Gillingham 1 Sutton United 0: Scott Malone on target as Gills dominate League 2 match at Priestfield

Defender Scott Malone came off the bench to volley in a winner for Gillingham at home to struggling Sutton United.

The Gills were playing against 10 men for over an hour but were unable to capitalise on a dominant showing until substitute Malone scored with a terrific finish in the 72nd minute.

Gills head coach Stephen Clemence picked a team to combat Sutton’s physicality and that meant a first start of the season for Oli Hawkins, paired upfront alongside Ashley Nadesan.

A couple of early fouls from United defender Ben Goodliffe on Jonny Williams earned him a caution as the visitors showed what they were about. The challenges were to get worse.

Max Clark got his chance at left-back for the Gills, as Malone dropped to the bench, having been at fault for a few recent goals against. Malone was to atone for those errors with a fine strike as Gillingham’s pressure finally paid off.

Second bottom Sutton started with former Gillingham players Ryan Jackson and Aiden O’Brien in their line-up, buoyed by a first away win in the league this term on Boxing Day under an interim boss following a recent 8-0 drubbing at Stockport.

Their big striker Harry Smith once played for the Gills youth team and he had a great chance midway through the half, heading wide from close range. Moments later he was sent off for a reckless challenge on Max Ehmer.

Seconds before that coming together, Harry Beautyman escaped punishment for another strong tackle, on Ethan Coleman.

This was a game the Gills badly needed to win and the man advantage gave them extra hope.

Since losing at home to Crawley last time out there had been plenty of emotion shown from the Gills fans, with anger, frustration and disappointment at the forefront. Joint owner Shannon