Poor defending costs Gills

Danny Kedwell’s return to his former club was spoiled by just over 10 minutes of utter madness at the other end of the pitch as the Gills were well beaten by AFC Wimbledon.

All the pre-match build-up was about Kedwell, who swapped Kingsmeadow for Priestfield in the summer after playing a huge role in firing the Dons into the Football League for the first time in their history.

But although he missed a great chance to score past his former employers, the damage had already been done at the other end as Christian Jolley’s brace and a strike from Jack Midson put the game beyond the Gills with just 22 minutes on the clock.

The Gills were unchanged from last weekend’s 3-1 win over Burton, with new striker Jo Kuffour having to settle for a place on the bench after his arrival on Friday from Bristol Rovers.

But he may be wondering what he has let himself in for as the Gills continued their recent disturbing trend of letting their fans down in games when large numbers travel away.

Those in the sold-out away end had little to cheer about all afternoon, save for Charlie Lee’s late goal – and Lee then picked up his fifth booking of the season, which means he will miss Tuesday night’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie with Barnet.

The Dons suffered a disjointed start when they lost defender Gareth Gwillim to an early injured, but with 10 minutes on the clock they led as Matt Lawrence failed to deal with a long ball over the top and, with Ross Flitney out of position and isolated, Jolley was able to score.

Two minutes later, Jolley was on target again, this time heading Sam Hatton’s cross in at the near post.

The Gills have collected just one point from a losing position so far this season, and with 22 minutes on the clock it was looking set to stay that way as they fell further behind.

Again they were the architects of their own downfall, with Matt Fish ultimately teeing up Midson to thump home the third for the Dons.

The Dons lost striker Luke Moore to injury on the half-hour, but still they seemed fairly untroubled by all the forced chopping and changing.

Andy Hessenthaler did some chopping and changing of his own in the 37th minute, hauling off Lawrence for Curtis Weston, but there was still no sign of a consolation before the interval.

The second half couldn’t really have been any worse for the Gills – and it wasn’t, but Rashid Yussuff had the first chance of the second half, firing wide of Flitney’s goal.

Luke Rooney had the Gills’ first effort of note, and it wasn’t long before Kuffour came on for Chris Whelpdale as the Gills went to a 4-3-3 formation.

The effect was almost instant as a good move teed up Kedwell with his chance to score, but he was off-target with his header to sum up a frustrating afternoon on his return to his former club.

Lee did reduce the arrears midway through the second half, drilling in from the edge of the box – and that sparked a spell of Gills pressure.

Home keeper Seb Brown finally had to show his worth with a fine double save to deny Kedwell and Kuffour, before Rooney had an effort deflected out for a throw as the Gills slumped to their fourth defeat of the season.