Gillingham 0 Crawley 2: League 2 match report from Priestfield - Will Wright scores against former side

Gillingham’s poor form in front of goal proved costly again as they fell to a home defeat on Boxing Day.

Former Gillingham defender Will Wright put Crawley ahead with a first-half free-kick. Ashley Nadesan missed a great chance to level for the hosts before Jack Roles came off the bench to get a second for the visitors.

Gills head coach Stephen Clemence had made big changes for the visit of Crawley but ended up watching another loss - the team’s 11th of the campaign.

With a lack of goals and a lack of points heading into the festive fixture, Clemence reverted to wing-backs for the first time and played two up top.

Fans had been calling for a more traditional two-pronged attack for a while. Former Crawley strikers Ashley Nadesan and Tom Nichols were picked to do the damage and start to revive Gills’ flagging promotion hopes.

While the Gills have been lacking goals - lowest scorers in the division prior to kick off - their possession stats had been on the rise under the new regime - but they needed to make that count.

It was something they were unable to do in the opening half at Priestfield as they had plenty of the ball at 1-0 down but couldn’t find the quality needed.

Tim Dieng and Nichols both put shots wide for the Gills either side of Crawley’s 24th minute opener.

The free-kick that led to Crawley’s goal could well have been a penalty but it didn’t matter to the visitors. Scott Malone had lost possession on the edge of the box and committed a foul on Klaidi Lolos while trying to win it back.

The challenge looked just inside the box but defender Wright picked his spot from 18 yards to beat Jake Turner.

Gillingham were at times too slow from restarts and careless with the ball, leading to frustration among home fans.