Gillingham
Last Season 22nd in League One
After a poor start in League One, manager Ronnie Jepson resigned in September leaving the Gills in some difficulty. They appointed Mark Stimson from Stevenage Borough in November, and having taken a number of Boro players with him to Priestfield was unable to save Gillingham from the drop.
The race went right to the wire, but one win in the last eight coupled with just four in all 2008 fixtures saw Gillingham slip into the mire and let close relegation rivals Crewe, Cheltenham and Millwall into the clear. Home form was half decent for The Gills, but a dreadful season away from Priestfield which yielded a measly ten points sealed their fate.
Heavy wins over Luton and Dagenham & Redbridge provided some relief for Gills fans in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. They were beaten however by eventual winners MK Dons on penalties. In the League Cup they were well beaten at Championship Watford, whilst their FA Cup run was halted at the first time of asking right here at Underhill, losing 2-1 to goals from Liam Hatch and Ismail Yakubu.
Stats (League Only)
HOME: W 9 D 9 L 5 - F 26 A 22 - PTS 36
AWAY: W 2 D 4 L 17 - F 18 A 51 - PTS 10
TOTAL: W 11 D 13 L 22 - F 44 A 73 - PTS 46
Average Attendance: 6,077
High: 8,719 v. Leeds United
Low: 4,402 v. Oldham Athletic
Top Scorer: Chris Dickson - 6
Against Barnet
As previously noted, the last game between the two sides was in 2007 in the FA Cup First Round with the Bees successful on their way to the Fourth Round for the second year running. Gillingham took the lead in the first half through David Graham, but a two minute spell in the second half turned the tie on its head and gave the Bees the lead. First it was Ismail Yakubu just after the hour, and the Barnet fans in a near 3,000 crowd barely had time to catch their breath before Liam Hatch powered home a second.
Before then, you have to back over ten years to the 1995/96 season for the next competitive match between the two sides. A solitary goal was all it took for the Gills to take the win at Priestfield having won the earlier fixture at Underhill 2-0. That season, Gillingham were promoted to Division Two in second place, whereas the Bees finished ninth, an agonising two points away from the Playoffs.
In the nine meetings between the two clubs, Barnet have won four against Gillingham's three, the other two being draws including the thrilling first meeting at an entirely different looking Priestfield in 1991 where the match ended 3-3.
Barnet 2-1 Gillingham
Saturday November 10, 2007
FA Cup First Round
Scorers: Yakubu (61), Hatch (63)
Gillingham: Graham (29)
Att: 2,843 (895
Gillingham 1-0 Barnet
Saturday February 13, 1996
Division Three
Attendance: 6,433
Transfers So Far (As Of July 21)
In: Alan Julian (Stevenage - Free)
Out: Craig Stone, Derek Stillie, Kelvin Jack, Guylian Ndumbu-Nsungu, Gerges Ba, Barry Cogan, Tom Bryant, Leroy Griffiths (All Released), Danny Cullip (Lewes - Free)
As ever, The Reckless Guide To Gillingham will provide all you need to know for our trip to Priestfield on April 04. Look out for that close to the time of the game.
