Gordon Davies scored a second-half winner as Fulham registered a vital victory at Gillingham to keep pace with their promotion rivals at the top of the Third Division.
In front of Gillingham’s biggest gate of the season, the veteran Welsh international scored the game’s only goal with fourteen minutes of a tense local derby remaining. Davies twisted and turned past tiring home defenders and made the most of an untimely slip from Steve Walford to slot a low finish past the despairing dive of Gills goalkeeper Phil Kite. The Fulham fans’ joy disappeared barely a minute later when referee John Martin awarded a penalty for a foul on Gavin Peacock by Jeff Eckhardt.
Steve Lovell, fresh from scoring from twelve yards at Northampton at the weekend, stepped up but saw his spot-kick superbly saved by Jim Stannard, who guessed correctly and smothered the effort struck to his right. The Fulham goalkeeper had earlier produced a magnificent one-handed stop to keep out an early header from Mark Cooper before Dave Smith drilled a decent chance into the side netting.
George Shipley saw a shot stopped by Stannard’s legs in the second half, but by then Fulham had blunted Gillingham’s creativity and began to put together promising moves of their own. Clive Walker proved their most likely source of goal, with the former Chelsea winger forcing Kite into an excellent stop after a raid down the right saw him unleash a goalbound strike. Fulham’s reward came late in the game – but they defended diligently afterwards and proved that there is no substitute for experience.
GILLINGHAM: Kite; Burley, Walford, Haines, Haylock, Shipley (Quow 68), Peacock, Docker, Smith, Cooper, Lovell. Subs (not used): Williams.
BOOKED: Haylock.
FULHAM: Stannard; Eckhardt, Thomas, Elkins, Marshall, Scott, Skinner, Barnett, Walker, Cole, Davies. Subs (not used): Langley, Sayer.
BOOKED: Skinner, Thomas.
GOAL: Davies (76).
REFEREE: John Martin (Hampshire).
ATTENDANCE: 5,871.
