - Dec 8 by RSCOSWORTH
Some pretty accurate observations and reflections there. Tucker would've probably been my Man of the Match too, not sure how they came up with Lisbie to be honest. Anyone across the back four could've won it, attacking wise we weren't at our best but I think that was more down to Gillingham than us. Gillingham seemed to be building up a good head of steam in the second half but after the whole team (apart from Iandolo) went and had an impromptu team talk midway through the second half something changed in the game we gained an element of control again.
One of the most disappointing things for me on Saturday was the attendance. Not even 5,000 and Gillingham brought a fair few. Was only our 7th best home attendance of the season in the league and I was expecting it to be up there with the Cambridge game. Where was everyone? The West Stand looked pretty much deserted. Were numbers impacted by Christmas shopping? Ipswich being at home? Chelmsford being at home in the FA Cup? Surprised if any of them had much of an effect though. I've also heard that West Ham have sold over 1,000 tickets for tomorrow night which more than we've sold so far!
Attendance was surprisingly low, but actually very good compared to our pre-Cowley recent past. I doubt the Chelmsford game had any effect, they only had about 3.5k and I would imagine almost all would have been either home or away supporters, not Col U tourists. The Ipswich factor is always there as a constant, but perhaps the top of the table clash might have attracted a few additional floaters from CO postcodes.
The early kick-off (and on the TV) probably didn't help, with Saturday morning chores to do for some of the regular punters, not to mention kids with Saturday morning clubs to attend. I wouldn't underestimate Christmas shopping. Danny joked about sparing supporters from shopping at Lakeside or Bluewater, but I suspect there quite a few who weren't spared, given it was the last free Saturday before Christmas.
Looking on our ticketing website, West Ham have sold out N3, seven seats left in N2 and N4 together, and N1 doesn't have too many spare seats left either. I suspect they'll be closer to 1,500 at kick-off, and probably outnumber U's supporters.
4/6 season ticket seats around me were empty on Saturday. People had made other plans before the game was moved. There was only a month's notice that the game was being brought forward.
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U's Vs Gills - Preview and Match Chat on 17:37 - Dec 9 with 149 views
U's Vs Gills - Preview and Match Chat on 22:41 - Dec 8 by Daniel
4/6 season ticket seats around me were empty on Saturday. People had made other plans before the game was moved. There was only a month's notice that the game was being brought forward.
I hadn't thought of that being a reason but I reckon that probably had a lot to do with it. My friend who has a season ticket had already made plans for the weekend before the game was changed and subsequently he didn't come and it seems he wasn't alone. I'm not sure who or what was behind the decision to move the game, Danny seemed keen obviously, but weirdly we may have got a bigger crowd had it remained on it's original date.
U's Vs Gills - Preview and Match Chat on 17:37 - Dec 9 by RSCOSWORTH
I hadn't thought of that being a reason but I reckon that probably had a lot to do with it. My friend who has a season ticket had already made plans for the weekend before the game was changed and subsequently he didn't come and it seems he wasn't alone. I'm not sure who or what was behind the decision to move the game, Danny seemed keen obviously, but weirdly we may have got a bigger crowd had it remained on it's original date.
Possibly, but probably fewer Gills fans I would imagine?
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