Gillingham 0 Swindon Town 2: League Two match report from Priestfield Stadium

Gillingham produced a better performance in their midweek match against Swindon Town but still lost.

The Gills were looking to respond to back-to-back thrashings, and they were the better team before Swindon took the lead, Aaron Drinan netting for the visitors on 66 minutes. Substitute Fletcher Holman added a second late on with those goals coming from Swindon’s only two shots on target.

Manager Gareth Ainsworth made eight changes to the starting eleven for Tuesday’s game, after admitting some of his players weren’t good enough following a 5-0 thrashing at Cambridge United.

The Gills were back at Priestfield for the first time since a 5-1 drubbing at home to MK Dons a week earlier.

It was a much-changed defensive line-up as Omar Beckles, Sam Gale and Shad Ogie came in for Travis Akomeah and Andy Smith in the centre while Remeao Hutton returned to face his former team.

Three players who started against Cambridge didn’t feature. Lenni Cirino, Nelson Khumbeni and Akomeah all dropped out of the 18.

Into the starting line-up came Bradley Dack while captain Armani Little was back in the middle of the park where youngster Harry Waldock kept his place - the 19-year-old’s performance being the only positive of their weekend loss.

Dack was spreading the ball around from the off and looked in a determined mood.

Up top, Josh Andrews returned from suspension to partner Ronan Hale. Andrews won several early headers while Hale was a constant threat and forced visiting keeper Connor Ripley into a great save midway through the opening half.

Ripley was at full stretch to keep Hale’s shot from nestling into the top corner.

Jake Turner returned in goal for the Gills, ahead of Glenn Morris, and he didn’t have a save to make in the first half