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Millwall 4 Gillingham 0
By David Pritchard
Gillingham suffered an afternoon to forget as they were hammered by in-form Millwall and lost Garry Richards to what looked a serious injury.
It all came after an encouraging start from the visitors, who were undone by two goals in quick succession before half-time. Richards was carried off early in the second half and the Lions, chasing automatic promotion, added two more goals to run out comfortable winners and extend the Gills’ winless away run to 21 games.
Gills boss Mark Simson said: "It was a difficult afternoon. We always knew coming here would be difficult because Millwall are on a good run of form and are a very strong side and they certainly proved it.
"It hasn't helped picking up a couple of injuries as well. Darren [Dennehy] said he wasn't able to carry on in the second half, he felt a bit concussed, so we had to make a change. Then Garry Richards collided with Alan Julian and his ankle looks in a bad way at the moment."
Simeon Jackson returned to the starting line-up for the first time in four weeks after recovering from a hamstring injury. He replaced Dennis Oli, while Stuart Lewis came in for Curtis Weston, who risked a two-game suspension if booked for the 10th time before this weekend’s deadline.
Millwall came into the game as League One’s form team and from the outset Gillingham looked like they were trying to slow the tempo down at every opportunity, much to the home fans’ frustration.
The hosts dictated the opening exchanges without threatening a goal. Gillingham looked lively when they had the ball and had the first effort on goal, when Darren Dennehy headed over a corner on eight minutes. Jackson underlined his prowess with a well struck volley from outside the box, well saved by Lions stopper David Forde.
At the other end Gillingham goalkeeper Alan Julian had little to do before Millwall struck on 27 minutes. An incisive move bearing all the hallmarks of a team in form, it exposed a flat Gills back four, allowing Shaun Batt to run on to Danny Schofield’s clever pass and slot past Julian.
Millwall quickly doubled their lead in spectacular style. A cross from the right was cleared only as far as Tony Craig, who appeared to try and steer the ball back into the penalty area but instead ended with a dipping volley which gave Julian no chance.
The second half started badly for the visitors as they lost both their centre-backs. Darren Dennehy was substituted at half-time and within five minutes of the restart Richards collided with Julian and had to be withdrawn.
Josh Gowling and Mark Bentley came off the bench to form a new centre-back pairing. The duo had clocked up just one minute of first team football between them in more than two months and their lack of sharpness contributed to a second half spell in which Millwall ran riot.
The game was effectively ended as a contest on the hour when Schofield was given space to run at the defence, who allowed the winger to cut inside and curl low past a helpless Julian to make it 3-0.
Within six minutes the hosts had a fourth goal. A corner from the right was headed back across goal by Paul Robinson and former Gills striker Neil Harris was on hand to nod home from close range.
With almost 25 minutes still to play Millwall looked poised to inflict more torture on the visitors. They remained in total charge but were content to stroke the ball around in the spring sunshine, conserving their energy for the run-in.
Harris almost made it 5-0 in stoppage time, but Julian blocked the veteran's low shot with his legs.
Next up for the Gills is a home game against Brighton on Tuesday.
Gills: Julian, Fuller, Richards (Bentley 51), Dennehy (Gowling 46), Nutter, Miller, Lewis, Jackman, Barcham, Howe (Maher 76), Jackson
Unused substitutes: Royce, Dickson, Oli, Weston
Millwall: Forde, Smith, Craig, Abdou, Robinson, Ward, Schofield, Trotter (Barron 79), Batt (Obika 75), Morison (Harris 46), Hackett
Unused substitutes: Sullivan, Laird, Alexander, Frampton
POSTED: 10/04/2010 14:29:39