Going up

Although Gillingham FC's stadium at Priestfield isn't that large, it certainly can generate some passion.  One can often hear, even from the other side of town, a voluminous roar as a goal is scored, ill-defined but primal.  Yet at 4.55pm as I walked on the Great Lines, about as far as one can get without straying into Chatham, the sun beating down and spring warmth finally permitted, I heard very clearly and repeatedly "We are going up, say, we are going up," as if I was right outside the ground itself.  They had beaten lowly Torquay 1-0, but it was enough as the teams in 4th and 5th place (the two slots immediately outside the automatic promotion places) cannot possibly catch the Gills now.  Martin Allen's side have proven again that while goals win games, defences win leagues and finishing top of League Two must now be the priority and it is looking likely as well.  In my lifetime, the Gills have won play-off finals but I can't recall them ever winning the tier they were in.  Those spine-tingling chants that I heard today could get ever louder as the season winds to its conclusion.