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Steve Evans is ready to welcome the league’s big spenders to Priestfield this weekend.
Blackpool may not have been the among the promotion favourites with the bookies at the start of the season but Gillingham boss Evans knows they’ve invested big and counts them among the division’s leading lights.
With last weekend’s victory at Wigan behind them , the Gills will be hoping to make it back to back league wins when they turn out on home turf again.
Evans said: “Apart from Peterborough, they are the big spenders in the league in terms of their recruitment, they won on Saturday and we need to be ready.
“They signed Christopher Hamilton, CJ, who I found in the reserves when I went to Mansfield, he is a really good player. They signed young Jerry Yates who I signed at Rotherham and gave him his debut. He is a top young striker. They have just signed the boy Luke Garbutt (the former Everton player) and five or six teams in the Championship wanted him.
“(Manager Neil Critchley) has gone in there and he is a good manager. They lost on the opening day against Plymouth but I watched 50 minutes of it, it should have been six to Blackpool and they won on Saturday.
“It will be a test, they will be a really difficult opponent and what we are going to do is come up with a plan to go up against them and see if we can get a result.”
While Evans may be competing on a different budget to Blackpool he has no complaints.
He said: "I had brilliant resources with Rotherham and Tony Stewart (their chairman), so I have no complaints, I respect it.
"I look at the money they have invested and the money they have spent and Saturday is a real tough challenge for us but we are looking for a place in the play-offs and for this young group that would be absolutely remarkable."
The Gills will be hoping goalkeeper Jack Bonham (back) and midfielder Matty Willock (hamstring) can overcome injuries to feature.
Striker Dominic Samuel will feature after missing out on a starting place against Stoke City on Wednesday after his medical paperwork hadn't been completed on time, having joined in the week.
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