Gillingham 3 Newport County 2: League 2 match report from Priestfield Stadium

Substitute Garath McCleary came off the bench to score a stoppage-time winner for Gillingham at Priestfield.

The Gills were twice behind against bottom side Newport but Conor Masterson headed the Gills level in the first half, and after Josh Andrews missed two great chances after the break, Armani Little’s 90th-minute penalty levelled it up before McCleary’s late winner.

It was Gillingham’s first home win in four months, ending a run of eight games at Priestfield without success.

The second half had been held up with an injury to a linesman, and after an announcement asking anyone in the crowd if they could take over as fourth official, a man stepped forward so play could resume after a 10-minute delay.

Gillingham were back in action after a two-week break without a game - a period that gave injured players a chance to recover and an opportunity for the team to work hard on their lack of goalscoring prowess.

Manager Gareth Ainsworth made five changes to the side which started their previous game, 17 days earlier at Swindon. The Gills lost that game 2-0 - a ninth game without a win in League 2.

That poor form had dropped the Gills to 16th, but there was still a level of expectancy among fans as they faced a Newport side sitting bottom of the pile, ruing the loss of key man Sammy Braybrooke to another League 2 team.

Ainsworth went with pace in a 4-2-3-1 formation as wingers Jonny Smith and Aaron Rowe both started, Bradley Dack in the middle and big striker Josh Andrews spearheading the attack.

A change in defence saw Sam Gale take over from Remeao Hutton at right-back. It was the first time Hutton hadn’t started a game under Ainsworth, ending a 47-game run in all competitions where he had been named in the XI.

Gale was