My look on Gillingham V Argyle

The pilgrims will make the trip east for their second away match of the season as they face a strong Gillingham at Priestfield this coming saturday.

After 3 league two matches the Gills find themselves in the automatic spots, collecting 7 points from a possible 9, they come just below Rotherham (who are the only team to have a 100 percent start) and are on equal footing with Crawley Town. The blues have beaten Cheltenham (home) and Crewe (away), however Barnet stood in the way of a 100 percent start and Gillingham were held to 2 2 draw after a 94th minute strike from the home side.

The team making the trip out east have made a much less impressive start to the 2011/12 season, picking up just one point from a possible 9 and find themselves in 22nd place thanks to a late Carl Fletcher strike at Greenhous meadow, the two sides below them (Crewe and Hereford) have not picked up a single point yet. After being dumped out of the league cup by Championship Millwall the greens were handed a lesson in clinical finishing by top of the table Rotherham and then on the tuesday, Reid's rookies were unable to continue from a strong first half against AFC Wimbledon and managed to loose the game 2 0.

The Gills were expected to achieve promotion last season but only just missed out on a play off spot, finishing 8th in league 2. The Kent based club were founded in 1893 as New Brompton and became Gillingham FC in 1912. Gillingham are now managed by Andy Hessenthaler who has little managerial experience having only been in charge of Gillingham and Dover FC (rivals of the team pafc face this saturday). Despite this Andy is no stranger to Gillingham, he made 303 starts for them as a midfielder between 1996 and 2006. He was still playing for Dover in 2009, Andy is now 45. Gillingham carry out their home matches at the Priestfield stadium. No other set of supporters (pro clubs) consider the Gills to be among their main rivals and the closest Gillingham come to having a rival would be in London club Millwall. Many Gills also have a hatred of Swindon but the feeling is not mutual. Maidstone United are the only other Kent club to have been in the football league (1989).

The away side (Plymouth Argyle) enter league two tipped by many to be knocked by a third relegation in 3 seasons. These predictions will be purely based on the pilgrims recent financial trouble which leaves them currently on the brink of liquidation, with an owner still not in place, time is running out for Brendan Guilfoyle. During the 2009/10 season the Devon side were relegated from the Championship (by Newcastle United) under the charge of Paul Mariner after Paul Sturrock had been removed from the role ('Luggy' is now manager of Southend FC). Argyle headed into league 1 tipped for promotion and it looked that way aswell when the greens picked up a shock win on the road at Southampton. However it was'nt long untill the extent of their problems were revealed, staff and players were not paid and Argyle then fell into administration which forced them into a second relegation. You would expect dark clouds to be looming over the club but the supporters are just happy PAFC are still around at present.

Players to watch (Pilgrims)

Carl Fletcher CM - Argyle captain Carl Fletcher holds a great deal of respect from pafc supporters, being one of the few players still at the club since the Championship. The 31 year old has made 36 apps for the Welsh national team and has played in the English Premier league with West Ham United. This is the lowest first team level at which Carl has played.

Conor Hourihane CM - Conor Hourihane (20) has never played pro football apart from his 3 apps with Plymouth Argyle. Hourihane was brought up through the youth ranks at Sunderland. Conor failed to feature once for the Tractor Boys (Ipswich) and went on trial at Plymouth Argyle before Reid noticed enough potential to sign him on a free transfer.

Stephane Zubar CB - The Guadeloupe international has now made 32 apps for the greens, scoring 2 goals. Zubar (24) has grown on many a pilgrim as a real hard worker and at 6 foot 1, he also has no shortage of height and strength. Zubar has played for Caen, Pau, Brussels and Vaslui making pafc his first English club.

Players to watch (Gills)

Ross Fitney GK - The 6 foot 3 goalkeeper certainly had the right foundations for a good career, rising through the youth ranks at both Arsenal and Fulham. Since then Ross has certainly been around the clubs, a list would include Fulham, Brighton, Doncaster, Yeading, Barnet, Grays, Croydon, Dover and obviously Gillingham. Hessenthaler had been involved with the 27 year old at Dover and therefore signed him for Gillingham in July 2011.

Charlie Lee MID - Like Ross Fitney, the 24 year old midfielder had the best start for his career after he was involved in the youth side of things at Totenham Hotspur. The only two other clubs Charlie has played for apart from Gillingham are Millwall and Peterborough, he made 153 apps for Posh in the space of 4 years. In 2010 Lee went on loan to Gillingham, he made 4 apps impressing enough for them to sign him on a 3 year deal.

Danny Kedwell ST - Non league experienced Danny Kedwell recently joined Gillingham after being involved with a wide range of non league clubs including Chatham, Tombridge, Fisher, Lordswood, Maidstone, Herne, Welling, Grays and AFC Wimbledon before joining the Gills. Danny is 28 years old and nothing is known about his goal scoring record before 2005 due to the small clubs, but since then he has notched an impressive 99 goals.


Gillingham will obviously go into it looking for the win however maybe the Pilgrims will be eager to get away from Home Park and perform as they did at Shrewsbury.

Once again, lets hope and pray for a good game.

Thanks

COYG

My take on Gillingham v Argyle:

Gillingham will tear us a new one without even moving into 2nd gear