We look ahead to tonight's league encounter
GILLINGHAM V STEVENAGESky Bet League One
MEMS Priestfield Stadium
Tuesday November 26
Kick-Off, 7.45pm
Team News:
Donervon Daniels could make his Gills debut after joining on loan from Premiership side West Bromwich Albion on Monday.
The 20-year-old centre back has signed a short term deal until early January and goes straight in to the squad for the club’s second home game in four days.
Charlie Lee will return after missing Saturday’s game against Oldham due to illness.
Steven Gregory and Amine Linganzi remain on the treatment table, with Matt Fish a long term absentee.
Stevenage will be without Jimmy Smith through suspension after the midfielder was sent off against Peterborough at the weekend. David Gray is expected to replace him but is likely to be the only change for Graham Westley's men.
Defender Darius Charles is out injured, as is Ben Chorley who spent over six months on loan at the Gills during the 2006-07 season.
Manager Comments:
Peter Taylor says he respects the job Graham Westley has done at Stevenage during the time he’s been at the club, but will still have to make do without two midfield players for the match as he explained.
He said: “They’ve done brilliant and Graham Westley has done magnificently there. It’s his second spell and eventually I’m sure he will have it exactly like the first spell.
“They have done very well as a Football Club; they have some momentum, they got a couple of promotions – they are a well-run club.
“Gregory and Linganzi have no chance for Tuesday. Gregory has a groin injury but he hasn’t started running yet, he will be further away than Linganzi.
“Steve is at least a couple of weeks away.”
The Gaffer – Graham Westley
Graham joined QPR as an apprentice before, ironically, joining Gillingham in 1986. He only played two games for the first team however before joining Barnet, but it wasn’t until a move to Wycombe a year later where he would establish himself as a regular player.
A season at Wanderers was followed by two seasons at Kingstonian, and Westley then went on to have short spells at a number of non-league clubs.
His longest spell was at Enfield between 1990-1992 where he played over 40 games before finishing his playing career with stints at Molesey and Walton & Hersham.
He returned to manage Stevenage for a third time in March earlier this year having already had two successful spells before, including back to back promotions from the Conference and League Two in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
He was Preston's Manager for just over a year (2012-13), having also had the managerial hot seat at Kettering and Rushden & Diamonds.
The Skipper – Jon Ashton
The Stevenage number five has been an ever present at centre back since the start of the season and is close to racking up 200 appearances for the club since signing from Grays in 2009.
He began his career as a YTS at Leicester before signing for Oxford, initially on loan before a permanent transfer in September 2003.
Spells at Rushden and Grays preceded his move to Broadhall Way, and was part of the team that achieved back to back promotions in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
One to Watch – Francois Zoko
The 30-year-old Ivorian striker signed for the club in early October on a contract which lasts until January, and has impressed enormously having scored seven times in 11 appearances.
He scored both goals in the 2-1 win over Portsmouth in the FA Cup earlier this month, however he has failed to net in his last two outings.
Stevenage – the season so far
The Boro had a slow start to their season, winning just two of their first 12 matches in all competitions before picking up their form in October.
Since beating MK Dons in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy they have won six of their last nine fixtures, including victories over Crewe, Crawley and Brentford.
They remain in two of the three cup competitions – Stourbridge visit Broadhall Way in early December in the FA Cup before Stevenage visit Swindon in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
Previous Meetings:
The two clubs have only met twice before in competitive fixtures and Stevenage are yet to record a win over Gillingham.
During the 2010/11 season the teams played both games in the space of a month. On New Years’ Day Bayo Akinfenwa’s goal was enough to clinch all three points at MEMS Priestfield Stadium, and the big man was on target exactly a month later when a 2-2 draw was played out at Broadhall Way.
Byron Harrison netted twice for the hosts with Cody McDonald scoring the other goal for Andy Hessenthaler’s side.
Current Form (last six games in all competitions):
Gills: LWDWLL
Stevenage: WLWWLW
Betting:
For the best odds on the Gills games visit www.skybet.com/gillingham.
If you fancy Cody McDonald to get the first goal of the game then you can get odds of 5/1. For Chris Whelpdale to bag a brace then you can get a return of 33/1!
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Officials:
Referee – Brendan Malone
Assistants – Alan Dale & John Magill
Fourth Official – Robert Whitton