A young Gillingham side were defeated 2-1 by Chatham Town at the Bauvill Stadium on Friday night.
Bradley Sach and Luke Robinson had given the Chats an early advantage and, despite having the majority of the chances to go further ahead, they were made to sweat late on when Freddie Carruthers turned the ball home with less than ten minutes to play.
Mark Moss took the helm and named four trialists within the starting XI. Logan Dobbs began in the heart of defence with Jonah Walker returning on the left side.
Jimmy Heasman and Louie Dayal formed part of the attacking threat, with Joe Orpwood in midfield.
Chatham named a number of familiar names with Miquel Scarlett, Bailey Akehurst and Jack Evans all starting for the hosts. Former Gills Captain Stuart O’Keefe was on the bench along with new signing, Freddie Sears.
It didn’t take long for the Chats to take the lead when, on four minutes, Sach received possession on the right hand side of the Gills penalty area. Holtam came out to narrow the gap but the forward kept his composure and rolled a right footed effort beyond the goalkeeper and into the opposite corner.
Kevin Hake’s men were commanding in possession and got a second goal on 18 minutes when a clash inside the penalty area involving Holtam allowed the ball to run loose. It bounced off the surface and Luke Robinson couldn’t miss, heading home from just a few yards out.
Evans got a lot of power on a shot shortly afterwards from 25 yards, but fired just over the bar. On 36 minutes the Gills registered their first shot on target with Walker getting his full weight behind a left footed shot 20 yards out. Nelson put in a strong block to prevent the Trialist goalkeeper being needed.
Just before the break Holtam had to come out and make himself big to deny Jamie Yila who had proved a tricky customer for the Gills defence throughout the opening 45.
H/T: Chatham Town 2-0 Gillingham XI
Freddie Sears and Stuart O’Keefe came on at the break for the hosts but it was the Gills who had the first opportunity of the half when Jimmy Heasman’s effort was well held by the goalkeeper.
Yila was still proving a nuisance on the left wing for the Chats and he got past one of the Gills trialists before delivering a cross for Sach whose header was fired just over.
The winger went himself moments later but his fierce shot towards the top corner went inches over.
On 56 minutes Holtam recovered brilliantly when he was beaten to a loose ball on the edge of the box by Sears; the former Colchester man did his best to place an effort over his head and into the back of the net but Taite’s recovery was excellent, getting enough on it to prevent a third goal.
He was equal to another effort moments later, getting down to parry an effort away from Sach. He couldn’t get his hands on a Yila header at the far post, however this effort came off the bar before falling safe.
Gillingham stuck to their defensive tasks and had to be disciplined off the ball as Chatham controlled much of the ball during the second half, and they had plenty of opportunities to increase their lead but missed good chances, particularly headers following crosses from wide areas.
The visitors soaked up heavy pressure but pulled one back on 83 minutes when an effort from Trialist was well saved, the loose ball fell for Freddie Carruthers and the sub did well to hook the ball home from ten yards out.
F/T: Chatham Town 2-1 Gillingham XI
Chatham: Trialist A, Scarlett, Naylor, Nelson (Christmas 63), Akehurst (Sears 46), Robins, Evans (Cooper 63), Garlinge (O’Keefe 46), Robinson (Anokye-Boadi 63), Yila, Sach (Liburd 63)
Unused subs: Trialist B, Trialist C
Gills: Holtam, Trialist (Carruthers 65), Trialist, Dobbs, Walker (Thebe 81), Orpwood, Trialist, Dayal, Trialist, Heasman (Trialist 90), Beszant.
Unused subs: Hegarty, Parker, Jones
Attendance: 1287
