Gills knocked out of JPT

By Jack Nolan
October 18 2006

Just over a thousand people witnessed a rare Mulligan goal and see the Gills go crashing out of the Johnstone Paint Trophy. Mulligan could well have even scored an even rarer double when one a his shots canonned off of the underside of the crossbar.

Forest took the lead early on when Forest capitalised on poor defending and no one covering the post's on a corner kick when Jack Lester latched on to a cross.

A poor first half saw The Gills go in at half time one goal down and McDonald was then replaced by Mulligan at half-time. Six minutes into the second half and it was two-nothing when Grant Holt fired home from close range.

Gary Mulligan was having a good game and almost got the Gills straight back into the game when his powerful shot in the box smashed the crossbar.

It was Mulligan though who scored Gills' only goal when his well taken flick from Clint Easton's corner. The Gills could have even talen it to penalties when Matt Jarvis' shot was brilliantly saved by Forest 'keeper Rune Pederson.

The GIlls though didn't get that all important goal and were knocked out of the competition - not the worst thing to happen to Gills. Gills fans though will be pleased with the second half performance against a strong Forest side.

Ratings:

Flinders - 6
Howell - 7
Easton - 7
Johnson - 6
Jupp - 8
Bentley - 7
Jarvis - 7
Flynn - 7
Crofts: 8
McDonald - 6
Ndumbu-Nsungu - 7

Subs

Savage - 6
Mulligan 8

Man of the Match - Gary Mulligan: May well have only played 45 minutes but won everything he went for and scored a brilliant goal and was unlucky not to score two.

Views:

Ronnie Jepson

"The lads had a go and I was quite pleased with the attitude. The tempo wasn't very good in the first-half but we put them under a bit of pressure in the second-half.

"Overall, not bad as we had our chances again. We created enough chances. Their goalkeeper has made a great save from Matty Jarvis at the end. How he got down to that, I don't know. Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu has had a chance but pulled it wide. I am pleased that he has got a goal. It is overdue and hopefully he can go on from that now. You'd like to think that he just needed that one goal. There is no doubting his work-ethic, that is there for all to see. The only thing missing from his game is goals and hopefully he can get a run going. Luke Howell did okay. He could've maybe done a little better on the ball at times. For the young lad to come in for his first full-game, I thought the boy done well. I want to keep the lads going and keep their fitness levels up. I didn't want to disrespect the competition. We had to make one or two changes due to injuries but I put a strong side out and maybe we could have taken it to penalties. I thought their left-back got out on us a lot on Saturday, especially with Kris Commons going narrow. We just had a little go with 4-3-3 and it was okay in patches. I don't think it was a great game to watch but okay at times. I just wanted us to go have a go so I tried the 4-3-3. There were no points at stake, just a place in the next round so we could have a go. I was pleased with the second-half more than the first as we had more of a try. I wouldn't say this tournament is a distraction as if you got through to the final, everyone would be overjoyed. It is a long way to go to the final. The main thing I was worried about was picking up a few more injuries and silly bookings which add up and cause suspensions. Hopefully we have come through unscathed and we had no bookings so that is a bonus."