Gillingham 1 Crawley Town 0: Shaun Williams with Gills' winner in League 2 match at Priestfield

Gillingham won another big relegation battle on Saturday at a packed Priestfield.

Shaun Williams put the Gills ahead early in the second half after a first-half battle failed to produce a goal. The 48th minute goal from the home captain was enough to win it but not quite enough to climb out of the bottom two.

Gillingham have now beaten Harlepool, Colchester and Crawley in recent weeks - three teams who are also looking to avoid relegation.

There was a full-house at Gillingham as fans had been lured in by cheap tickets and a club with new hope under the Galinson ownership.

With seven points from the previous nine available, Gills manager Neil Harris had no real need to shuffle his team, but did make a change as centre-half Conor Masterson came into the XI to replace Will Wright.

There was plenty of expectation ahead of Saturday’s game. The Gills started the match still inside the bottom two but knew a win could lift them clear, depending on results elsewhere.

Crawley were just above the Gills pre-match and both teams needed a win to boost their survival hopes.

This was a match between two sides with American owners and while the Gills fans were displaying the stars and stripes flag in their end and singing the name of Brad Galinson, those supporters in the away section were calling for the owners of their club to go.

It was Crawley who had the better of the first half, even if the Gills had a golden chance to take the lead.

Visiting captain Ben Gladwin came close to scoring on a couple of occasions but Dom Jefferies put a chance wide for the Gills with just the keeper to beat after former Crawley striker Tom Nichols laid the ball into his path.

Gills needed to improve in the second half and it took just two minutes after