Gillingham will need to keep quiet a familiar face on Tuesday night when they take on Crewe Alexandra.

French striker Mikael Mandron ditched the Gills for Crewe in the summer after being enticed by a better offer. The 26-year-old has hit the net five times for his new club so far this season.

It’s a good return for a striker who got six for the Gills last term but finished the curtailed season in great form, netting twice against Sunderland before the campaign was halted because of coronarvirus.

That last-gasp equaliser against Sunderland in March was his last appearance for the Gills and he’s likely to be lining up against them tomorrow (Tuesday) at Gresty Road.

Evans, who was keen to keep the big striker, said: “They are a top class footballing side, spent good money and they gave more money to Mikael Mandron than what we could.

“It is tough when you lose players like him but we have to accept it. They have a good side, good players and it will be a tough night for us.”

Gillingham’s goals have dried up. A five-game goalless streak is the second worst run in their history.

They may be lacking goals but the chances are still coming and that’s keeping boss Steve Evans confident that their luck will change,

Evans, speaking after a 2-0 weekend loss to Sunderland , said: “You make your own luck and maybe we lack that bit of quality to score goals on a consistent basis but we are making chances.

“You can see the quality of our play, some of the passages of play in dreadful conditions, we gave Sunderland real problems.

“We only need to look at their bench, they’ve got £70k a week on there. We were better than them in long spells but we have lost and football is about results isn’t it?

“It was hard to take, we will analyse it, the performance was good, we bossed the midfield with McKenzie and Dempsey for long spells, causing them real problems but when you play like that you have to win.”

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