Gillingham FC: the toughest nut to crack
Under The Spotlight: Man of Kent Matt Watts shines a light on Gareth Ainsworth's Gillingham and their record-equalling unbeaten run.
Welcome to Under The Spotlight, a written spin-off to our Under The Lights podcast, helmed by Matt Watts. This column is all about investigating the topics and themes of individuals and teams that shine bright in the EFL.
Three points and a little bit of history. That’s what Gareth Ainsworth’s Gills will be hoping to achieve when they travel to Newport on Saturday. A victory may well see Gillingham return to the top of League Two, but even a draw would set a new club record for consecutive league games without defeat.
Ainsworth’s Class of 2025 equalled the record of 20 league games unbeaten by seeing off Notts County at Priestfield last weekend (it finished 1-0, which is very much a theme; more on that later). The record was set by Andy Nelson’s Gills in 1973/74, who won promotion from the fourth tier that season – a feat that the current side are eager to match. But what has underpinned their long unbeaten run?
First of all, it’s important to point out that the lossless streak actually began under Ainsworth’s predecessor, John Coleman. While the former Accrington Stanley boss didn’t enjoy the most successful spell in Medway, he did end his stint with a 1-0 victory over Bradford and draws against Accy and Walsall. Coleman also made big decisions such as dropping club captain Max Ehmer and replacing him with academy graduate Sam Gale.
Even so, Gillingham – who’d made such an excellent start to the 2024/25 campaign under Mark Bonner – had won only five of their previous 29 league fixtures when Ainsworth walked through the door on March 25th.
Like the majority of long unbeaten runs, Gillingham’s is built on solid foundations. They rarely blow teams away, but they are incredibly hard to beat. More than half of Ainsworth’s 17 league matches in charge have ended in draws, which kept early hype in check, but four of those nine draws were in his first four games and only three have come this season.
In those 17 fixtures, the Kent club have kept seven clean sheets and conceded just 12 goals. Incredibly, every one of those clean sheets has come in a 1-0 win – hence the ‘Onenillingham’ and ‘Win-to-nillingham’ tags. Gillingham have conceded five goals in their first eight games of the 2025/26 League Two campaign, which is the joint-fewest in the division.
Now, those five goals have come from an xGA of 9.20, so variance would suggest they might ship a few more soon. The evergreen Glenn Morris, however, doesn’t care for variance. Gillingham’s 40-year-old keeper has the third-highest save percentage (77.3%) and the fifth-best goals prevented number (1.70) in the fourth tier this term.
Offensively, while Ainsworth’s Gills aren’t spectacular, they are remarkably consistent. They’ve scored in every single league game under the 52-year-old – all 17 of them. Only four of their League Two counterparts (Swindon, Grimsby, Salford and MK Dons) have bettered their tally of 12 goals. And while 12 goals from 12.3 xG across eight games doesn’t exactly leap off the page, it is a big improvement. You have to go back to the 2020/21 season, when football was played behind closed doors, for the last time Gillingham averaged more than a goal per game across a full league campaign. That season, Steve Evans’ Gillingham finished 10th in League One – a single place below Ipswich Town.
In true Ainsworth fashion, Gillingham rank 18th for possession (45.8%) and 21st for average passes per match (170.8). BBC Radio Kent’s Ben Watts, who commentates on the Gills home and away, remarks:
“Gareth isn’t afraid to do things his way. He likes big players and he’s more than happy to be quite direct. He doesn’t care about possession. Crucially, though, the team embraces his style and he gets the required work ethic from the players.”
Gillingham fan Matt, AKA Gills In The Blood, has supported the club since 1989. He has also been impressed by Ainsworth, explaining: “He’s made playing for the club enjoyable again. He’s got every single player buying into the way that he wants to play, which I’m not sure previous managers did entirely.” Buy-in. Work ethic. Those intangibles that can’t be measured; the things that underpinned Ainsworth’s successful decade with Wycombe Wanderers but seemingly deserted him when managing QPR.
Signing Sam Vokes and Garath McCleary, two stalwarts from Ainsworth’s time at Wycombe, can only help. As with the Chairboys team that reached the Championship in 2020, there’s a lovely mix of youth and experience. The aforementioned Morris, 40, has Andy Smith (24) and the impressive Sam Gale (20) playing in front of him. Bradley Dack and Jonny Williams are both in their early 30s and have both played at higher levels, but they can pass on their experiences to the likes of Ethan Coleman (25). Vokes, who was also part of the coaching team at Wycombe during the second half of last season, goes through clips with Josh ‘Baby Zigic’ Andrews (23).
Having first taken to the dugout in 2008 and managed well over 600 games since, Ainsworth would be forgiven for losing a bit of his spark, especially after difficult spells at QPR and Shrewsbury. However, that simply isn’t the case. “His personality is infectious,” says Ben Watts. “He brings energy and enthusiasm to the club office, the training pitch, the dressing room and the touchline. His passion for the game is clear for all to see.”
They don’t call him ‘Wild Thing’ for nothing.