Gillingham now know all of the teams they’ll be competing against in League 2 next season.
Oldham Athletic are back in the Football League after clinching a thrilling extra-time win over Southend United in Sunday’s National League play-off promotion final at Wembley.
Southend - managed by former Gills player Kevin Maher and assisted by another, Mark Bentley - were leading 2-1 in the early stages of extra-time but Oldham turned it around with two goals in two minutes to win 3-2.
Oldham have been away from the Football League for three years but are now back in the 92 along with National League champions Barnet.
The Bees missed out on promotion the previous season after finishing runners-up, but came up this time around with 102 points to clinch the title. They’ve been away from the Football League for seven years.
Southend missed out despite an epic end to the season. They finished inside the play-offs after a goalless draw at Gateshead meant they beat their final-day opponents into seventh place. They then won at Rochdale after extra-time and on penalties away to Forest Green Rovers to earn their place at Wembley.
Having missed out on promotion, Maher spoke out about the need for more movement between the National League and League 2.
"There's a bottleneck at this level,” he said.
"In the National league you've got to be better than 22 teams and only the top one goes up automatically, while in League Two you've only got to be better than 20 sides. It should be three up, of course it should.”
Gillingham fans might have preferred a short trip over to Essex next season rather than another trek north but at least the mileage will be less for the 2025/26 season than the one just gone. They’ve dropped around 1,000 miles on the
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