Gillingham were denied a win on the road as Bolton Wanderers mounted a last gasp comeback with two last gasp goals at the University of Bolton Stadium.
Historically trips to Bolton have yielded very little reward down the seasons with just a solitary being point taken from seven trips spanning thirty five years, and so after taking a two goal lead through first half goals from John Akinde and Kyle Dempsey in a glorious four minute spell, to concede two goals in the final three minutes to be denied the win must have been especially galling for boss Steve Evans who started his own playing career at Bolton.
The Gills bass recalled Akinde to the starting line-up – in place of the injured Mustapha Carayol – and the big striker repaid the managers faith by putting Gillingham in front on eleven minutes as he did well to divert Danny Lloyd beyond the reach of home keeper Joel Dixon and the advantage was doubled just moments later when skipper Dempsey hammered home past Dixon to put the travelling Gills fans into delight.
Indeed despite the home side having chances themselves in the opening half, in truth the Gills could have easily have cemented the win before the home sides stunning late comeback as Jack Tucker thumped a header – from Dempsey’s cross – against the frame of the goal before early in the second half top scorer Vadaine Oliver was denied by a fine double save from Dixon before the Akinde/Lloyd combination almost grabbed a third, but Akinde’s effort brought another fine save from Dixon.
The home side grew increasingly into the game but struggled to find a way past Max Ehmer and Rhys Bennett, and when they did, Jamie Cumming was becoming increasingly involved but standing firm! Dapo Afolayan was denied, and the Gills stopper recovered well to keep out the rebound from Elias Kachunga, before MJ Wiliams couldn’t hit the target with the Gillingham goal at his mercy from a corner.
It wasn’t all one-way traffic however as Oliver was desperately close to sealing the win when his drive was agonisingly too high before the home side staged their grandstand finish and laid siege to the Gills goal and Cummings came to the fore. The Chelsea loanee again denied Kachunga before brilliantly denying Eoin Doyle but was relieved to see Richardo Santos’ effort flash wide.
Just as it seemed that it wasn’t going to be the home sides day, they staged a remarkable recovery as Afolayan drove the ball beyond the despairing Cumming to give Bolton hope – hope that went to another level in stoppage time as they found an equaliser. Declan John drove the ball across the face of the Gills goal and Kieron Lee arrived late to hammer the ball into Cumming’s net to deny the Gills their first win at Bolton since January 1986.
BOLTON WANDERERS – Dixon, John, Williams, Santos, Johnston (Aimson), Sheehan (Bakayoko), Afolayan, Lee, Isgrove, Kachunga (Delfouneso), Doyle
Subs – Gilks, Gordon, Thomason, Brockbank
GILLINGHAM – Cumming, Jackson, Ehmer, Bennett, McKenzie, Tucker, O’Keefe, Dempsey, Lloyd (Sithole), Oliver, Akinde (Adshead)
Subs – Chapman, Lintott, Reeves, Lee, Kelman.
REFEREE – Mr Toner
Image courtesy of Gillingham FC