Gillingham v Tranmere Rovers Preview

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By Deadly Submarine
April 1 2006
All the News and Stats ahead of Rovers long away trip to face Gillingham this Saturday in Coca-Cola League One. Tranmere will be looking build on the excellent home victory over Huddersfield last Friday Night that saw them move into the top half of League One and maintain a ten match unbeaten run.

TOTAL TRANMERE – Match Preview

Saturday February 11th 2006 – Kick-Off 3.00pm

Coca-Cola League One at Priestfield Stadium

By Deadly Submarine

The top half of the League One table is suddenly what Tranmere are calling home but a failure to maintain their recent good form will more than likely see them drop back down in relegation fight, such is the tightness of League One this season.

Following last Friday nights home success over play-off contenders Huddersfield Town, which included playing the last seventy minutes of the game with ten men, Rovers will be hoping for a similar points return from the long trip south to face Gillingham at the Priestfield this Saturday.

The last time Rovers won at Gillingham was in January 1975 when they triumphed 3-2 but since then there have only been four further meetings between the sides at the Priestfield which have seen Rovers lose three times (conceding three goals on each occasion) and draw once.

In fact those three more recent defeats were something of a rarity as prior to Rovers 1975 win, all previous meetings at the Priestfield (seven in total), had seen six draws and one win for Rovers meaning that the first time Rovers actually lost there was in 1977.

The meeting between the sides at Prenton Park earlier this season ended in a 2-2 draw after Rovers had twice gone ahead and since then both teams have struggled to pull away from the relegation zone.

Having parted company with manager Neil Cooper in November last year and replacing him with Ronnie Jepson, the Gills have shown an improvement in a similar fashion to Tranmere and both are now positionally clear of the relegation zone although both can still easily get sucked back into it all if a bad run of results occurs.

Both sides therefore know the importance of three points on Saturday and hopefully, unlike some of Rovers recent matches on their travels, it will make for an entertaining encounter.

In their last home game, the Gills drew 1-1 with Rotherham Utd but they followed that up with a shock 2-1 win away at high-flying Swansea City. Last Saturday they ensured a three game unbeaten run by drawing 1-1 away at Chesterfield.

Rovers are unbeaten in ten matches although the large majority (especially away from home) have been draws but the win over Huddersfield last Friday will hopefully have boosted confidence a little more within the squad.

MATCH PREDICTION: Gillingham 1 – 1 Tranmere Rovers

Gillingham: Boss Ronnie Jepson will be without the services of defender Ian Cox and midfielders Michael Flynn and Alan Pouton for the visit of Tranmere as all three are suspended. The Gills have added loan signings to their squad this week in the shape of Justin Cochrane and Gary Mulligan.

Tranmere Rovers: Goalkeeper John Achterberg (groin) is Rovers only injury concern so Dino Seremet is likely to continue in goal. Calvin Zola will be absent through suspension following his sending off in the home game against Huddersfield last week. Loan signing David Raven has begun training with the squad after injury but is unlikely to feature in this game.

Match Referee – Grant Hegley (Hertfordshire)