League One
Saturday 6th August
GILLINGHAM 2 COLCHESTER UNITED 1
Striker Darren Byfield struck the winner a minute from time as Gillingham got off to a perfect start in League One with victory over Colchester United.
United made life difficult for the Gills though and broke the deadlock in the 50th minute through Neil Danns. It could have got a lot worse too as Chris Iwelumo struck a post soon after.
Gillingham put that behind them though and put themselves back on level terms when Andrew Crofts scored a fine diving header 15 minutes from time. The stage was then set for Byfield to fire home the winner at the death.
Byfield had put the ball in the net earlier on in the encounter - after just five minutes in fact - but he was penalised for handball. He was at it again on 23 minutes though as he broke clear down the left, cut inside Pat Baldwin and his powerful drive brought the best out of United keeper Aidan Davison.
Gills were given a scare 10 minutes before the break when Sam Stockley's right wing cross was headed just wide by Danns at the back post. The same combination came even closer to breaking the deadlock on the stroke of half time too in a carbon copy of the previous move, but this time Jason Brown saved well, diving to his left.
Gills were rocked five minutes after the break. A Karl Duguid shot on the left hand edge of the box deflected into Danns's path and he was left completely unmarked to fire home from 10 yards. Four minutes later and Gills were let off the hook when Greg Halford pulled the ball back from the right and Iwelumo's diving header rebounded off Brown's left hand post.
Just past the hour mark striker Paul Shields came on to make his debut after signing from Forfar Athletic on Wednesday, but it was the 73rd minute introduction of Matt Jarvis that swung the game in Gillingham's favour.
Gills levelled in the 75th minute when Crofts got on the end of Daniel Spiller's right wing cross and after that the Kent side stepped up the pace.
In the 81st minute Jarvis slipped in Byfield on the left and his curling effort forced Davison into pulling off a fine save at full stretch, and Shields was just unable to put the rebound away.
Mark Corneille, a product of the Gills youth system, then came on to make his first senior appearance for the club.
Then in the 89th minute Byfield made sure the Gills contingent went home happy. Michael Flynn played it into Byfield's feet and from a central position on the edge of the box, he turned and sent a sweet left foot shot into the bottom corner.
Gills will now be looking to build on this start at Port Vale on Tuesday night.
Gillingham: Brown; Rose; Jackman; Hessenthaler (Shields 61); Cox; Hope; Flynn; Pouton (Jarvis 72); Byfield; Spiller (Corneille 85); Crofts.
Subs not used - Knowles; Johnson.
Colchester: Davison; Halford; Danns; Brown; Watson; Duguid; Izzet (Williams 90); Baldwin (Yeates 90); Chilvers; Stockley; Iwelumo.
Subs not used - Gerken; Elokobi; Howell.
Bookings: Byfield (Gillingham)
Attendance: 7,293
Referee: Mr Phil Joslin
Report by: Adam Scally
