We look ahead to Saturday's game
CHELTENHAM TOWN v GILLINGHAMnpower League Two
Saturday April 13 2013
Abbey Business Stadium
Kick-off: 3.00pm
TEAM NEWS…
Myles Weston will miss Saturday’s trip to Gloucestershire through injury while midfielder Anton Robinson has been forced to return to parent club Huddersfield Town having suffered a cruciate ligament injury.
Robins striker Paul Benson is likely to miss the weekend fixture with an ankle injury after being stretchered off in last week’s loss at Plymouth.
LEADING SCORERS…
Danny Kedwell’s goal that secured promotion against Torquay United last week was his 15th of the season and he now leads the Gills goalscoring list by three goals from strike partner Deon Burton.
The leading two are still trailed by Myles Weston and Chris Whelpdale who have grabbed seven goals apiece.
Meanwhile Town’s scoring chart is led by Shaun Harrad who has 10 goals and he is followed by Kaid Mohamed and Marlon Pack who have both netted seven apiece.
Next on the list is Darren Carter on six goals the same figure as Chris Zebroski who has now left the club. Keith Lowe has scored five while Paul Benson, Steve Elliott and Jermaine McGlashan have all found the net four times.
THE LAST TEN…
Martin Allen’s team have picked up 17 points over the course of their last ten League Two outings, over the same period of time the Robins have collected 15 points
Town - DDWWLWDLWL
Gills - LDWDDDWDWW
EARLIER THIS SEASON…
It was back on November 6 that the two sides fought out an entertaining goalless draw here at MEMS Priestfield Stadium. In a proverbial game of two halves the Robins enjoyed the better of the opening half while the Gills impressed after the break.
Following the game both managers seemed to agree, Martin Allen said "I thought they were very dangerous in the first half. Mark [Yates] has put together a really good team” while the Town boss added "I thought we took a bit of a battering in the second half and we had a little bit of luck when Kedwell hit the bar.”
In the opening 45 minutes Stuart Nelson denied both Russ Penn and Kaid Mohamed, Callum Davies made a couple of superb last-ditch tackles while Chris Zebroski, Darren Carter, Penn and Sido Jombati all went close for the visitors.
It wasn’t all one-way traffic however as Myles Weston, Chris Whelpdale, Romain Vincelot and Adam Barrett all had efforts while Danny Kedwell struck the bar as he followed up a Scott Brown save.
The momentum of the match changed eight minutes into the second-half when Deon Burton joined Keds up top with Weston moving out to the left.
Almost immediately, Brown made a finger-tip save to thwart Barrett and the Cheltenham goal lived a charmed life for the remainder of the game with Barrett again, Kedwell and Burton both going close twice.
Gillingham: Nelson, Fish, Davies, Barrett, Frampton, Montrose, Vincelot, Payne (Burton 53), Whelpdale, Weston (Jackman 74), Kedwell (Birchall 87) Unused subs: Forecast, Hare, Flanagan, Strevens.
Cheltenham: Brown, Jones, Carter, Elliott, Pack, McGlashan, Bennett, Penn (Deering 87), Jombati, Mohammed (Goulding 81), Zebroski Unused subs: Lowe, Duffy, Roberts, Harrad, Andrew.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS…
There have been 11 previous meetings between the sides in league and cup fixtures since Cheltenham became a Football League club in 1999 - of these the Gills have won five and drawn five.
The first of these had come in the FA Cup in 1999-00 when the Gills won a First Round replay 3-2 at home following a 1-1 draw in Gloucestershire. At Whaddon Road Nicky Southall fired the Gills ahead before John Brough equalised 13 minutes from time.
Then here at Priestfield, Andy Thomson and Adrian Pennock made it 2-0 before half-time but then Russell Milton and Neil Howarth netted to level matters. The Gills winner eventually came through left-back Brian McGlinchey in the 77th minute.
Before this there had been another ten Southern League games dating back to the first, a 6-1 home win, on January 28 1939 when the scorers were Tug Wilson, Harry Rowley and T. McGee who all scored twice. Of these ten meetings the Gills won nine and lost one, this coming when a reserve side was sent to play the Robins due to a clash with a home cup tie on the same day.
OFFICIALS…
Referee: Gavin Ward
Assistants: Declan Ford & Nigel Lugg
Fourth official: Paul Rees
The Surrey official has been in charge of 34 games previously this season and he has issued 114 yellow and 10 red cards in these.
He has refereed the Gills already this season, he was the man in the middle for the home Capital One Cup tie against Championship outfit Middlesbrough back in August.