NolanUK: Nolan on Scunthorpe

After the goalless stalemate at Vale Park on Tuesday, Gillingham’s next opponents are Scunthorpe. Scunthorpe, who lost their star player Paul Hayes to Barnsley over the summer, beat Barnsley at home on Tuesday. Scunthorpe went 1-0 down early on through Paul Hayes, but revenge was sweet for The Iron, who scored two goals to give them victory. But Cooper is aware that despite Scunthorpe losing their star player, Hayes, they can still score goals and can still win games even without their top striker.

Scunthorpe manager Brian Laws was very happy to register his team’s first points with a win, especially over Paul Hayes new team. Laws said: "The last time we came up we took three games to get any points up, so we're delighted. And we've done it in style; it was an electric atmosphere which never stopped from start to finish. We've hit the ground running now, that'll give us confidence going into the game against Gillingham. I thought the tempo was excellent, didn't allow them to settle. They're a good footballing side, but we dealt with them very well. The crowd got right behind us, they were electrifying - please come again on Saturday. Barnsley made a major contribution to the game, and I'm sure it was fantastic to watch.”

It was virtually inevitable that Hayes would score against his former club, and Laws felt the home defence made it too easy for him. He said: "It's sod's law isn't it, that your ex-player will score against you - he's a good player and will score goals in this division. We were a bit sloppy; I felt we didn't deal with him. Mussy and Crozzer were trying to outmuscle rather than outsmart him, and chose wrong. He easily put the ball away. But I think it settled the nerves, it relaxed us and we went out and played our own football. I thought the balls up to Steve Torpey were excellent, they couldn't handle him. We had players running off him, he laid it off to Matty Sparrow and he just got clipped. It was a penalty; I don't think anybody could doubt that. Cleveland was disappointed not to be starting, but with the game being tight I chose Sparrow and Wayne Corden as I thought we needed to be calmer in the first-half. He (Cleveland) wants to play, but I felt in this game it was appropriate to have him on the bench. And what a blistering finish from him, he's a great character, everybody loves him at the club and he's going to play a major part this year."

For this match this weekend, I predict a goalless draw. I think this because Gillingham hasn’t won away from home in a while, and also Scunthorpe seem to be quite a decent team, with or without Paul Hayes. But should Gillingham sign some more players before the weekend, then we could see a rare away victory for the Gills. The match will also see newly-appointed Gills captain Chris Hope face his old club, whom he skippered during his time before moving to Kent.