Gillingham head coach Stephen Clemence comes up against one of his old Tottenham teammates today.
Clemence will be in the opposite dugout as he looks to get the better of fellow Spurs old boy Matthew Etherington’s Colchester United in the New Year’s Day clash at the The JobServe Community Stadium.
The U’s appointed Etherington in mid November as head coach after a spell as interim boss and is facing a challenge of a different kind to Clemence, under pressure after a poor run of results as they face a relegation battle. The pair were at Spurs together between 2000 and 2003.
During that time they played just nine matches together, their final league game on the same pitch coming in a 3-1 win over Manchester United as both players started that fixture at the end of the 2000/01 season.
Colchester were involved in an eight-goal thriller against Wimbledon on Friday, losing 5-3 at Plough Lane with former Gills man John Akinde, 34, coming off the bench for the Essex side in that game.
The U’s have lost seven of their last eight games in League 2.
Clemence said: “Matty Ethertington, my old teammate from Spurs is there, so it will be good to see him.
“I have seen Colchester a couple of times live this year and they play good football.
“It will be a completely different game to what Sutton gave us (on Friday night).
“I am sure will be a difficult game away from home but if we bring that game (against Sutton) then we will be okay.
“Consistency is key with that mindset to go and take people on. I do believe there is enough in that dressing room to do that in every game.
“Obviously, we have to become more clinical, that is still probably a sight worry, we are creating a lot of chances and only getting the one goal. I don’t want to be too critical but that is something we have to improve on.”
Gillingham head into 2024 sitting three points off the play-offs – which is effectively four if you consider their far inferior goal difference to the rest of the top-half teams.
Tables aren’t something Clemence is concerned with, however.
“I don’t look at the table too much,” he said. “People have told me we are three points off the play-offs, but it only matters come the end of the season.
“What pleases me is the performance and when you get the performance results normally follow. I am starting to see a shift, I am hoping we can keep on with that and be consistent. “
Injury kept Tim Dieng out for the game against Sutton and he wasn’t expected to be fit to face Colchester either. An assessment will be made over a muscle strain picked up by Jonny Williams in that Friday night win.
Max Clark was also replaced with a strain.
