Saturday's game at The Priestfield Stadium gives Lee Bowyer the opportunity to meet up once again with his old friend and soulmate Steve Evans.
It was August 2018 when the abrasive Evans's Peterborough side won through a late disputed penalty at The Valley that Lee complained: "their manager, because he's this big geezer that's standing on the side, he's bullied the fourth official". When the teams met again at London Road the following January the story was another penalty - this one missed by Karlan Grant. Despite the fact that the Posh were in sixth position Evans was sacked straight after the game.
He took over at Gillingham six months later and guided them to a respectable tenth place last season. This term, after a reasonable start with wins at Wigan and at home to Blackpool and Oxford, they lost five consecutive games during October without scoring a goal. A 1-0 win at Crewe stopped the rot and they are now sixteenth. Their game at Lincoln last Saturday was postponed due to international call-ups. We believe this may be the first time a Lincoln v Gillingham game has been postponed due to international call-ups but we hasten to add that all three call-ups were Lincoln players.
Charlton's last trip to Gillingham was a 2-0 canter in April 2019 on the way to promotion but our recent performances there have generally been poor. A Tom Eaves goal saw us lose 0-1 in September 2017 and only a last minute Nicky Ajose penalty saved us from defeat the year before. In October 2009 we only managed a draw despite a glorious own-goal from John Nutter and the previous visit (in January 2004) was the ignominious 3-2 FA Cup defeat as a Premier League team.
A man to watch for Gillingham might be Jordan Graham. A product of the Aston Villa academy he never broke through and, after a few loan spells, he joined Wolves. He scored his first senior goal at The Valley in December 2015 but had to wait four years for his next when on loan at Oxford. He played seven times for The Gills on loan last season without a goal but, having signed a contract with them, he has five this season plus four assists.
Lee Bowyer appears to have mellowed somewhat on the subject of Steve Evans. He said this week: “Steve is definitely a character, he is very vocal on the sidelines, him and his assistant; but I like Steve. I get on with Steve. I have that mutual respect with everyone that is in the opposite dugout and Steve is no different. He’s doing a great job there, I have to say that, I know it is difficult for Gillingham financially and he’s put a squad together and he is getting the best out of them. It is a tough place to go. The one thing his players do is give him 100% and I’ve seen that in the games I’ve watched. It is definitely going to be a tough game, my players will have to be ready physically, then we have to do what I like them to do, so it will be an interesting game.”
Even on a cold, wet and windy day with an early kick off most Charlton fans would prefer to be in that "temporary" stand at Priestfield than watching the stream from their living room. However, it is what it is, and it will be interesting to see to what extent the streaming purchase figure is affected by the chance to win a Range Rover. Details of how to access what should be a hard-fought win for the Addicks are below: