Gills must beware Accrington

Accrington Stanley may be more famous for a 1980s milk advert than anything they’ve done on a football pitch, but it would be unwise for Gillingham to take them lightly on Saturday.

With potentially huge games at Priestfield against Darlington and Shrewsbury next week it would be easy to dismiss a meeting with one of the division’s minnows as an easy game.

And minnows they are – with average gates only around 200 higher than Dover Athletic in the Ryman Premier. Along with fellow potential strugglers Morecambe, Chester and Barnet, they probably privately rejoiced last summer as points penalties were handed out to three clubs, effectively giving them a free season in League Two, barring a catastrophically-low points haul.

Without those deductions Stanley would be fourth bottom, flirting with a return to non-league. As it is they are maybe only a couple of victories away from ensuring their presence in the division for next season.

They are the division’s joint lowest scorers, averaging less than a goal a game, and are without a win in their last seven games.

Sounds easy for Mark Stimson’s men, who can extend their unbeaten run to a season-long five games if they avoid defeat at the Fraser Eagle Stadium. Despite not playing well in recent weeks they have hauled themselves back into the play-offs and a win against Accrington would set them up nicely ahead of the crunch games next week.

But if Gills have kept an eye on developments elsewhere in League Two over the last few games then they will be wary of even the most benign-looking games. To some extent they are only in the play-off places because of a series of unexpected results affecting their rivals in recent weeks.

Last Saturday not many would have foreseen Shrewsbury to get thumped at lowly Macclesfield last weekend, likewise Bradford at Notts County or Morecambe holding former runaway leaders Wycombe. Tuesday night brought more tales of the unexpected, with Barnet beating Rochdale and Chesterfield winning away at Bury.

The fact is, no team has been consistently good enough to seize the initiative and waltz off towards the League Two title. While many will bemoan the lack of quality, what it does provide is a fantastically unpredictable league where anything is possible.

Gills, or anyone in the division for that matter, are simply not good enough to take anyone lightly and get away with it. Fortunately Gills boss Mark Stimson is aware of that fact:


David Pritchard