Gills Hit Bulls For Six

The Gills ended their four-game winless run in style as they smashed lowly Hereford in what is believed to be the club's biggest away league win.

There were six different names on the scoresheet as the Gills ran riot at Edgar Street, the pick of the goals being Danny Jackman's fourth, while debutant Frank Nouble also netted, while Stefan Payne's first senior goal was the icing on a sizeable cake.

The Gills made two changes from the side beaten at Southend last time out, with the injured Matt Lawrence and Danny Spiller replaced by Andy Frampton and Nouble.

That saw a change of shape as the Gills started with a 4-4-2 formation, initially with a diamond in midfield, but after switching to a flat four with Luke Rooney and Chris Whelpdale out wide, the Gills were soon on top.

Sam Winnall, impressive against the Gills for Burton in March, had the game's first chance but his header was straight at Flitney.

But that was about as good as it got for the home side on an afternoon to forget for Jamie Pitman's side, and Rooney went close for the Gills after five minutes.

And with 19 minutes on the clock, the Gills did take the lead through Nouble's debut strike, the on-loan West Ham man finishing off a good move with a neat shot past David Cornell.

It was the first goal the Gills had scored from open play in almost 400 minutes, but it wasn't too long before the next came along, as Jackman fired in a cross to the edge of the area where Garry Richards headed over Cornell to score.

Harry Pell, the best of a bad bunch on the day for the Bulls, came close to pulling one back after Flitney's punch fell to him but his hooked effort was wide of the target.

Nouble almost added a third in bizarre circumstances when a Cornell clearance hit him but the on-loan Swansea keeper was able to breathe a sigh of relief as the ball bounced straight back into his arms.

But Cornell was soon picking the ball out of his net for the third time, with Danny Kedwell playing in Nouble, whose shot was more like a cross but eventually found its way to Rooney, who got to the byline and fired a ferocious ball across the box which hit Joe Heath and trickled in.

Hereford were booed off at the break, but things didn't pick up in the second period, and they could have been four behind before they actually were, as Kedwell's header was well saved by Cornell.

The resulting corner was played short to Jackman, who took a touch past him and and unleashed a brilliant right-footed shot into the very top corner.

The nadir for the home side though came in the other penalty box when Frampton was penalised for a foul in the area, and Pell put the ball on the spot to take the penalty, only for Rob Purdie to muscle in and take it off him.

Pell's frustration was clear for all to see as Purdie then stepped up and sent the ball against the crossbar.

It came in the middle of Hereford's best spell, and Flitney also saved from Winnall, but the Gills were soon back in the ascendancy and the lively Rooney was stunned to be denied a penalty of his own when he tricked his way through and seemed to be brought down.

But it was 5-0 11 minutes from time, when Whelpdale collected the ball and fired an innocuous shot goalwards which took an awful bobble over the luckless Cornell and went in.

That prompted a disgruntled Hereford fan to run on the pitch and question Pitman, and meant he wasn't around to see a moment to remember for Payne.

He should have scored moments earlier but took the wrong touch, but he was played in again and eventually made no mistake, blasting in from the edge of the box to net his first Gills goal, and he celebrated in style.

Cornell kept out a Rooney free-kick as the Gills looked for seven, but the seventh goal came at the other end thanks to Winnall's own free-kick.

The win takes the Gills to ninth, but the 23rd placed Bulls were a sorry outfit, and there was a protest outside the ground at the end of the game by angry home fans.

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