We look ahead to Tuesday night's rearranged fixture
STEVENAGE V GILLINGHAMSky Bet League One
The Lamex Stadium
Tuesday February 4
Kick-Off, 7.45pm
Team News:
Chris Whelpdale (ankle), Charlie Lee (knee) and Danny Kedwell (hernia) remain on the sidelines once more as they look to recover from their respective injuries.
Bayo Akinfenwa and Amine Linganzi were both substituted after 70 minutes against Port Vale on Saturday are expected to feature.
Matt Fish (ankle) has begun light training but is still a long term absentee.
As for Stevenage they will be playing their first game in 10 days following two postponed league fixtures against Crawley and Crewe.
John Mousinho, who played against Stevenage for Gills earlier in the season, could do the opposite on Tuesday night after signing on loan for the Boro.
Graham Westley has no new injury or suspension concerns ahead of the game.
Manager Comments:
Having recorded three successive home victories Peter Taylor is now hoping the team’s form on the road can replicate the performances at Priestfield.
The Gills last away victory was at Tranmere on December 20, and although the hosts are bottom of the table, Peter isn’t taking their opponents lying down.
He said: “Graham Westley has done outstanding for them; I know it’s a test for him now but knowing him he will have them fit and raring to go.
“There is no way we will be taking them lightly; we know we are still in a scrap. We have given ourselves a little bit of space but there is a lot more to do.
“It will be a difficult match but there are no real changes from the 18 from those who were on duty on Saturday.”
Graham Westley added: “They’ve pushed into the top half of the table having looked vulnerable at one stage.
They’ve done the kind of job that we need to do. We could probably learn lessons from the way they’ve got themselves together, played to their strengths, developed resilience and they’re playing for their manager. We need to do that.”
Stevenage
The Gaffer: Graham Westley
Graham joined QPR as an apprentice before, ironically, joining Gillingham in 1986. He only played two games for the first team however before joining Barnet, but it wasn’t until a move to Wycombe a year later where he would establish himself as a regular player.
A season at Wanderers was followed by two seasons at Kingstonian, and Westley then went on to have short spells at a number of non-league clubs.
His longest spell was at Enfield between 1990-1992 where he played over 40 games before finishing his playing career with stints at Molesey and Walton & Hersham.
He returned to manage Stevenage for a third time in March earlier this year having already had two successful spells before, including back to back promotions from the Conference and League Two in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
He was Preston's Manager for just over a year (2012-13), having also had the managerial hot seat at Kettering and Rushden & Diamonds.
The Skipper – Jon Ashton
The Stevenage number five has been an ever present at centre back since the start of the season and is close to racking up 200 appearances for the club since signing from Grays in 2009.
He began his career as a YTS at Leicester before signing for Oxford, initially on loan before a permanent transfer in September 2003.
Spells at Rushden and Grays preceded his move to Broadhall Way, and was part of the team that achieved back to back promotions in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
One to Watch – Filipe Morais
The Portuguese midfielder, who began his career as a youth team player at Chelsea, failed to break in to the first team at Stamford Bridge before signing for Millwall in 2006 after a brief loan spell at MK Dons.
Another loan spell, this time at St. Johnstone alerted other Scottish clubs to his talents and Hibernian were next to grab his signature in 2007.
Stints at Inverness CT and a return to St. Johnstone followed before Oldham Athletic brought him back in to the English game.
Two seasons at Boundary Park, where he scored eight times in 59 league games, followed before Stevenage snapped up the midfielder on a three-year contract last summer.
Stevenage – the season so far
Since the last time the two clubs met in late November Stevenage have registered just one league victory, that coming against Swindon on January 14.
Their only taste of victory coming against Stourbridge in the second round of the FA Cup after a comfortable 4-0 win, before being eliminated by Everton two rounds later after a 4-0 home defeat.
They come in to the game bottom of Sky Bet League One with 22 points (six wins, four draws and 16 defeats), although they do have a couple of games in hand on the teams directly above them.
They are five points shy of the relegation zone and have won just three times at home all season.
In the Capital One Cup they were beaten, again by Everton, after a 2-1 loss in the second round at Goodison Park.
In the JPT they got through to the southern area semi-finals, but were beaten by Swindon via a penalty shoot-out.
Previous Meetings:
Gills defeated Stevenage 3-2 at MEMS Priestfield Stadium in late November following goals from Danny Kedwell, Donervon Daniels and John Mousinho.
You can watch the full game on Monday Night Football.
Prior to that the clubs have only met twice before. On February 1 2011 Cody McDonald and Bayo Akinfenwa scored in a 2-2 draw, while on New Years’ Day of the same year Akinfenwa again scored to seal a 1-0 victory.
Betting:
For the Gills to record their first away win of 2014 Sky Bet are offering odds of 11/5, while Stevenage are priced at 23/20 to clinch all three points.
For the visitors to win both halves you can get odds of 10/1, while a draw is given odds of 5/2.
To open an account and place your bet for the game, click here.
Officials:
Referee - ANDY D'URSO
Assistants - Amy Fearn and Mark Russell
Fourth Official - Darren Blunden