Rochdale 1-4 Gillingham: Brophy's brilliant brace inspires Gills to victory
05.09.26, 20:27 Updated 05.09.26, 21:34
Simon Head
James Brophy scored two stunning strikes as Gillingham snapped their winless start to the 2026/27 season with a thumping 4-1 away win at newly-promoted Rochdale.
Dale headed into the match buoyed by their midweek thrashing of Shrewsbury Town, while the Gills were coming off a battling come-from-behind draw at Chesterfield. But it was the Gills who hit the goals at Spotland as they hammered their hosts, who also went down to 10 men at 3-0 down.
Gills boss Gareth Ainsworth made two changes from the team that started Tuesday night's draw with Chesterfield as he brought Deadline Day signing Zech Obiero into the middle of midfield in place of Robbie McKenzie, while striker Will Goodwin returned to the strikeforce, with loanee Lamin Sillah dropping to the bench.
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Simon Head is the founding editor of Gills 365. A veteran sports journalist and editor with more than 25 years in the industry, he has written for major news outlets, broadcasters and sports organisations around the world. Simon is a longtime Gillingham season ticket holder, and has been a regular at Priestfield since the mid-1990s.