DAVIS SICK OF HOME HOODOO...
STEVE Davis bemoaned the curse of Gresty Road after a stoppage-time stunner from Rory Donnelly sent Gillingham top of League One and left Crewe rooted to the bottom.
The Railwaymen looked set to end a run of four successive home defeats before Donnelly intervened, bending a stupendous right-foot strike into the top corner with a goal good enough to win any game.
The result was harsh on Crewe who battled gamely throughout the contest and, but for more confidence in front of goal, could have run out winners themselves.
And that fact was not lost on a disappointed Davis.
He said: “It’s difficult to find any words after that.
“When you look at the position of them and us, there is just no difference in the position in terms of the quality of the two sides.
“We should have been one or two goals up at half-time. They didn’t really hurt us first half.
“In the second half we looked a bit dangerous without having any real cutting edge in the final third.
“I think I’ve overdosed on bitter pills.We’ve had a lot of them at home. You just hope the fortune changes.
“It’s somewhat of a hoodoo at home. We can’t seem to break that thing. It hangs over us.”
Brad Inman had the ball in the net for Alex after 11 minutes but it was correctly disallowed for an obvious handball by the Australian-born forward.
The best chance of the opening period came on the stroke of half-time when Inman cut inside and fired a shot at Stuart Nelson. The Gills keeper palmed it into the path of Adam King who blazed over from eight yards.
Just before the hour mark the visitors should have led when substitute Cody McDonald forced a save out of Ben Garratt before seeing his rebound cannon back out off the inside of the post.
McDonald was then guilty of fluffing his lines again, this time missing an easy header from four yards out.
The home fans thought they should have been awarded a penalty when Ryan Colclough went to ground late on, however referee Dave Webb wasn’t interested, waving away their claims.
But at the death Donelly produced a moment of pure quality leaving the seemingly unbeatable Garratt floored and delighting Gills manager Justin Edinburgh.
He said:“We did think that perhaps it was going to end in a stalemate but with Rory in the form he is, we know he can produce that kind of magic.
“Of late we’re certainly scoring goals, but conceding also. But this was certainly a bit of a change.
“I thought they were very good on the counter-attack.They played it well. I think we had a lot of possession but any points you get on the road, you’ve got to have the right to earn them and I felt we did that.”