The Gills were on a decent run of form before they found themselves on the wrong end of a 7-0 caning at Shrewsbury. The side then faced another setback when an early sending off and a deflected winner deprived them of a point at Aldershot.
This weekend they face another side who are having a tough time. Port Vale have won just twice so far this season, and their sluggish start has already seen manager Lee Sinnott relieved of his duties after just seven games, much to the annoyance of a number of the club's players. At the time of writing, the club have yet to announce a permanent successor to Sinnott, with Assistant Manager Dean Glover taking the reins on a caretaker basis.
Mark Stimson joined Gillingham as manager at a similar time to Sinnott, and will be hoping for more patience than was given to the former Vale boss. The fans' opinions of Stimson are still very much split, and defeat to managerless Vale could increase the pressure on Stimson, who has won just 11 out of 44 matches as Gillingham manager.
But despite their patchy start, the Gills sit just outside the playoff places and a win this weekend may take them back into the top seven.
With striker Mark McCammon suspended for three matches following his sending off at Aldershot, Gillingham manager Mark Stimson will shuffle the pack and make changes to his side, with Gary Mulligan and Dennis Oli both likely to return to the starting linup after recovering from their respective injuries.
Likely starting XI:
Simon Royce, Barry Fuller, John Nutter, Simon King, Garry Richards, Dennis Oli, Andrew Crofts (c), Curtis Weston, Charlie Daniels, Gary Mulligan, Simeon Jackson.