Marcus Braddock looks ahead to this evening's trip to the MEMS Priestfield Stadium
With the noise of Sunday night still ringing in their ears, Shrewsbury Town head south to Kent and Gillingham. Wins have been as hard to come by for the Gills this season, they had to wait until the last day of August to see their first and had a further fortnight to win for the next. This pattern has been followed pretty much all season with a win every two or three weeks. When wins have been consecutive, they've been in different competitions, meaning there have been no back to back league wins all season. The first round of the F.A. Coincided with an improved patch of form and since then, the Gills have only lost twice in all competitions, including a defeat at home to Premier League West Ham in the F.A. Cup and an away defeat to AFC Wimbledon. If you exclude the West home defeat, Gillingham haven't lost since November 23rd and haven't lost at home since the start of that month with Rotherham beating them 3-0.
Top Scorers (cup goals in brackets)
Alex Jakubiak 6(1)
Brandon Hanlan 3(2)
Oliver Lee 3(2)
Mikael Mandron 3(1)
Assists
John Akinde 4
Oliver Lee 3
Clean Sheets
Five at home and four away from home.
Stats
Gillingham tend to finish strongly with eleven goals in the last fifteen minutes of either half.
They also start the second half well with 5 goals in the fifteen minutes after half time.
They've conceded an average of 1 goal in home games this season but have scored an average of 1.57.
They've conceded eight goals in the final 15 minutes of the first half than they have in the rest of the game combined.
Squad News
Gillingham have no new injury concerns.
Ollie Norburn might be a doubt after limping off against Liverpool. New signing Josh Vela has taken a knock in training and is out of action temporarily.
Summary
This is another really important game for both clubs. For Gillingham, a win will put some distance between them and the teams below and also propel toward the top ten. For us, a win would mean leap-frogging Gillingham with a couple of games in hand still to play. If we have any serious thoughts of a decent position at the end of the season, this is where we need to start. Any remaining stardust from higher-profile games needs to be shaken off. As lovely as a cup run is, we need to stay focussed on the essential work in League One. Liverpool certainly aren't letting it get in the way and we should try and do the same.
COYB!!!
Marcus