Gillingham boss Steve Evans has been close to managing weekend opponents Swindon Town more than once.

The Gills are four unbeaten in League 1 and head into Saturday’s game buoyed by a 2-0 away win over Bristol Rovers.

Gillingham are facing a team Evans has a lot of respect for and one he knows well.

“I know the owner and the chairman (Lee Power) very well,” Evans said.

“He has tried to take me to Swindon on two or three occasions and it has never been right but it is a wonderful club isn’t it?"

Swindon made an official approach to recruit Evans in the summer of 2017 from Mansfield Town, a few months before the Gills also tried to lure Evans from the same club.

Evans is well prepared for the coming contest, saying: “I have known their manager John Sheridan for years and he will get them to be successful. They were 2-0 up against Crewe (on Tuesday) and it could have been three or four, they didn’t take their chances and got punished.

“They are a very athletic side, they move the ball around, they are purposeful, they find pockets. There just isn’t an easy game.”

Gillingham bounced back from last Saturday’s FA Cup defeat against Exeter City with the midweek league win at Bristol Rovers and Evans was keen to put on record his own errors in the weekend defeat.

The performance was described as rubbish post-match but Evans says he got things wrong too. He and the team got it right on Wednesday, however, as they returned to winning ways in the league.

He said: “We all let ourselves down on Saturday, no more than me, I got the shape of the team wrong that started the game. We spoke about that in the team meeting and I held my hands up to the players, no issue.

“It wasn’t the standards we have set ourselves as a team and a club, we wanted a reaction and from us (the management) we made sure our planning and preparation was right, hence me getting in the car to watch Bristol Rovers against Darlington (on Sunday). The boys deserved the credit (after the win on Wednesday).”

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The victory took the Gills up to 12th in the table and a win this weekend would really push them back towards those top-end positions.

“That is remarkable considering it is a new group,” Evans said.

“It is very young group, it is inexperienced and they are working ever so hard.

“We will make changes (because of the lack of time between games) and make sure we can put out a team that can win us a game.

"If we win, and it is all ifs, three points would put us in amongst it just before the Christmas period and considering the key players we have had absent, we have O’Keefe and Mellis still out, Graham’s been out, Medley out, arguable they would all start. What these boys are doing is absolutely tremendous.”

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