Crawley 0 Gillingham 1: Harry Ransom own-goal for the Gills in League 2 match at the Broadfield Stadium

Gillingham matched their best-ever start to a league season with a win at Crawley.

Gillingham weren’t at their best but went a goal up at the break after Crawley had a penalty saved and scored an own-goal. Gills striker Ashley Nadesan was denied a goal against his former club by the crossbar as Neil Harris’ men held out for a fourth successive 1-0 win.

More: Harris' apology to team after win at Crawley

The Gills were chasing a record-equalling fourth successive win at the start of their league campaign. They did it with the win over Crawley, but had to defend for large periods before claiming another three points.

The winning start matches Tony Pulis’ promotion-winning team of 1995/96 in what was Paul Scally’s first season as chairman.

The two changes for the Gills on Saturday saw captain Shaun Williams and Jonny Williams both return to the starting eleven.

Crawley’s summer signing from Gillingham, defender Will Wright, was up against a front-two of Ashley Nadesan and Tom Nichols, the pair both plucked from the West Sussex club to lead a promotion push for Harris’ side.

The links between these clubs run deep. Gillingham’s club secretary Kelly Derham and their director of operations Joe Comper both hail from the Reds. Comper once dressed up as their club mascot Reggie the Red. Crawley boss Scott Lindsey played for the Gills and is well known in the county of Kent.

On the field, Nadesan was coming into the match with three goals in his previous three outings, having quickly re-established a strong partnership with his former Crawley playing partner. The two combined to see off Sutton in midweek.

Backed by a sellout away crowd of 1,300 the Gills had to do a fair bit of defending in the opening half as Crawley looked for