Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome back to krbs Priestfield Stadium, the home of football in Kent, for tonight's highly awaited play-off semi final second leg tie with Rochdale. Our visitors gave us two close matches in the regular season and once again there was nothing to separate the sides over 90 minutes at Spotland on Thursday so it's sure to be another keenly contested affair this evening between two sides desperate to go onto a Wembley final

Once again our supporters were a credit to the club on Thursday night and I would like to thank all those of you that made the long trek North. A 600 mile round trip on a midweek evening is no mean feat and yet over 700 of our fans turned out in impressive numbers and made themselves heard throughout the match from the first whistle to the last. I know that Mark and the players greatly appreciated your support and were keen to show their gratitude at the final whistle.

I was also greatly impressed with the team's performance itself in the first leg, Mark has assembled a very youthful squad with great energy and indeed our starting line-up on Thursday may well have been the youngest XI the club has fielded all season. Watching the team develop and mature throughout the season has been a rewarding experience and it is testimony to the talent and hard work of Mark Stimson and his coaching staff that the clubs fortunes have turned around so dramatically in the last 12 months.

Naturally it was very pleasing to come away from Rochdale three days ago with a clean sheet and everything still to play for but it is essential to remember that we are only at half time in the play-off semis. Pundits would suggest that hosting tonight's game in front of our own supporters would give our club the advantage but it is vital that we are not complacent.

Tonight we welcome our friends from Sky who are televising the night's events, I would like to thank them for their support and I know that both on the pitch and in the stands we will put on a show for them. I would also like to mention our season tickets sales which have surpassed all expectation with many applications still arriving on a daily basis.

The team will need your support more than ever this evening and it seems from advanced ticket sales that we are set for our biggest home attendance since the FA Cup tie with Aston Villa back in January. I don't need to remind you that the atmosphere within the ground was nothing short of electric that day and we must all play our part and make Priestfield rock again tonight. This is our final home game of the season and the rewards at stake are enormous, let's not be found wanting at the final hurdle.

Up the Gills

Paul D.P. Scally
Chairman