Over 2,000 Charlton fans will be making the journey to Gillingham tomorrow to enjoy the luxuries of what must be one of the oldest 'temporary' stands in football.
The Gills are one of eleven clubs that could still be relegated from League One, but one point would secure safety. No doubt they would hope to get it, and perhaps more, in the so-called 'Kent derby' tomorrow.
Bigging it up as the 'Kent derby irritates me. As far as I am concerned, Charlton are a London club and I am proud to have been born in Greenwich. Memories of growing up in South-East London can be found here, scroll down to Chapter 4 for the Charlton content: Growing up in South-East London in the 1950s
Gillingham's home record is worse than their away record, having lost eleven games at home against seven on the road. Charlton are second in the form table behind Oxford United and Gillingham are 19th. However, Charlton have not won at Gillingham since 1980.
Charlton have a number of players out injured, although in some cases it looks like a precautionary move to rest them. (Lyle Taylor, Krystian Bielik, Patrick Bauer, Jonny Williams). We want to win tomorrow, but we do not want to lose any key players to injury for the play off finals.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man? Will former Gills player Josh Parker score his first goal for Charlton at Priestfield? Probably not.
CAS Trust reckons that fifth place is the best Charlton can hope for and reviews our rather unpromising history with Gillingham: Forty year wait
Odds (Paddy Power): Gillingham, 23/10; Draw, 12/5; Charlton, 11/10. Lee Swabey from Devon is the referee.
Fans driving to the ground should note that there may be delays caused by slow moving caravans.
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