Port Vale v Gillingham

GILLINGHAM aim to continue their winning start to the season with a trip to Port Vale this evening.

And Gillingham manager Neale Cooper will hope to continue his impressive record against a side that he’s so far beaten every time.

Cooper led his Hartlepool side to victory home and away against Vale in both seasons as manager at Victoria Park, but he knows his new club are in for a tough match.

Cooper said: "They struggled a bit last year and they’ve had a few problems up there. But they’re always difficult matches.

"I saw that they had a great away win to Southend and it will be a difficult match.

"Obviously we’ve had them watched by one of our scouts and we’ll get a full report."

Gillingham will again be without new signings Tom Williams (ankle) and Tony Bullock (foot), while Cooper will be hoping the knock Danny Spiller picked up against Colchester will quickly heal.

Paul Shields made an impressive start on his debut at Priestfield and he may be in contention for his first start with a couple more training sessions under his belt.