Elkan Baggott was the hero for Gillingham last weekend as the Indonesia international’s thumping header against EFL League Two leaders Stevenage salvaged a point for the Gills at the MEMS Priestfield Stadium on Saturday. By scoring the vital equalizer in the 1-1 draw, Baggott marked himself in the history books as being the first Indonesian to score in a professional English league match.
Stevenage, who commanded a two point gap between themselves and 2nd placed Leyton Orient, travelled to the MEMS Priestfield Stadium in hopes of establishing a larger gap between themselves and their nearest rivals. The match was also an emotional return for Stevenage manager Steve Evans, who was in charge of Gillingham last season.
Recently relegated from last season’s League One, Gillingham’s patchy form underneath Neil Harris saw them stuck in the lower half of the League Two table, and their profligacy contributed a lot to their current predicament. That came into highlight midway into the first half, after Scott Kashket fluffed a perfect opportunity by firing above the crossbar from close range.
Stevenage made Gillingham pay for that miss in the 28th minute, with Danny Rose heading home Saxon Earley’s pass into the home side’s goal to give the league leaders the lead.
Baggott had other ideas though, and the Ipswich Town loanee managed to draw things level for Gillingham in the 40th minute. Utilizing his above average body height to his advantage, Baggott towered above his markers and nodded home Will Wright’s free-kick to cancel out Stevenage’s lead.
Stevenage bombarded Gillingham’s defense throughout the second half, but the Gills stood strong and came out from the encounter with a point to their name.
Harris had this to say after the match, as quoted from Kent Online, “Where Elkan is learning, I think his percentage of headers is as high as any player in the division, he is right up there, he is learning the power side of it, the timing, he doesn’t necessarily head the ball 40 yards like Max (Ehmer) will, but he gets a lot of first contacts.”
“A lot of times the ball goes in the box and he doesn’t always start in the right position to lose a marker, doesn’t always get on the blind side of somebody, doesn’t always give himself the best opportunity to lose someone,” Harris continued, “I have said to him before, I could mark him, that is just a young inexperienced player finding his way, he has worked hard in both boxes defensive heading and attacking wise, I think we saw with Elkan he will be slightly disappointed with the manner of the goal we conceded [beaten in the air by Danny Rose] but he responded in a brilliant fashion.”
The Stevenage match included, Elkan has played 11 times for Gillingham on loan from Ipswich, establishing himself as a key component in Harris’ defense. The former Millwall manager will hope to see more of the same from Baggott in the coming weeks as the Gills seek to crawl their way up the League Two table after an inconsistent start to the season.