No.6 – Matt Ritchie’s strike against Gillingham

With my daughter’s impending birth preventing use of my season ticket for the evening I missed Matt Ritchie’s stunning strike against Gillingham.

Whether this is something I’ll hold against her I doubt, but I always seem to miss out on the STFC ‘wonder strikes’ over the years for various reasons. Perhaps I’ll not renew my season ticket so you lot can all watch 30 yard screamers every game.

What a strike it was! Surely a shoe in for the goal of the season award come May…

With the score standing goalless and the minutes ticking by, this largely damp squib of a game had generated little interest for my mum who was getting use out of my season ticket for the evening. So much so that I was being bombarded with texts moaning at watching a boring match wishing she was at home. It would take until the 80th minute for a moment of magic from the Town midfielder to put some life into the encounter.

With Town attacking the Town End, Paul Caddis’ cross was blocked – perhaps by the arm of a Gills defender – who cleared the ball.  Matt Ritchie seized upon this clearance and found himself in plenty of space on the right hand side, switched the ball onto his left foot blasted a stunning drive from around 30 yards. Flitney in the Gillingham goal stood no chance as the strike fizzed across him to sail into the top left corner. Quite literally one of those ‘unstoppable’ strikes nobody could’ve saved.

That wasn’t the end of the excitement as Jonathan Smith’s calmly slotted strike from distance made it 2-0; itself a goal well worthy of a best goal award.

View the other key moments of 2011