Gillingham 0-3 Walsall: Jekyll & Hyde Gills collapse after promising start

For around 80 minutes of the 2026/27 League Two opener at Priestfield, there was plenty for the home faithful to be encouraged by. The team was mixing up its play much more than we've seen over recent seasons, with direct play accompanied by some neat build-up play through midfield and out wide.

But by the end of the game, manager Gareth Ainsworth was staring at a 3-0 home defeat, his newly-installed captain with a potentially long-term injury, his former captain also back on the treatment table, and the sound of boos raining down from certain sections of the stadium.

Where on earth do we start? Let's kick off with the positives, and despite the result, there were plenty.

In midfield, Zane Albarus made his first senior league start, and had a superb game. His touch-tight pressure play in the middle of the park ensured that, unlike the last few seasons, it was much more difficult for the opposition's midfield to take up possession and turn unopposed before surging upfield.

The former Brighton youngster broke up play constantly, and while he was booked – and that's going to happen a lot this season – he kept his discipline well after his yellow card to ensure he was never in danger of being dismissed.

Also impressive was Kadeem Harris, who worked the left flank with remarkable energy, and showed defensive qualities as well as his more well-known attacking prowess. His work-rate was outstanding, and some of our best play came through him on that flank.

Then there was James Brophy, who deservedly earned the sponsors' Man of the Match award. He started off playing as a withdrawn forward, occasionally dropping into midfield, and finished the game at left wing-back after Harris was withdrawn for Garath McCleary later in the contest.

There were a couple of key moments where he passed when perhaps he could have shot, but overall, the former Cambridge man looked like a real upgrade, and someone with some real intelligence to create openings in the final third.

A word, too, for Logan Dobbs. Forced into action early after Liam Gordon's injury (more on which later), the young centre-back came on and instantly looked at home on the left of our defensive three. He's capable on the ball, reads the game well, and appears to enjoy the physical side of the game, too. It might not be long before he comes into Ainsworth's thoughts as a bona fide first-team starter.

Overall, the energy of the side looked so much better than we've seen of late. The midfield seemed much more of a presence, and we carried real threat going forward. But that leads us to some of the negatives...

You have to put your chances away, and against Walsall, we didn't, and it cost us dear.

Sure, we hit the crossbar three times, two with great efforts from Brophy and Will Goodwin that, on another day, may have dipped in, while another looping effort from Goodwin was well covered by Walsall keeper Jed Ward. And when Ward was called into action, he made the saves he needed to, most notably from a 25-yard piledriver from Ronan Hale.

But there were chances, oh were there chances. Will Goodwin will be having nightmares about the effort he dragged the wrong side of the post in front of the Rainham End, while there were penalty-box scrambles that saw Gills players taking too many touches when all that was needed was for someone to put their laces through the ball.

And, Gillingham being Gillingham, the turning point of the match came during one of our best periods of the match. The Gills had been knocking at the door for a good 5-10 minutes and had earned themselves a corner, but Walsall cleared and broke down the field at pace before eventually Isaac Moore, on loan from Coventry City, put the Saddlers 1-0 up.

The worst part of the match came immediately after. It was like the team had just been relegated. Heads dropped, the confidence drained away, and we looked like sitting ducks for the rest of the game. Walsall saw their opportunity and gleefully took it, as they added two more goals, through James Connolly and Aaron Pressley to put the gloss on a scoreline that barely reflected the 90 minutes as a whole.

But overall, this game seemed as much about Gillingham's shortcomings as it was Walsall's qualities. After a game where the home side looked largely on top for the majority of the first 80 minutes, they just folded like a house of cards after the first goal, and that will be as big of an issue for Ainsworth to address as the nature of the goals his side conceded.

To add injury to insult, it seems we've lost two of our key senior players, with at least one of them looking worrying like he might be out for an extended period of time.

Firstly, Armani Little went down on the half-hour mark, seemingly from a non-contact injury, and was clearly distraught as he came off the pitch. Then, just five minutes later, Liam Gordon fell awkwardly after chasing back to make a headed clearance, and was carefully helped off the field by the medical staff.

The pair were seen sitting in the Town End during the final moments of the game, with Gordon appearing to be wearing a knee brace. If his injury is as serious as that sort of support equipment tends to suggest, we could be without one of our most important players for a significant chunk of the season, or longer.

All in all, a performance that could and should have sent the Gills fans home happy an optimistic ended up doing the exact opposite after a 16-minute collapse. It means that the Gills end Matchday 1 sitting at the bottom of League Two, along with fellow 3-0 victims Rochdale, who were well beaten by Newport County.