With Town enjoying a successful deadline day with five new players optimism had been renewed heading into a big away day with Gillingham, but the Town faithful were again left feeling deflated with a laboured, uninspiring performance.
Head Coach Scott Lindsey handed new right-back Marcel Lavinier his debut with attacking midfielder Ronan Darcy making way, and the former Spurs man had an encouraging first game for the club.
But it’s hard not to feel for the recently benched right-back Remeao Hutton, who in his short time at the club has played reasonably well, and I feel deserved a much longer spell in the team, he also has the huge advantage of a long throw, which can cause havoc in opposition boxes.
Along with Lavinier, Luke Jephcott made his debut for Town, as he came off the bench with over half an hour left in the contest, but sadly couldn’t produce a debut goal.
With that being his first football in nearly three weeks, it’s not surprising he may need a couple of games to get his eye in, but the manager needs to show faith in his recruit and start him this weekend when Newport County visits Wiltshire.
Instead of substituting Jacob Wakeling for Jephcott, which we saw on Saturday, start them both together, Lindsey needs to show more attacking intent to get the Town faithful onside, and needs a result this weekend.
On Saturday he would’ve heard the first rumbling of a frustrated fanbase after such a bland showing at Priestfield.
With it being obvious the club has slid backward this season on the pitch, the Head Coach needs to show, as Ben Garner did last season, that he can implement his style of play, and with it, attractive football to watch, as at times on Saturday they looked lost, and lacking much-needed direction.
The next couple of fixtures, both at the County Ground, against Newport and Sutton United, will be big games for the management team, as despite being six games unbeaten, five of those six have been draws, and sitting 14th in League Two isn’t good enough, even at this early stage.
Lindsey been given a talented squad of players, who on paper, should be challenging in the top seven.
Hopefully, we see more attacking intent this weekend, and what our squad is capable of, and not a side happy to pass across the midfield without trying to find that killer ball.
If we see positive results this weekend and next week, the fanbase should begin to be more positive towards the Head Coach, but a couple of defeats could herald a real change in overall fan opinion, and when the tide turns in football against a manager, it’s very hard to win those people back.