Gillingham vs Cheltenham Town. Sky Bet League Two.
Priestfield StadiumAttendance5,655.
Saturday 7 August 2010 19:48, UK
Adebayo Akinfenwa rescued a share of the spoils as Gillingham drew 1-1 at home to Cheltenham in their League Two opener.
Robins debutant Wesley Thomas had put the visitors ahead eight minutes after the restart, but Akinfenwa ensured he too went home with a debut goal 14 minutes from time. The hosts almost went ahead after 15 minutes when Andy Barcham found Curtis Weston on the edge of the area, but he curled his effort inches over. The visitors should have taken the lead two minutes into the second half when Frankie Artus threaded a delightful ball through to Thomas, but he fired wide of the left-hand post. However, Thomas was not to be denied, and in the 53rd minute he gathered a long punt upfield from Keith Lowe before firing the ball into the left-hand corner. Akinfenwa came on and changed the game for the Gills. In the 76th minute he latched on to a Jack Payne throw before watching as his header was tipped into the net by Scott Brown. Akinfenwa almost teed-up a winner for Tony Sinclair five minutes from time, but the full-back skewed his effort over.
