Gills miss out on a bye in Johnstone's Paint Trophy
The Gills once again face a Johnstone's Paint Trophy First Round tie after failing to gain a bye into the Southern Section Second Round.They are instead one of the eight teams, four from each of League One and Two, that will be playing in the Southern Section – East, where our opponents will be one of the following seven clubs:
AFC Wimbledon
Brentford
Colchester United
Dagenham & Redbridge
Leyton Orient
MK Dons
Northampton Town
All draws for the competition will take place live on Sky Sports “Soccer AM” programme at approximately 10.30am on Saturday August 17 2013 with the matches to be played in the week commencing September 2 2013.
The eight teams to gain a bye and go straight through to the Southern Section are -
Crawley Town
Newport County
Oxford United
Swindon Town
Coventry City
Peterborough United
Southend United
Stevenage
Last season the Gills bowed out at the opening round stage following a see-saw five-goal thriller against Crawley Town at their Broadfield Stadium.
Bradley Dack opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, his first senior goal for the club, when heading home a long Chris Whelpdale throw back across keeper Paul Jones.
The scores were level at the break however, following Joe Walsh’s curling effort that gave Tommy Forecast no chance.
Two minutes into the second-half it was the Sussex side who went in front, Billy Clarke lunging in to divert a Josh Simpson right-wing cross beyond the Gills goalkeeper.
Parity was restored just three minutes later, another Whelpdale throw found Lewis Montrose and following an exquisite turn the midfielder drilled home into the far corner much to the delight of the 179 travelling fans.
Unfortunately it was the home side that struck the eventual winner with four minutes remaining. Scott Nielson cut inside before curling home a terrific strike.