Gillingham v Chesterfield preview: Manager Mark Bonner looks ahead to their clash with Paul Cook’s well-fancied side at Priestfield – Kick off 12.30pm
05:00, 30 August 2024
Gillingham will make a welcome return to Priestfield this Saturday.
The Gills have been on the road over the last two weeks, with a Carabao Cup trip to Swansea followed by lengthy journeys to Morecambe and Fleetwood over successive weekends.
More: Gillingham could have “quite a few players back” soon
It’s meant the majority of fans haven’t seen their team since an opening-day thrashing of Carlisle United.
“I am excited,” said Gills boss Mark Bonner.
“It’s an early kick-off as well and I hope it doesn’t put too many people off.
“For us, it’s get up and get to work early and I think there will be a good atmosphere, hopefully a good crowd and we can start the game with the same intent (as the first game). If we can get a positive result we’ll be really pleased.
“We’re really happy to be back here. It seems like ages since we’ve played at home, it’s felt like a long couple of weeks and unusual to have done what we’ve done, back to back to back with the three games.
“ I can’t wait for probably just backing up the atmosphere and feeling that again and I hope that after the start we’ve had and the first game we had here there will be real good numbers in the stadium and a lovely energy.
“It should be a nice day, two really good teams having a go at each other.”
The Gills have won two and drawn one of their opening three League 2 matches which puts them top of the pile in the early running.
Chesterfield are unbeaten too, with two draws and a 5-0 thrashing of Crewe on their travels.
The weekend visitors won the National League title last season and are being tipped to follow it up with more success this term now that they are back in the Football League.
Talking about the opposition, Bonner said: “I have been so impressed by Chesterfield, they obviously romped the league last year, brilliant. They deserve to be back in the league after a tough couple of years.
“[They have] a brilliant manager, really experienced, so no real surprises that they are fancied this season and they have added well.
“They are in a cycle where they have developed a style and a way as a team and had a period of success together where early on in the season that momentum carries you through.
“They have had a couple of games where they have probably been disappointed they haven’t won because they have been quite dominant in and they obviously had an outstanding result away at Crewe so they are looking very strong.
“They were very competitive against Derby in the Carabao Cup, lots of good players, Paddy Madden is close to returning and they are looking strong, a very good possession side, statistically very high. They will cause us lots of problems.”
More: “The budget’s been spent” admits the Gills boss
Doing better in possession is something Bonner hopes his team can do this weekend.
“How well we use the ball will be really important,” he said.
“We have spent too long without it in a couple of games. We have to try and get better at having control of the ball ourselves and using that a bit better. It’s a nice challenge for us.”
Gillingham have just had a welcome free midweek, a chance to recharge the batteries after clocking up around 1,000 miles in those last three fixtures.
“The last two weeks have been tough,” said the manager.
“The Tuesday schedule has been kind to us and exiting the Carabao Cup (at Swansea) was probably a good thing.
“A game on Tuesday (in round two) would have hurt our squad, no question, either this week or just longer term.
“I think in the first three months of the season, any time we get blank training weeks is going to be huge for us in terms of developing as a team and finding different ways of being with the ball, without, different strategies, systems and styles that we might come up against.
“We have tried to get a balance of doing the right amount of work versus the right amount of recharge. We will see if that works or not.”
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