Familiar faces, fresh test

Bristol Rovers arrive high in the table, but Gareth Ainsworth’s improving Gills have reason to feel confident

Originally published in Gills Journal by David Tickner.

Steve Evans and his assistant, Paul Raynor, have rarely, if ever, slipped quietly in and out of Priestfield Stadium. It seems unlikely they will do so this Saturday when their Bristol Rovers side are the Gills’ next opponents.

The pair were back in Kent as recently as March and, trailing 1-0 at half-time to a Ronan Hale penalty, Evans made four substitutions at the interval. The impact was almost immediate.

One of the replacements, Ryan De Havilland, supplied the cross for Alfie Kilgour to equalise within seconds of the restart before Ellis Harrison completed the turnaround as The Gas ran out 2-1 winners

Rovers on the rise

Six months later, Evans returns with Rovers second in League Two, behind leaders Barnet only on goal difference and three points ahead of Gillingham.

Their four-match winning run was ended by a 2-0 defeat at unbeaten Grimsby Town last Saturday, however, and their away record offers rather more encouragement for The Gills.

While Rovers have won all three of their home league games, scoring eight goals, their three away fixtures have brought defeats at York City and Grimsby either side of a 2-0 victory at Crawley Town. Four of their 12 league goals have come away from the Memorial Stadium.

At Grimsby, Evans again reached for his substitutes with his side 2-0 behind making three changes at half-time. There was no repeat of the Priestfield transformation.

The defeat did not go down well with the former Gills’ boss. Evans says the issue was less the defeat than the manner of it and revealed this week that Rovers held what he described as a ‘crisis meeting’ on Monday after falling below the standards he expects. ‘Their ears were ringing on Monday, and so they should have been,’ he said, although Evans added that his players had responded with an excellent week in training.

Rovers managed only three shots, just one on target, before their hopes of a comeback effectively disappeared when Tommy Leigh was shown a straight red card for an off-the-ball incident after 75 minutes. 

Rovers will be without defender Riley Harbottle, who suffered a small muscle tear at Grimsby and is expected to be sidelined for three to four weeks. Ciarán Kelly and Kilgour are competing to replace him, while Keenan Gough is nearing a return but remains doubtful.

Gills finding momentum

Gillingham go into Saturday's game against their former boss with momentum of their own.

Since losing 3-0 to Walsall on the opening weekend of the League Two season, Gareth Ainsworth's side are unbeaten in five league games and have followed three successive draws with victories at Rochdale and at home to previously unbeaten Tranmere Rovers.

Those two wins have produced six Gillingham goals. The last time the Gills scored six across successive league games was in January, when they beat the League’s bottom two sides: Newport County 3-2 at Priestfield followed by a 3-0 victory at Harrogate.

Familiar face

Evans may often be cast as one of the EFL's pantomime villains, but his relationship with Gillingham is rather more nuanced.

He remains characteristically warm about his former club. ‘It’s a great club,’ he said this week, adding that he still has close friends from his time in Kent and promising that the people of Medway and those in the Rainham End would once again receive his applause. He also praised the current ownership and Gareth Ainsworth, revealing that he intends to arrive early enough to catch up with supporters he knows before kick-off.

The respect is mutual. Ainsworth described Evans as a ‘serious, fierce competitor’ but added, ‘For all his bark and for all his reputation, I found him, at times, to be a gent.’

Ainsworth expects Evans’ team to be organised, strong, hard-running and committed, but believes his own side can match those qualities while developing another dimension. ‘My teams have always done that,’ he said. ‘I’m adding some gloss to my style now and I’m really enjoying doing that.’

Evans was impressed too, describing last weekend’s 2-0 victory over Tranmere as Gillingham’s ‘best performance of the season’ and suggesting the margin might easily have been greater.

Evans managed Gillingham between 2019 and January 2022, twice finishing tenth in League One. His 129 matches produced 41 wins, 41 draws and 47 defeats - a win rate of 31.8 per cent. 

His impact at Bristol Rovers has been considerable. Appointed in December 2025, he and Raynor quickly transformed the club's fortunes, overseeing a run that yielded 25 points from a possible 30 by April. Their influence was rewarded with contracts running until 2028, despite rumours this week linking Evans with the vacancy at Hibernian. Rovers went on to finish last season unbeaten in their final nine league matches and have carried that momentum into the new campaign.

Recent history favours The Gills

Despite Rovers' victory at Priestfield in March, Gillingham have enjoyed the better of this fixture in recent years.

Since 2000, the clubs have met 20 times in the League, with The Gills winning 11, drawing four and losing five. Indeed, Rovers' own preview this week points out that they have won only two of their previous ten meetings with Gillingham - although both victories came at Priestfield.

The reverse fixture last November produced one of Gillingham's more memorable goals of the season. Max Clark saw a first-half penalty saved before making amends in spectacular fashion after 54 minutes firing a 20-yard half-volley into the top corner.

It proved the only goal of the game and was subsequently voted the League Two Goal of the Month for November.

There have been some memorable Priestfield meetings too. Martin Allen's eventual League Two champions demolished Rovers 4-0 in September 2012,

while five years later Cody McDonald scored in the 90th and 96th minutes to turn a 1-1 draw into a vital 3-1 Gillingham victory in their battle against relegation.

Verdict

Evans and Raynor will undoubtedly want a reaction from their players after last weekend’s defeat at Grimsby and to make their mark on another return to Priestfield.

Bristol Rovers' league position underlines the progress they have made under Evans, but they have already lost twice away from home and Gillingham appear finally to be finding their attacking rhythm.

Back-to-back wins yielding six goals have given Gillingham reason to approach another early-season test with confidence.

Prediction: Gillingham 2-1 Bristol Rovers

David Tickner writes regularly about Gillingham Football Club on Substack. You can read, follow or subscribe for free at Gills Journal | David Tickner | Substack