Twelve months on from last summer's 8-0 triumph at Salters Lane, the Gills were made to work hard for their win by a younger, fitter Faversham Town.
Visiting supporters may have thought they were in for a cricket score as Gillingham struck the woodwork after just three minutes. Good approach play by Jordan Parkes and Andy Barcham on the left flank allowed Adam Miller to shoot from distance and only the post denied the Gills an early lead.
The Kent League side settled well and for much of the half reduced their illustrious neighbours to speculative shots and half chances. On 15 minutes Dennis Oli's glancing header played Stuart Lewis in behind the defence he crossed for Barcham but his shot was easily gathered by Rob French.
Soon after Oli was involved again setting up Lewis who hit a curling drive from the left edge of the box which drifted wide of the far corner.
The Gills needed a moment of magic to find the net and that arrived in the 35th minute with a rare strike from Stuart Lewis. The self-titled "Ginger Cafu" found himself in space deep inside the Faversham half and placed a wicked strike into the bottom corner from fully 25 yards.
Gillingham finished the first 45 strongly with summer signing Chris Palmer crossing from the right for Jack Payne to nod narrowly wide before keeper French caught the eye with an impressive double save to twice deny Barcham on the stroke of half time.
HT 0-1
Just two minutes after the restart Gillingham doubled their advantage in the simplest fashion. Luke Rooney crossed from the right and Mark McCammon climbed above the Faversham defence to head home at the far post.
The Gills looked far more threatening in the second half with Rooney and Fuller combining well down the right and Nutter and Cumbers causing problems down the left. In the centre Curtis Weston had his sight set on goal and went close with a couple of trademark efforts from outside the box.
The visitors third arrived after 58 minutes as French failed to deal with a deep cross from John Nutter. Luke Rooney arrived at the back post and made space before slotting home his third goal of the pre-season campaign.
Gillingham were on top of the game by now and were breaking forward at will. Left back Nutter went close on 70 minutes with a belting strike from distance before trialist Rashid Yussuff netted the Gills fourth. Luis Cumbers clipped a neat ball into the area and Yussuff beat the keeper with an intelligent flick into the far corner.
It wasn't all one way traffic though and Faversham twice came close to breaking their duck. First Shane Hamshare's shot from point blank drew a stunning reflex save from Simon Royce in the 80th minute. Then minutes later Dave Skelton fired narrowly wide from the left hand edge of the Gills area.
Two minutes from time Mark McCammon completed the scoring with his second of the half. Luis Cumbers raced wide on the left and centred for the giant striker to head home unchallenged.
From the restart Town substitute Craig Thompson beat Simon Royce with a cheeky lob and watched on in frustration as it hit the woodwork.
Attendance: 1020
Gillingham 1st Half: Alan Julian, Sam Long, Garry Richards, Tom Wynter, Jordan Parkes, Stuart Lewis, Jack Payne, Adam Miller, Chris Palmer, Dennis Oli, Andy Barcham.
Gillingham 2nd Half: Simon Royce, Barry Fuller, Garry Richards, Tom Wynter, John Nutter, Curtis Weston, Kevin Maher, Rashid Yussuff, Luke Rooney, Mark McCammon, Luis Cumbers.
Subs not used: Andy Pugh, Connor Essam, Callum Davies.
Faversham Town: Rob French, Shane Hamshare, (Jamie Sparks 88), Dan Larkin, Tom Hickman, Ashley Brown, Lee Shearer (Kris Richardson 57), Dane Luchford (Dave Soutan 57), Damien Abel (Craig Thompson 57), Buster Smissen (Dan Ellett 81), Dave Botterill (Marvin Okundalaiye 74), Dale Skelton (Chris Axford 88)
