Gillingham v Notts County: Prediction, Tips and Odds

Gillingham will be looking to end a six-week wait for a win when they welcome high-flying Notts County to North Kent for an early kick-off in League Two on Saturday.

The Gills have plunged down the league table, while County continue to mount a promotion challenge having lost just one of their last eight.

Gillingham v Notts County betting tips and predictions

Notts County to win - 21/20

The League Two table had a very different look to it after County hosted Gillingham at Meadow Lane in September.

Back then it was the Gills, under Mark Bonner, who were 1-0 winners to leapfrog County into second place in the table. A week later they had gone top.

Now, as the calendar ticks into February, the sides meet again, this time at Priestfield Stadium, and all has changed.

County, largely consistent over the last few months, remain a viable promotion threat and go into the weekend third in the table.

But for the Gills it has been an alarming fall from grace, picking up just three wins in their last 18 matches to plunge from top spot to 17th and nearer the bottom two than the top seven.

Bonner was replaced at the start of the year, ex-Accrington stalwart John Coleman making his first ever venture south, as either a player or manager, to try to steady the ship and maybe mount a push for the play-offs.

If Doncaster Rovers' extraordinary run over the second half of term last season told us anything, it's that you should never rule anything out in the fourth tier.

First things first, Coleman needs to see some goals being scored and that's an issue that has afflicted the Gills for a while.

Only bottom club Forest Green Rovers scored fewer goals than the mid-table Gills last season and this term they have bagged just 24 goals in 26 games. Only the bottom three clubs have scored fewer goals.

Incredibly, in that 1-0 win at County at the end of the summer, Elliott Nevitt was the match-winner and that was the last occasion when a Gills' striker found the net.

Indeed, Coleman has presided over three matches and he has yet to see any of his players, never mind a forward, hit the back of the net.

His reign began with a 1-0 home loss to Doncaster and their goals in the subsequent 1-1 draws at Tranmere Rovers and Grimsby Town were both own goals.

Scoring goals is not a problem for County, whose last three road trips have yielded a 2-0 win at MK Dons, a 5-3 win at Cheltenham Town and a 3-0 victory at Accrington Stanley.

Stuart Maynard's men have taken 19 points from a last possible 24 - the only defeat in that time at home to leaders Walsall - and the Magpies lead the division in shots per game.

Jodi Jones anytime scorer - 7/2

Jodi Jones has bad memories of Gillingham, but can turn a negative into a positive by finding the net at Priestfield.

The Magpies wing-back was injured in the 1-0 loss to the Gills in September and spent three months on the sidelines.

Fully fit he remains a huge part of County's armoury - in attack as well as defensively - and he can add to his respectable tally of five goals in just 11 appearances in this injury-plagued campaign.

Jones is also County's designated penalty-taker, scoring from the spot in last week's 1-1 draw with Bromley.

Away Team Highest Scoring Half - First - 5/2

The first half has been the highest scoring half for County in four of their last five matches and that run could continue here.

Their scoring split is even anyway - 21 first-half goals, 22 second-half goals - and this looks like the type of game where they can get their noses in front against a Gills' side trying to bed in new players and suffering with injuries.

The hosts aren't the sort of side who capitulate, so the value could be County's highest-scoring half being the first.

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Gillingham v Notts County odds

Gillingham - 23/10
Draw - 5/2
Notts County - 21/20

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.