The Gills start their 57th season in the 3rd tier (including Div 3S) the 6th longest of all Football League clubs.
Today's game is our 1,257th home tie in the third tier of the Football League. There have been 631 wins and 289 defeats.
Colchetser failed to win any of their first 8 league games last season but then won 5 out of 6 before embarking on a run of 9 straight league defeats
All of this seasons League 1 clubs put into a table using last season's results would have Colchester 2nd bottom along with Oldham & Wolves on 51pts
Colchester & Oldham scored the fewest home league goals last season of all this years League 1 clubs (25) exactly half of Port Vale who had the most
Second half goals were a premium for Utd last season scoring only 22 times, the joint fewest along with Hartlepool.
They also only managed 3 last 10 minute goals, the worst in the league and was 10 fewer than the total they conceded.
Top scorer for Colchester last season was Freddie Sears with 8 goals. Jabo Ibehre provided the most assists with 4.
The Gills have won 6 of their last 7 opening home league matches. It is also the 17th time in 24 seasons we begin the season at Priestfield
Cody McDonald took the fewest games to score last season of any player who played more than once (every 1.8 games).
It was marginally less than his last spell at Priestfield (1.7) but significantly better than his 6 games per goal for Coventry last season.
3:00 KICK-OFF
3:21
Kedwell hits the post
3:47
Half time: 0-0
4:46
GOAL: Gillingham 0-1 Colchester
4:50
FULLTIME: 0-1