A superb strike was enough to send Gillingham home from Newport with nothing to show for their efforts. Newport County’s Will Evans volleyed his side ahead on the hour with his 19th league goal of the season while the Gills struggled to unlock the home defence.
Defeat means it’s now just one win in six for the Gills as their play-off chase suffered another blow. Gillingham head coach Stephen Clemence had made two changes to his starting line-up as George Lapslie and Connor Mahoney returned to the XI ahead of Josh Walker and Jonny Williams.
There was disappointment among fans at the absence of exciting loan forward Jorge Hurtado, who was understood to have picked up an injury ahead of the weekend game.
The Gills were missing that spark for much of Saturday’s game. Better news for Gillingham was that defender Shad Ogie had surprisingly made the team following his midweek injury, picked up while preventing a goal against Swindon Town and taking a blow to the groin area.