Gillingham finally ended their long wait for a win after a dominant display against Morecambe at Priestfield.
Robbie McKenzie’s shot was deflected in off Jimmy-Jay Morgan’s shoulder to give the Gills a 79th-minute lead which they held onto without too much fuss for a 1-0 win.
The Gills went into the game without a win since before Christmas and Morecambe had lost their previous five away games. It wasn’t set up to be a thriller.
Gillingham were the better of the teams on the day. They had most of the ball, many more chances and at least three decent penalty appeals turned down. They applied plenty of pressure in the second half, after a tame first, but had to wait until late to score the winning goal.
McKenzie’s deflected effort ends a run of 13 games without a win for the Gills and puts plenty of distance between themselves and the relegation places in League 2, now 12 points clear.
There was a collective rallying cry before the match, with the chairman, manager and the Gills supporters’ club all calling for unity from the stands ahead of what was a crucial match.
There was plenty of support coming from the Gillingham fans as they backed their team from the off.
Gillingham knew a defeat against a team starting the day second from bottom in the table would leave them perilously close to the drop zone.
Manager John Coleman stuck with the same XI which started the midweek game against Fleetwood, hoping his side’s luck would finally turn in their favour.
The Gills were on top during the opening half but the finishing touch wasn’t there.
Timely tackles from Jamie Stott and Yann Songo’o denied Elliott Nevitt and Joe Gbode. Both forwards also had efforts from the edge of the box that went wide of the mark.
Remeao Hutton was sending plenty of crosses into good areas but the most dangerous moment came when he took on and beat former Gills man David Tutonda, firing in a ball to the near post towards Oli Hawkins that somehow got cleared.
Morecambe were unable to test the Gills keeper. Glenn Morris had a dangerous cross that he dealt with at the second attempt but had nothing out of the ordinary to deal with. He had a relatively easy second half too.
Referee Ruebyn Ricardo let most challenges go without stopping play, choosing a few random tackles to penalise, but the opening half failed to ignite, with both teams clearly lacking confidence.
The Frenchman sponsoring the game with 14 of his mates from Nice were in good voice before kick off in the directors’ box but even their enthusiasm appeared to wane too.
Like the first half, the Gills started the second the more positive and there were big appeals for a penalty early on.
Gbode looked to have been tripped in the box as he turned his man but unpredictable referee Ricardo ignored the penalty calls from the home players and supporters.
The crowd responded positively to Gillingham’s attacking intent after the break.
Clark fired an effort over the bar and Gbode had one blocked as the home side kept up the early pressure.
Gbode went closer as his shot was tipped over the bar and Max Ehmer missed the target when he had time inside the box to pick his spot.
Jimmy-Jay Morgan replaced Hawkins upfront with an hour gone as Coleman turned to his bench for the first time.
There were two more penalty appeals in the second half when Tutonda twice left Gbode on the deck with challenges just inside the area. Ricardo remained uninterested,
It was a one-sided half as Gillingham kept knocking on the door.
Morecambe had a corner that Morris punched clear but the visitors offered little going forward.
With 11 minutes left the goal the Gills deserved finally came as McKenzie smashed a shot at goal and with the aid of a deflection off their Chelsea loan man they scored.
Nevitt was booked for putting the ball in the net once the offside flag had already gone up but one goal was enough for the win-starved Gills.
League 2 table
Gillingham: Morris, Hutton, Clark, Ehmer, Smith, Gale, McKenzie, Little, Nevitt, Gbode (Khumbeni 88mins), Hawkins (Morgan 61mins). Subs not used: Turner, Nolan, Dack, Clarke, Masterson.
Morecambe: Burgoyne, Tutonda, Hendrie, Taylor, Scott, Songo’o, Macadam, Dackers, Cooke, Angol, Dallas (Edwards 64mins). Subs not used: A Lewis, White, Slew, P Lewis, Millen, Garner.
Referee: Ruebyn Ricardo
Attendance: 5,612 (85 away)
