Gillingham vs. Leyton Orient: Nine Men, Wrong Kit, and a Right Wing Goalkeeper

Simply put, the story of the match was that Gillingham lost yet another away game in the league, this time going down 3-1 at Brisbane Road against League One rivals Leyton Orient.

However, read on and you'll realize it wasn't at all that simple, and that Gillingham had many reasons to feel slightly aggreived at the result.

It could be argued that the bizarre series of off-pitch events all stemmed from manager Mark Stimson's decision to save costs.

Instead of shelling out on a VIP coach for the all the players and coaching staff to travel (as they usually do on away trips) to the ground, Stimson decided to let the players make their own way to the stadium, considering a lot of them live closer to Leyton Orient's stadium, which is in London, than they do to the krbs Priestfield (Gillingham's stadium) in Gillingham.

So cue the traffic chaos and several professional footballers, some of whom have played near the highest level in the sport, floating around Central London amongst fans, just minutes before they're due on the pitch.

It proved to be a costly decision for Mark Stimson, who by 7pm had only seven players in his starting eleven guaranteed to actually be there in time to start the match.

Due to the, perhaps unavoidable, lack of punctuality from his players, Stimson also faced the prospect of realistically starting the match with only nine men.

And one of those nine men was the Gills' out of favor, transfer-listed, reserve goalkeeper Alan Julian. But he wasn't going to be in between the sticks; first choice keeper Simon Royce arrived on time for that.

Instead, Julian was all set to play on the right wing for Gillingham, such was the severity of the situation.

Going back to first choice goalkeeper Simon Royce, to add to the bizarre events of the night, he reportedly arrived at the stadium on a mountain bike.

Come kick-off however, at least eleven players had made it onto the pitch to start for the Gills, as centre-back duo Matt Fry and Josh Gowling arrived just in time.

The defenders had travelled by train, navigating their way along the complex framework of the London Underground service to get to the match on time.

It was a bizarre situation for Gillingham supporters travelling to the match. As one fan, who wishes to stay anonymous, said: "It was quite surreal."

"I was on train thinking I was gonna be late for kick-off, and all of sudden I see two of our players boarding the same train as me! No wonder they seemed in such a rush to get to their destination!"

Referee for the match, Andy D'Urso, refused to delay kick-off as there were no apparent safety issues, meaning a weakened Gillingham side started the match.

Regular bench warmers Mark McCammon, Stuart Lewis and John Nutter got rare starts, with second choice keeper Alan Julian also getting a rare start, albeit on the right side of midfield.

Key players Febian Brandy (on-loan from Manchester United), Chris Palmer and Barry Fuller were the three notable victims of the heavy traffic around Central London, as they arrived too late to be put in the starting line-up and had to settle for a place on the substitutes' bench.

To make matters worse for the Gills, the players' kit never arrived at the stadium.

This meant the visitors were forced to take advantage of the home team's hospitality, and borrow their away kit.

So as the game started, it was a full-strength Leyton Orient side playing at home in their home kit, and Gillingham playing away with their reserve keeper on the wing and in Leyton's Orient's away kit.

To make matters worse for the away team, they went 1-0 down in just the fourth minute of the match, and started with a lack of support, as many fans were crippled by severe traffic issues.

In the end, 711 Gills fans were in attendance, with many arriving at various points throughout the game. The overall attendance was just 3,183, emphasizing how bad the traffic was.

In fact, it was so bad that Gillingham's media manager Martin Weller didn't even make it in time to watch any of the match, meaning the visitors couldn't even update their fans on events at Brisbane Road.

If you want to know how this incredible story was seen from another Gillingham fan's perspective, a blogger on the BBC 606 Forum said: "I spent £60 on tickets, sat two hours in traffic and missed the game."

"[Gillingham] are supposed to be a professional football team, not a pub team, and should therefore supply their players with a coach to get them to the games!" 

All in all, it was another disappointing away defeat for the Gills, made worse when coupled with the embarassment of having to wear the home team's away kit, and the fact that they had to start with their reserve keeper playing on the right wing.