England League 1: Gillingham - Port Vale
This is a massive game for the Gills who really need to steady their playoff challenge with all three points this afternoon, after a midweek home loss to Walsall left them in sixth place. The hosts missed a penalty there with the match scoreless, with former Brentford player Luke Norris the "culprit". The hosts now have Barnsley breathing down their neck in the hunt for top six and you suspect that the team from Kent are going to need eight points from somewhere to hold on to their current three point advantage. In situations like this, it is always easier to get wins sooner rather than later and Gills can have few complaints about facing Port Vale today. Meeting a mid table team with nothing much to play for is the dream case scenario at this stage of the campiagn and that goes double when that team is in (relatively) poor form and conceding freely. The Valiants were winless in four (conceded 10) before last weeks derby win over Crewe Alexandra, a result which confirmed that Alex would be playing League 2 football next season, that was one for the supporters, at least Vale followers, but the team will be facing more steely opposition this afternoon.
Hosts' star player Bradley Dack has just recently returned from injury and he should be closing in on full fitness now and be ready for 90 minutes today and that will be a boost, but he needs some help from the forwards who all seem to have "issues" at the same time. Having said that, Cody MacDonald looked quite sharp in midweek and should perhaps have taken the penalty, Vale are easier to score against than recent opposition and have less to play for and odds look really good about a 14th home win (league high ?) of the campaign for Gillingham, especially as only Colchester United have lost more road games than Vale.
Gillingham -0.5 ball 2.10-2.15 general quote
This is a massive game for the Gills who really need to steady their playoff challenge with all three points this afternoon, after a midweek home loss to Walsall left them in sixth place. The hosts missed a penalty there with the match scoreless, with former Brentford player Luke Norris the "culprit". The hosts now have Barnsley breathing down their neck in the hunt for top six and you suspect that the team from Kent are going to need eight points from somewhere to hold on to their current three point advantage. In situations like this, it is always easier to get wins sooner rather than later and Gills can have few complaints about facing Port Vale today. Meeting a mid table team with nothing much to play for is the dream case scenario at this stage of the campiagn and that goes double when that team is in (relatively) poor form and conceding freely. The Valiants were winless in four (conceded 10) before last weeks derby win over Crewe Alexandra, a result which confirmed that Alex would be playing League 2 football next season, that was one for the supporters, at least Vale followers, but the team will be facing more steely opposition this afternoon.
Hosts' star player Bradley Dack has just recently returned from injury and he should be closing in on full fitness now and be ready for 90 minutes today and that will be a boost, but he needs some help from the forwards who all seem to have "issues" at the same time. Having said that, Cody MacDonald looked quite sharp in midweek and should perhaps have taken the penalty, Vale are easier to score against than recent opposition and have less to play for and odds look really good about a 14th home win (league high ?) of the campaign for Gillingham, especially as only Colchester United have lost more road games than Vale.
Gillingham -0.5 ball 2.10-2.15 general quote
