Gillingham earned their first away win of the season on Saturday afternoon following a 1-0 victory away to Accrington Stanley.

A Regan Charles-Cook goal was enough for Steve Evans’ men to see off Stanley – who had beaten league leaders Ipswich the week before – but it may have been a different story if it wasn’t for a stunning performance from Jack Bonham in the Gillingham goal.

It was a bottom half battle at the Wham Stadium on a chilly, but sunny, Saturday afternoon, and it was clear what the game meant to both sides throughout the 90 with plenty of passion on show.

Gillingham started the game with good intent and hit the post twice as early as the opening three minutes.

Young defender Jack Tucker, still filling in at right-back for the injured Barry Fuller, headed a deep cross against the woodwork before Mark Byrne, who returned from suspension after missing Tuesday’s draw against Shrewsbury, fired the rebound against the crossbar.

Accrington had the ball in the net not long after, only to see the strike ruled out by the assistant referee’s flag; Colby Bishop responded by striking the post for his side. Accrington, in fact, hitting the woodwork twice in the same move – as the home team began to take control of proceedings.

Steve Evans tinkered with his formation early, moving to a flat 4-4-2, but he couldn’t half the onslaught from the home team. Gills stopper Jack Bonham had to be alert to pull off a brilliant save from a Colby Bishop header.

Stanley again thought they’d taken the lead once again on the half-hour mark; Zanzala slotted home inside the six-yard box and reeled away with joy, only to, again, spot the linesman’s flag raised.

Gillingham ended the first-half the better side, with Regan Charles-Cook firing a teasing cross across the Accrington box, but Stanley would have been the happier of the two sides at the break.

The second-half started in scrappy fashion, but Gillingham began to show more intent going forward, seemingly utilising the wide areas more often.

Accrington, though, hit the woodwork again before the hour mark through Bishop after Bonham produced more excellent goalkeeping to deny Zanzala.

Just before the hour mark, it was Gillingham took the lead thanks to Regan Charles-Cook’s first goal of the season. The midfielder was played in by Tom O’Connor, turned Mark Hughes, and curled a beauty of a striker into the right of the goal past Evtimov.

Not long after Jack Bonham, surely producing a man-of-the-match performance at this point, pulled off another stunning save from a header from a Stanley corner. Stanley, now behind, had even more of an excuse to bomb forward at will.

A couple of Stanley set-pieces were dealt with well by an impressive Gillingham defence, and, as the game entered the final 10 minutes, it was time to throw bodies in front of the ball for Gillingham. Blocks from Tucker, Ogilvie and Ehmer kept the Gills in front, and the visitors held off the onslaught to earn a hard-fought first away win of the season.

Gillingham: Bonham (GK), O’Keefe, Ehmer, Ogilvie, Hanlan (Ndjoli 90), Mandron (Jakubiak 63), Charles-Cook (Lee 76), Jones, Byrne, O’Connor, Tucker.

Subs not used: Walsh (GK), Hodson, Cissé, Marshall.

Goals: Charles Cook 59.

Accrington: Evtimov (GK), Johnson, Hughes, Clark, Finley, Zanzala, McConville, Bishop, Conneely, Alese, Opoku.

Subs not used: Edwards, Sherif, Bursik (GK), Martin.

Goals: N/A.

Attendance: 2102 (254 away).

Referee: Mr. J. Busby.