Gillingham 1 AFC Wimbledon 0: League 2 match report from Priestfield Stadium

Joe Gbode hit the winner for Gillingham on Monday to maintain the team’s impressive start under Gareth Ainsworth.

Early substitute Gbode broke the deadlock with only his second goal in the Football League as the Gills claimed back-to-back home wins and extended their unbeaten run to 10 games.

Gillingham boss Ainsworth, now seven games without a loss since taking charge, went with a fresh attacking line-up for the Easter Monday game at Priestfield.

Oli Hawkins came in to start upfront with Jonny Williams, Aaron Rowe and Bradley Dack all returning to the line-up in support. Fit-again goalkeeper Glenn Morris was also back in the side, replacing youngster Taite Holtam.

Hawkins went down injured early on, and was replaced by goalscorer Gbode after just 15 minutes, after continuing to struggle. He had been trying to play on with a suspected broken hand..

There had been a bit of controversy ahead of the game at Priestfield as the Gills agreed to play in green, to avoid a kit clash.

Wimbledon’s three kits all clashed with Gillingham’s home strip and “on an EFL recommendation” the hosts opted to wear their third green strip for the game.

AFC Wimbledon were backed by over 1,000 fans. They started the day with the automatic promotion places in sight but knew a defeat could leave the door ajar for the chasing pack in their efforts of securing a play-off spot.

Clear-cut chances were in short supply during a bitty first-half that finished without either side managing a shot on target.

The Gills weren’t getting a lot of change out of the referee and home boss Ainsworth was livid when a shove on Conor Masterson inside the Dons box went unpunished.

Gillingham weren’t getting many decisions go their way.

Remeao Hutton played a few decent