PREVIEW – Gillingham (H)

Founded: 1893
Nicknames: The Gills
Honours: Division 4 (1963/64), League 2 (2012/13)
Home Kit: MACRON Blue shirt with white trim, blue shorts and socks
Away Kit: MACRON Red shirt with white trim, red shorts and socks

The success of Chatham FC excited the interest of the residents of Medway Town and led to the founding of many clubs including one named Excelsior. After winning the Kent Junior Cup and Chatham District League in 1893 a meeting in a nearby Pub, Excelsior transformed into New Brompton FC who would play their games at Priestfield. In 1913, NBFC changed their name to Gillingham.

The towns quaint dockyard was opened by Elizabeth I in the mid-16th Century but was attacked in the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1667. The defence of the dockyard was breached after Dutch Warships attacked the English fleet anchored up, in the aptly named Raid of the Medway. The successful attack from the Dutch led to peace between the two countries as the Navy lost its strength to retaliate.

The football club were an original member of Division 3 in 1920 but failed re-election in 1938, just prior to the outbreak to WW2. In 1950, following the expansion of the Football League, The Gills were re-elected into Div 3(S).

Between 2000-2005 Gillingham played in the second tier and achieved their best league finish in 2002/03 finishing 11th under the watchful eye of Andy Hessenthaler. The Kent teams longest run in the FA Cup came in 2000 when Gills reached the sixth round but were humbled by a strong Chelsea team, who ran out 5-0 winners- which included John Terry’s first-ever goal for the Blues.

Northampton 0 Lincoln 4 – League One

Lincoln moved level on points with League One leaders Portsmouth with an emphatic 4-0 victory at struggling Northampton.

The Imps outclassed their beleaguered hosts from the moment Anthony Scully opened the scoring inside two minutes, with Tom Hopper and Brennan Johnson, who netted twice, adding further goals.

Lincoln made the perfect start, with just 65 seconds on the clock when Scully collected Johnson’s simple ball over the top and was allowed the time and space to slot home.

Fraser Horsfall was off target with a couple of efforts for Northampton, but Lincoln continued to look more threatening, with Lewis Montsma’s shot superbly blocked by Danny Rose.

The visitors doubled their lead three minutes before half-time when Hopper turned in Jorge Grant’s free-kick.

Nicky Adams missed Northampton’s best chance when scooping over early in the second half.

Cian Bolger also powered a header against the crossbar, but Lincoln sealed victory with two late goals from Johnson, lifting a finish over Steve Arnold after 83 minutes and then tucking one into the bottom corner in added time.

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Rochdale1 – Gillingham 4 – League One

The home side enjoyed a 5-0 victory at Wigan last time out and started off brightly, with Stephen Humphrys’ shot going running narrowly wide of Jack Bonham’s post.

But Rochdale were on the back foot as early as the ninth minute when Akinde’s shot across goal was parried by Jay Lynch straight into the path of Rob McKenzie, who converted with ease.

Akinde netted his first in the 19th minute, controlling the ball on his chest at the near post and rolling his marker before hooking home.

Alex Newby forced a save out of Bonham with an angled drive, but Gillingham made it 3-0 after 45 minutes when Scott Robinson’s shot hit Connor Ogilvie and wrong-footed Lynch.

Akinde scored the fourth from the penalty spot in the 47th minute after being brought down by Ethan Brierley.

Eoghan O’Connell’s 25-yard drive in time added on offered the home side scant consolation.

Northampton Town 1 Gillingham 2 – League One – PTS Academy Stadium

Josh Parker and Tom Eaves scored in the first half to send Gills back in the top half as Northampton dropped to 20th, just two points above the relegation zone.

Only six minutes had passed when Parker capitalised on poor defending to run at the home defence and hammer a 20-yard shot into the top corner.

It could have been two for the dominant visitors as Eaves somehow cleared the crossbar from four yards, but he atoned for that miss on 18 minutes when poking in Luke O’Neill’s drilled cross.

Northampton had been outplayed and they were fortunate not to be further behind after Parker’s header was ruled out for offside and Eaves sent another shot just wide.

The home side got back into the game 10 minutes into the second half when Ash Taylor delicately guided Matt Grimes’ free-kick into the corner but Tomas Holy denied Gboly Ariyibi in their only other chance and Gillingham held on.

Gillingham are the Cobblers most often played against club, tonights meeting will be our 146th encounter and our matches date back to 1901 in the Southern league when Gillingham were known as New Brompton

Our overall record stands at;

PL 145 W66 D28 L51 GF231 GA 189

Our biggest win was 7-0 under manager Herbert Chapman in 1908. Our biggest defeat was 1-5 which has happened twice in 1933 and 1934.

The 28-year-old forward, who scored eight goals in 40 appearances for the Cobblers last season, became Gillingham’s second signing of the summer 2020.

Oliver, who began his career in the youth ranks at Sheffield Wednesday, was part of the Northampton team who won promotion to League 1 last month via the play-offs, but has decided against a new offer in favour of a move to MEMS Priestfield Stadium.

Vadaine made his professional debut for Lincoln in the Blue Square Premier in 2012 and netted 13 times in 41 outings which alerted the attention of Crewe Alexandra who signed him for an undisclosed fee on a two-year contract a year later.

Following the completion of his contract he then joined York, via a loan spell at Mansfield, where he was part of the team that won the FA Trophy in 2017. Spells at Notts County and Morecambe followed before Keith Curle signed the striker on a one-year deal in July 2019.

In total, Oliver has made 311 professional appearances and scored 59 goals.

Mr Carl Boyeson is the man in the middle for tonights game V Gillingham at the PTS Academy Stadium. This will be Carls 16th game this season but his first for both the Cobblers and Gillingham. In those 15 game he has booked 56 players. Hi most per game was 7 in Salfords 3-0 win over Southend.

Mr Boyeson was last in charge of Gillingham’s 1-0 win over Wycombe in 2019. His Last Cobblers game was a 3-1 win over AFC Wimbledon in 2018. However his last trip to Sixfields was in November 2017 in a 0-0 draw v Bury.

Paul Yates and Christopher Kidd

Fourth Official : Oliver Bickle