Gillingham fought back to claim a point against Cambridge United on Boxing Day.
Louis Appere put Cambridge ahead but the Gills levelled midway through the second half through Max Clark, scoring straight after Robbie McKenzie’s penalty had been saved.
The Gills pushed for a winner after equalising, but remain without a win at home since mid-September after the match ended 1-1. Gillingham are also without a win in seven, with six of those finishing in a draw.
Former Gills boss Neil Harris was in charge of the visitors – assisted by title-winning skipper Adam Barrett.
Cambridge’s director of football Mark Bonner had taken over as manager of the Gills after Harris was sacked in October 2023. Neither had been able to satisfy the owners at Priestfield enough.
Their team come up against a Gills side who started the day 12th in the League 2 table, behind Cambridge in the table.
Gills manager Gareth Ainsworth reverted to a back four and had his big strikers available again, naming Josh Andrews as a starter and Sam Vokes on a subs’ bench that included leading scorer Bradley Dack – taken out of the starting line-up to manage his minutes.
Gillingham needed wins to get back involved with the chasing pack in League 2 but found themselves behind after 10 minutes.
Sam Gale had an early effort ruled out for offside, and Max Clark went close from a corner, keeper Jake Eastwood having to claw his inswinging kick from the underside of the bar.
Cambridge had just one effort at goal in the opening half and they scored from it.
James Gibbons headed the ball across goal and into the path of Appere, to finish from just in front of the goal.
Wayward efforts from Armani Little and McKenzie followed for the Gills as they looked to reply.
A better second attempt at goal from Little went narrowly wide and Andrews’ flicked effort needed to be saved by Eastwood.
Gillingham were putting the pressure on towards the end of the half but couldn’t make it count. From their seven first-half chances, just one was on target.
It hadn’t been the greatest spectacle, and manager Ainsworth probably had the best touch of the half, taking a long ball under control with a deft touch on the sidelines with hands in his back pockets.
In the second half, Cambridge had an early penalty shout waved away after Appere went to ground in the box under pressure from Sam Gale.
The Gills crowd was urging their team on but Little’s stray pass nearly cost the hosts as his ball was intercepted by James Brophy, curling a deflected effort narrowly wide of the mark, to the captain’s relief.
Ainsworth turned to his subs with 65 minutes gone as Dack and Seb Palmer-Houlden were introduced.
The Gills were back level on 72 minutes as disappointment turned to delight.
Little had been tripped in the box, which led to a penalty which Robbie McKenzie had saved by the keeper, but from the resulting corner, swung in by Dack, Clark fired home at the back post.
Dack had a couple of shots saved by keeper Eastwood, as the Gills sensed more joy, and looked like the team more likely to win it.
Brophy headed over from a stoppage-time corner for Cambridge as the matched ended one apiece.
League 2 table;
Gillingham: Turner, Hutton, Clark, Smith, Gale, McKenzie, Coleman (Dack 65mins), Little, Rowe, Andrews, Nevitt (Palmer-Houlden 65mins). Subs not used: Holtam, Masterson, J Williams,, J Smith, Vokes.
Cambridge: Eastwood, Watts, Jobe, Gibbons, Mayor, Bennett (Purrington 57mins), Hoddle, Mpanzu, Kaikai (Kachunga 79mins), Brophy (McLoughlin 57mins), Appere (Lavery 79mins). Subs not used: Hughes, Knight, Rossi.
Referee: Neil Hair
Attendance: 7,344
