After kicking off our EFL Trophy campaign in midweek against Manchester City Under-21s, Paul Hurst’s Mariners return to Sky Bet League Two action tomorrow when high-flying Gillingham visit Blundell Park in what will be both sides’ sixth league match of the campaign.

Last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Walsall saw Town add a third match to an unbeaten run that saw a home victory against Salford come before a draw against Mansfield Town at BP. Abo Eisa finds himself in great form having scored each of our four goals across those matches and will be looking to score for a fourth consecutive league match tomorrow afternoon.

Team News

Ben Davies stepped in for media duties this week and confirmed that winger Charles Vernam, a half-time withdrawal against Manchester City Under-21s earlier this week, will be ruled out for a few months after picking up a thigh injury that will require an operation. He joins Donovan Wilson, Otis Khan and Kieran Green in the treatment room but the first two of that trio are nearing a return to full training. Green will be missing for a few weeks after sustaining a knee injury ahead of our trip to Walsall.

Niall Maher continued his return to action in midweek. He made his comeback from a hamstring injury against Walsall and, after playing the full ninety in the West Midlands, he followed that up with another outing in midweek.

Gillingham

After starting their league campaign with four consecutive 1-0 victories to find themselves top of the table, the Gills were stunned by a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Colchester last weekend when the bottom-placed Essex club visited Priestfield.

One of the much-fancied teams in League Two, the Kent club now sit joint-top with MK Dons on twelve points from five outings and Ashley Nadesan has scored two of their goals in their four one-goal victories.

Summer recruits Macauley Bonne, Scott Malone and Shadrach Ogie joined Nadesan at Priestfield in pre-season and have caught the earlier in their early outings.

They are managed by Neil Harris, the former Millwall and Cardiff City manager who took the London club to the League One Play-Off final in 2016 before doing so again the following year, that time earning promotion to the Championship. He also led Millwall to the FA Cup Quarter-Finals.

Harris has been in charge of Gillingham since January 2022.

Previous Meetings

The two sides have faced each other 38 times in the past with the Mariners victorious on 16 occasions. Our last victory over the Gills came in March 2009 when Town secured a 3-0 League Two win at Blundell Park.

Referee

Adam Herczeg will be tomorrow’s referee, his first Mariners match since our 1-0 home victory over Stockport County on New Year’s Day this year. Herczeg will be assisted by Joe Simpson and Graeme Fyvie.

Coverage

Due to broadcast restrictions, tomorrow’s match is available on Mariners TV for overseas viewers only. Match passes are available now HERE for just £10 and coverage will start around 2:30pm.

UTM