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Match Report: Breathing through the Gills	Posted by David Snowball at Wednesday, March 05, 2008
BEATING Gillingham 4-2 to go three points off a play-off place with two games in hand should be a cause for celebration. Looking at those cold hard facts makes good reading, but there was something about the manner of achieving it which wasn't entirely fulfilling. Even reduced to ten men, Gillingham posed sufficient questions for a hesitant second half Albion side to raise concerns for up-coming games against much better teams. That Gillingham scored a second and managed to hit the bar and a post in this period, and Albion's Glenn Murray missed three glorious openings to bolster the goal difference, perhaps demonstrate that the game could so easily have gone the way of some other lost opportunities we have witnessed this season. But OK, that gripe over, let's take the positives out of the performance and hope securing three points sends the side to Carlisle on Saturday with a decent confidence boost. At least Murray is getting into goalscoring situations and surely on Saturday he will want to prove his former employers wrong for letting him go by getting on the scoresheet. Nicky Forster broke his own personal hoodoo of never having scored against a former club when he emphatically buried a penalty awarded for a foul by former Albion captain Danny Cullip only moments after the Gills were reduced to 10 men. Then Stillie in the visitors' goal did brilliantly to push a Matt Richards free kick onto the post but unluckily for him the ball fell nicely for Adam El-Abd who smacked the ball in with all the aplomb of a seasoned striker. Not to be outdone, fellow central defender Tommy Elphick took advantage of being left totally unmarked at a corner to nod home the simplest of goals to give Albion a 3-1 cushion at the break. Gillingham's third minute 30-yard opener from Andrew Crofts was thoroughly negated by that point but Albion failed to build convincingly on their lead in the second half, even though Jake Robinson, once again on as a substitute for Dean Bowditch, fired in from close range when the keeper could only parry an Andrew Whing effort from a corner. Gills manager Mark Stimson boldly went with three at the back, withdrawing Cullip at half time, in an effort to get back in the game despite the one-man disadvantage. They were to finish the game with only nine, though, when the no.19, already booked for a crude lunge through the back of Forster, stupidly kicked the ball away after conceding a free kick and was off for a second yellow. Albion debutant Ian Westlake picked up a yellow card himself for a rather over-zealous tackle but generally the Leeds loanee could be content with his contribution, particularly as he hadn't even trained with the team. However, there were plenty of familiar faces from his time at Ipswich and there was a solid, sound performance from Matt Richards in particular. Albion performance ratings out of 10: Kuipers 7; Whing 8, Elphick 7, El-Abd 9, Richards 8; Bowditch 6, Fraser 6, Martot 7, Westlake 8; Murray 7, Forster 8. Subs: Robinson (for Bowditch) 7; Mayo (for Westlake). By Nick Turrell Labels: Gillingham, League One, Nick Turrell