Gillingham 1 Brentford 1

Gillingham were held on home turf by Brentford in a keenly fought match that saw both sides finish with 10 men.

The Gills extended their unbeaten home league run to 10 games but they had to do it the hard way after conceding early on. Simeon Jackson�s 11th of the season left the game all-square.

After a poor first half, Gills were left with it all to do in the second-half.

A defensive mix-up let Brentford in for the opener as John Nutter�s weak header fell to Nathan Elder, he crossed for Charlie MacDonald and the striker had to simplest of tap-ins.

Gillingham had few chances and the closest they came to scoring was when Curtis Weston�s acrobatic attempt from was saved by visiting keeper Ben Hamer.

A frantic start to the second half saw Gillingham go close with a shot from Garry Richards while Brentford remained a threat and Elder stabbed a just wide.

The Gills� good start after the break was rewarded with a goal on the hour mark. Nutter�s free-kick was flicked on by Mark Bentley and turned into the net by Jackson.

With 69 minutes gone, Brentford were reduced to 10 men with striker Elder dismissed after referee Oliver Langford pinpointed him as the aggressor following a brawl.

Bentley came close to handing Gills a late winner when he turned Nicky Southall�s free-kick on target but Hamer pulled off a great save.

The game finished 10-a-side when Barry Fuller was shown a red card for his challenge on Sam Wood.

Hamer again came to Brentford�s rescue when Dennis Oli turned inside the area and shot but the keeper saved.

Gills manager Mark Stimson said: �Performance wise, it wasn�t as good as we�ve been playing recently and you have to give Brentford some credit.

�They made it difficult for us with two banks of four behind the ball. We couldn�t break them down in the first-half and we gave them a silly goal.

�We had a chat at half-time and tried to up the tempo and second-half we did a lot better and if it wasn�t for a good performance from their goalkeeper we could have easily come away with three or four goals.�

Skipper Fuller will now miss the next two league games and the FA Cup clash with Aston Villa and Stimson isn�t likely to appeal against the defender�s sending-off.

Stimson said: �We�ve looked at it on the video and it looks worse than when it first happened. We will make a decision on Monday but I don�t think we�ll be appealing.�

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Gills: Royce, Fuller, Nutter, King, Richards, Bentley, Weston, Jarrett (Southall 71mins), Barcham, Mulligan (Oli 81mins), Jackson. Subs not used: Lewis, Julian, Mills.

Brentford: Hamer, O�Connor, Dickson, Bean, Phillips, Bennett, Elder, MacDonald (Williams 33mins), Bowditch (Halls 73mins), Wood, Osborne. Subs not used: Scannell, Johnson, Anderson.

Attendance: 5,521.