PREVIEW – Gillingham (A)

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 3 Ipswitch 0 – League One

Peter Kioso scored twice in the first half and Ryan Watson’s ninth goal of the season late on secured victory as the Suffolk side failed to score for the fifth game in a row.

Gwion Edwards struck an early post from distance but Ipswich found themselves behind on eight minutes when Kioso turned in Joseph Mills’ corner.

Stephen Ward’s superb block prevented Caleb Chukwuemeka making it 2-0, before Thomas Holy saved from Ryan Watson and Mark McGuinness cleared Mills’ shot off the line.

The Cobblers had their second goal on 31 minutes and it was a repeat of the opener as Mills’ corner was nodded home by Kioso.

Mills nearly had a third assist when his cross was glanced just wide by Alex Jones before Kane Vincent-Young missed a great chance for Ipswich at the start of the second half and Ollie Hawkins also headed narrowly wide.

Northampton’s fifth victory from their last seven home games was confirmed by Watson’s late finish from distance.

Peterborough 0 Gillingham 1- League One

Darren Ferguson’s men, who possess the best home record in League One, slipped up on their own turf for only the third time this season.

Connor Ogilvie did the damage with a fierce shot from the edge of the box in the 15th minute after John Akinde guided the ball into his path.

That strike was enough to secure three points for the Gills to keep them in outside contention for a play-off spot and ensure a happy return for former Posh boss Steve Evans.

High-scoring Peterborough failed to register a single shot on target in a niggly first half, but they were only millimetres away from a spectacular leveller early in the second period when Sammie Szmodics smashed a 30-yard volley against the bar.

That was the closest Posh came, though, with League One leading scorer Jonson Clarke-Harris blazing over before substitute Ethan Hamilton fired an excellent chance wide in stoppage time.

Second-placed Posh have a seven-point cushion to the play-off places with four games of the campaign remaining, although Lincoln can cut that cap to four if the Imps win their game in hand.

Northampton Town 3 Gillingham 1- League One – PTS Academy Stadium

Northampton moved out of the League One relegation zone with a 3-1 win over Gillingham at Sixfields.

Sam Hoskins, Danny Rose and Alan Sheehan were all on target as the Cobblers ended their four-game losing run with a crucial victory.

Cian Bolger and Hoskins were off target with early headers for the home side before Sheehan produced a brilliant block to deny Kyle Dempsey.

Northampton were ahead on the half-hour mark when Connor Ogilvie tripped Rose inside the penalty box and Hoskins stepped up to smash home from 12 yards.

The home side then had a second four minutes later as Rose turned in after Benny Ashley-Seal’s shot was saved, but Dempsey’s free-kick right on half-time left the game in the balance.

Northampton restored their two-goal lead just 90 seconds into the second half though as Ashley-Seal was fouled and Sheehan’s free-kick evaded everyone and dropped into the bottom corner.

Hoskins hit the post and Rose nearly had his second as Gillingham never looked like getting anything from the game.

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 146 W67 D28 L51 GF234 GA 190

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.