Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls and a warm welcome back to Priestfield Stadium for today's encounter with Lincoln City. A quick glance at the table shows our visitors are currently situated at the wrong end of League Two but nonetheless I am sure they will give us a strong test this afternoon. In Chris Sutton they have a young and ambitious Manager and I'm sure there can't be many more Managers at this level that have achieved so much, at such a high level during their playing career.

It's only two weeks since we opened the season, here at Priestfield, against Cheltenham Town but the team have already played twice more in the interim period, games coming thick and fast at the start of the campaign. I'm sure you will echo my sentiments when I say that I was a little disappointed with the 1-1 draw against Cheltenham, not I hasten to add with the performance, as I felt we could not have asked for any more from the team, but with the final scoreline which in no way reflects our dominance of the match.

Frankly, Cheltenham seldom looked like scoring and, barring a moment's lapse of concentration from a set piece, we would have taken all three points. Setting the result aside, I was delighted with the commitment and endeavour shown by the team and once the players have had a chance to sharpen-up in front of goal, the goals are sure to come, and I suspect, in significant numbers.

It was very encouraging to see new signing Bayo Akinfenwa make such a big impact after coming off the bench in the second-half. It's no secret that we have been chasing the big man's signature for several seasons now and in that brief half-hour display he showed exactly why he will be such an important player in our pursuit of automatic promotion. After scoring on his first appearance for the club, it is inevitable that Bayo should steal the headlines, but there were also impressive debuts for Tony Sinclair at right-back and young Stefan Payne in attack, while I know many of our supporters were delighted to see Danny Spiller back in a Gillingham shirt once again.

After a positive start to the campaign, it was almost an inconvenience to face Norwich City in the Carling Cup three days later. As nice as it is to take on a Championship side, the first week of the season perhaps isn't the best moment, and, though we gave them an almighty scare, thanks to Chris Palmer's early goal, we were comfortably beaten in the end, with Chris Martin and Grant Holt helping themselves to a brace each.

Whilst that may not have been the most constructive experience for the team, it did serve to highlight the fact that, given our current injury issues, the Manager could use some options at the heart of defence. To which end, we moved quickly to secure the signing of experienced centre-half Matt Lawrence on a free transfer from Crystal Palace. Having played most of his football at Championship level, and even worn the Captain's armband for Millwall's FA Cup Final against Manchester United in 2004, his signing represents a major coup for the Club. We are delighted to have him at Priestfield and the fact that we kept a clean sheet on his debut at Hereford tells you all you need to know about what Matt can bring to the team.

Although we had to settle for a share of the points once more at Edgar Street, it was not for the want of trying and I'm sure our 500 strong travelling support will concur that we had far the better chances on the day. It is pointless reading anything into the tables at this stage of the campaign but we remain unbeaten in our first two outings and, if we can continue that run over the first ten games of the season, we will certainly place ourselves amongst the front runners. Throughout those opening games the support from the stands has been truly exceptional and the boys will need your backing once more to spur them on to victory today. Enjoy the match