NCM Report Cards: #9 Gavin Gordon

Last updated : 22 June 2005 By Rob Davies
Name: Gavin Gordon
Age: 25
Position: Centre Forward
Appearences 04/05: 27 (5)

Season Highlight: Netting twice in the televised FA Second Round victory over Swindon Town.

Season Lowlight: Having his season ended in February, after sustaining an extremely nasty broken jaw.

Damn. Trust me to be lumbered with the profile of Mr.Gordon. So mixed is his opinion amongst the Notts County faithful, this is bound to be a report card that is going to offend somebody. Still, it's Glynn Hurst next.

The fact that both of the favoured front two will prove hard reports to write says a lot for both of their opening seasons with the Magpies. As any good teacher (yes, we are classing ourselves as teacher's now) would tell you, the good one's are easy, it's the others where the challenge comes along.

Yet another of Gary Mills' summer signings, Gordon was another one arriving with decent pedigree when penning a two-year contract after his prior release from Championship outfit Cardiff City.

Despite having a mixed spell at the Bluebirds, Gordon had an excellent record at this level, scoring 32 goals for Lincoln City before securing his £275,000 move to the Welsh outfit.

The big striker was immediately entrusted with the responsibility of spear-heading Mills' new-look side, but the early signs weren't great.

After just two league games played, NCM voiced our concerns that Gordon was already the latest in a long line of 'whipping boys' for the increasingly hostile Notts County support.

After missing a chance in the season's opener against Chester City, he was openly berated by a sizeable section of the Magpies' support.

He wasn't the first targetman to suffer such a fate. Last season alone, Clive Platt and - more understandably - Mikael Antoine Curier were on the wrong end of some of the backlash from the Meadow Lane support. It seemed Gordon was following a natural progression.

The big forward earned some brief respite when he netted his first goal in Notts County colours in his fourth game for the club, against Yeovil Town. Despite this though, the game had undisputedly brought out more negatives than positives in the case of Gordon.

The chance he eventually took was one of many clear-cut oppurtunities that fell to both him and Hurst as County produced an excellent display to thoroughly dominate the eventual Champions. However, the Magpies lost 2-1, with the blame lying squarly at the feet of the mis-firing front duo.

The former Hull City hitman had also sustained an ankle injury in the match that would niggle away at him in the next few matches. When he eventually did return to full fitness - not until the very later days of Gary Mills' reign in October - he looked a far superior player to the one that we'd witnessed before.

Despite the poor start, there were clear signs that the potential was there. In the 2-1 win over Boston in late October, Gordon netted once and won a penalty. The lazy forward had seemingly transformed into one who was prepared to work for the team, largely due to him being rid of injury.

Despite performances such as these, Gordon was still dogged by both inconsistency and the taunts of the Meadow Lane faithful, who had clearly not taken him to their hearts.

After netting late in the FA Cup win over Woking, the big striker went to great lengths to point out the name on the back of his shirt after being heckled for large periods of the game. The relationship was certainly at its sticky stage, just four months in.

The problem for the former Bluebird, is that he was clearly unable to build on a good performance. Brilliant one moment, awful the next.

This was proved in no uncertain terms during the televised FA Cup Second Round replay against Swindon. The Manchester-born forward - who will be 26 on Friday - scored twice, the second a thumping header that Alan Shearer would have been proud of.

With a number of first-team members missing through illness and injury - including strike partner Hurst - Gordon took centre stage, leading the line the way it should be led. If only he could play like this every week, they cried.

They were right. It wasn't until the next round of the FA Cup, this time against Premiership Middlesborough, that Gordon would show us what he can do.

That day, Gordon again proved his value to the Magpies' cause. The striker stood toe-to-toe with man-mountain Ugo Ehiough, though when injury forced him off the pitch in the 50th minute, it was immediately clear that Notts' hopes of progressing went with him.

Seemingly overnight, he had become a key man.

His inconsistency was still a pain, though. The 25-year-old netted one of the goals of the season in the 2-0 win over Scunthorpe - the only time he and Hurst would score in the same game all season - then was completely anonymous three days later in the 5-0 mauling by Maccesfield.

His critics continued to mount, though at times you got the impression that it was a very vocal minority. Debates of his value were a weekly event on the NCM messageboard, with people flocking from all over the globe to discuss whether he was any good or not.

Inadvertently, it seemed, he had become an extremely controversial figure amongst the Notts County support.

At just past the mid-way point in the season, we, or at least I, wondered how we could cope with another four months of this.

As things turned out, we wouldn't have to. The goal against Scunthorpe - his eighth of the campaign - would be his last, as on the 19th February Gordon's season was abruptly ended.

In the home game against Rushden & Diamonds, the striker would suffer a badly broken jaw, ironically, going in where it hurt - an act he was often accused of shirking by many supporters.

The 25-year-old was knocked unconcious by the collision and immediately taken to hospital, with the aerial challenge ending his season in an instant.

Almost predictably, supporters - if word on the NCM messageboard is anything to go by - are now keen to see Gordon return to action, sighting him as a crucial point of the team next season. How true it is that you can become a better player when not actually playing.

We wait with interest to see which Gavin Gordon we'll get next season.

Season Rating (out of 10): 5

For the continuation of the report cards - where Gordon's strike partner Glynn Hurst will come under the microscope - be sure to check back to NCM in the next couple of days.