Gillingham 1 Salford City 0: League 2 match report from Priestfield Stadium - Jayden Clarke scores winner
Gillingham held onto a slender advantage against Salford to claim a much-needed three points.
Jayden Clarke netted his sixth goal of the season to put Gillingham ahead early in the second half – and that proved enough. The Gills went into the game following back-to-back defeats against Harrogate and Bromley. In poor weather conditions, this wasn’t a masterclass in football, but there was no shortage of passion.
Manager Mark Bonner made four outfield changes to his starting team for the visit of Salford and also switched back to a four-man defence.
Bonner had been playing wing-backs for just over a month, but with just one win in that time, he went to a 4-4-2 for the weekend match, handing Josh Andrews his first league start of the season and a first-ever appearance for defender Harry Webster.
Dropping to the bench following the midweek loss to Bromley was Shad Ogie, Remeao Hutton and Jack Nolan. Three outfield players from that game weren’t in the squad.
Gills were boosted by having Bradley Dack and Aaron Rowe back fit and in the squad.
The opening half was a feisty affair at times and referee Tom Nield wasn’t Mr Popular after making some unpopular decisions.
A tone was set when former Gills player Haji Mnoga - who had a poor half season on loan at the club and a red card inside 10 minutes of his debut - pulled Joe Gbode down while on the deck which led to a few challenges in retribution.
Gills were criticised for a lack of fight in their last match but Elliott Nevitt showed he had a bit about him, with a foul on Mnoga. Unfortunately Matty Lund then went in hard on Nevitt in a series of tie-for-tat challenges.
Lund was eventually booked for another challenge - thankful he hadn’t already been cautioned - but Gbode would