Preview | Gillingham v Scunthorpe United

Leonardo da Silva Lopes, Darren Oldaker and Elliott List all pushing for starting places as Gills look to get back on track at Priestfield.

GILLINGHAM V SCUNTHORPE UNITED

The Medway Priestfield Stadium

Sky Bet League 1

Saturday February 16, 2019

Kick-off, 3.00pm

Team News:

Gabriel Zakuani (ankle) will be out for the rest of the season due to ligament damage. Alex Lacey (ankle) will be out for at least another two weeks while Ricky Holmes (back) won’t feature until next month.

Josh Rees had a muscle strain earlier in the week but resumed training on Thursday and should be fit to play.

As for Scunthorpe they are likely to rest striker Lee Novak who has got a slight hamstring strain. James Perch will definitely miss out due to suspension.  

Rory Watson, Ryan Colclough, Jordan Clarke, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Josh Morris are long-term absentees.

 

Manager Comments:

Steve Lovell – “I need to freshen it up; this is the nitty gritty and we need to win. There’s no two ways about it – it’s a massive game for everybody.

“I will make changes from last Saturday, definitely, and it’s something we’ve got to do.”

Stuart McCall – “When they came here, it was as flat as we’ve been. It was a low crowd, we were in a bad run and I just felt we never got out of the starting blocks whatsoever, and we were very unfortunate to go in at half-time 0-0. They then scored twice in quick succession straight after half-time. I often remind the lads when we’re playing at home that we can’t have another Gillingham performance. Thankfully, we’ve not had too many of them since.”

Previous Meetings:

The clubs last met on December 8, 2018 at Glanford Park where the Gills took all three points with a 2-0 win thanks to goals by Tom Eaves and Dean Parrett.

Prior to that, the two games played in 2017/18 resulted in a 0-0 draw at Priestfield and a 3-1 win for the Gills at Glanford Park. Lee Martin was among the scorers.

In total the sides have met on 44 occasions. Scunthorpe just slightly edge the lead with 15 wins to Gillingham’s 14.

Odds:

Gills win – 6/4

Draw – 23/10

Scunthorpe win – 13/8

Special Bet: Tom Eaves to score first and Gillingham to win 3/2 – 100/1.

For more odds and markets visit www.skybet.com/fl72.

iFollow:

You can listen to the game live on iFollow, with our colleagues from BBC Radio Kent on hand to guide you through the action.

The various packages available can be seen here.

Officials:

Referee – Lee Swabey
Assistant Referee 1 – Matthew Lee
Assistant Referee 2 – Christopher Wade
Fourth Official – Paul Lister

 

Visiting Priestfield for the first time? Download our fan guide here.