Gillingham 1 Fleetwood 2: League 2 match report from Priestfield Stadium

Gillingham surrendered the advantage at Priestfield as they were beaten by fellow strugglers Fleetwood Town.

Elliott Nevitt ended a run of 19 games without scoring after heading the Gills in front but goals from Mark Helm and Ryan Graydon turned it around for Fleetwood.

Gillingham hit the woodwork as they looked for an equaliser which never came, beaten again in what’s now becoming a desperate search for a victory.

Tuesday night’s game against Fleetwood Town was manager John Coleman’s ninth in charge of the Gills.

It’s a fixture that should have been his first, but a frozen Priestfield pitch led to a postponement of the game back in January. There were still hopes of a charge towards the play-offs back then.

Gillingham had improved in recent games but went into the midweek fixture without a win in 12.

Coleman gave big striker Oli Hawkins his first start since taking over as manager at Gillingham after handing him regular appearances off the bench.

Missing from the squad was Liverpool loanee Dom Corness.

Hawkins partnered Joe Gbode in attack with Nevitt playing in behind the front two in an attacking reshuffle by the manager.

Nevitt fired wide early on and Robbie McKenzie went even closer as he tried to pick out the far corner.

There were some inviting balls put into the Gills box that came and went in a half that took some time to burst into life.

Hawkins put a shot wide for the Gills and Ryan Graydon was flagged offside before he found the net for the visitors.

The opening goal arrived on 39 minutes. A throw taken by Max Clark in front of the noisy small band of away supporters was played back to him by Armani Little and when he crossed in, Nevitt stole a yard on his marker with a cushioned header beyond the keeper.

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