Gillingham 2-0 Tranmere Rovers: Dobbs and Hale on the scoresheet as Gills extend unbeaten streak to five

Gillingham started with a re-jigged lineup, with Ronan Hale leading the line, and James Brophy providing support from an advanced midfield role. Eli King came into the midfield for his first home Gills start, and joined Robbie McKenzie and Harry Waldock in a midfield triumvirate that dovetailed well throughout the 90 minutes.

After a closely contested first half that saw Omar Beckles' diving header force Tranmere keeper Luke McGee into a smart save, Gillingham came out for the second half and did a much better job of passing the ball.

With Hale up front, it was clear that hitting it long wasn't going to reap many rewards, and the midfield, led by the unflappable King, started to find teammates in space, with wing-backs Conor McManus and Nick Freeman both featuring prominently at both ends of the pitch.

The match remained deadlocked until the 68th minute. After Tranmere substitute Zane Okoro went close for the visitors, Gillingham went up the other end and won a corner. The set-piece was played short, and worked well between James Brophy, substitute Garath McCleary and Hale, with the latter crossing perfectly for Logan Dobbs to plant a header past McGee to give the 19-year-old defender his first professional goal, and in front of the Rainham End, to boot.

The scenes of celebration were great to see as the Gills academy graduate – who was forced into first-team action after skipper Liam Gordon's opening-day injury – enjoyed a magic moment in front of the celebrating Gills fans.

The goal seemed to settle Gillingham down, and unlike Gills sides of seasons past, they pressed forward in search of a second, and got their reward 10 minutes from time when Hale took up possession in the heart of Gillingham's own half, found McCleary wide on the right, then went charging forward. McCleary saw the run and curled an inch-perfect pass around three Rovers defenders for Hale to toe-poke past McGee and score his first goal in front of the Rainham End this season.

Hale wasn't able to celebrate, however, as he went down immediately after scoring – a result of Tranmere defender Bobby Faulkner's desperate attempt to challenge the Northern Irishman, which ended with the defender's studs going into the top of Hale's boot.

Gillingham then closed out the rest of the game with relative ease to secure the 2-0 victory and send the Priestfield faithful home happy after a strong, all-round team performance.