Stimson's players made their own way to Brisbane Road

Gillingham manager Mark Stimson has questioned referee Andy D'Urso's decision not to delay the kick-off of Tuesday's 3-1 defeat at Leyton Orient.

Traffic problems around Brisbane Road meant that Stimson had to start with the first 11 players that arrived.

"The referee was demanding the team sheet and I had three players on the tube," Stimson told BBC Radio Kent.

"I gambled and put two in the 11. It would have been nice to delay the kick-off but that didn't affect the result."

Gills players were asked to make their own way to the game rather than the squad travelling together on a team coach.

"A lot of the boys live this side of the water [River Thames] so they could get here direct," added Stimson. "It saves on a coach and expenses.

"The other nine boys were travelling from the Kent area and unfortunately got delayed and it changed our preparations.

"It probably would've helped us if the whole team were together. Then they'd have had to put up with us when we got here."

Stimson was required to submit his team an hour before the 1945 GMT kick-off, but was denied a delayed start because the Gills had the seven players required to begin the game.

"I was standing there at 46 minutes past and he [D'Urso] was standing by my shoulder demanding it.

"I couldn't make contact with the players on the tube to make sure it wasn't held up."

But D'Urso defended his decision not to push the game back, saying that there is no jurisdiction to delay a kick-off to allow players time to arrive at a ground.

"I consulted the safety officer and the stadium manager," said D'Urso.

"The advice I was given by them was that there was no reason, from a safety point of view, to delay the kick-off.

"As long as a team has the minimum number of players available to start a game, the game should start at the specified kick-off time."

Leyton Orient manager Geraint Williams said he sympathised with Gillingham and that his side did as much as they could to help.

"Preparations were disrupted for both sides," Williams told BBC London 94.9. "We just set our minds on preparing properly and making sure we were ready to start the game on time.

"I don't know what the rules are on delaying the game and I don't know why they didn't get here on time.

"We made sure they had all the equipment they needed and helped as much as we could."

To compound Gillingham's misery, their kit did not get to Brisbane Road on time and they were forced to play in Orient's away strip.

"The fact that we've had to borrow kit and the shambolic nature of our build up brings no credit to us whatsoever," said Gillingham fan and BBC Radio Kent summariser Peter Lloyd.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version