Gillingham are still on the search for their first victory of 2017 as Ady Pennock’s team welcome relegation-threatened Shrewsbury Town to Priestfield.

Ady Pennock takes charge of his first home match since his return to the club earlier this month, as he looks to get the Gills’ first three points of the calendar year on Saturday with Paul Hurst’s Shrewsbury in town.

The Kent club go into the match on the back of two trips on the road. Pennock’s opening game as Head Coach came at Boundary Park at Oldham Athletic which ended in a dismal defeat, whilst a much-changed squad was able to pull off a superb 2-2 draw at Bramall Lane against League One leaders Sheffield United.

Meanwhile the visitors are going into the weekend with back-to-back 1-0 victories at home to Oldham and Bradford City, so the Shrews are currently in better form than the hosts .

The Gills lie 17th in the table, five points above the dreaded drop zone whilst Shrewsbury Town sit two points safe of relegation in 20th.

Pennock has little injury concerns ahead of the encounter. Defender Bradley Garmston was set to take part in a development match but that was called off due to the weather, which may mean he’ll be back amongst the first-team in the next three or so weeks. The 23 year-old has been missing since suffering an injury in the FA Cup Replay defeat to Brackley Town back in November.

Summer signing Lee Martin is another name on his way to making a return to action. The midfielder picked up a devastating injury in pre-season which saw him dislocate and break his ankle. Versatile defensive man Chris Herd is also unlikely to feature for the visit of Shrewsbury Town after sustaining a knock last weekend against Sheffield United.

The Shropshire side visiting Kent this weekend have a selection issue ahead of the match with a number of key players back in the first-team. Manager Paul Hurst has confirmed that attacking midfield man Louis Dodds and left-back Ryan McGivern have returned to training but the game with Gillingham may be a little too early for the duo.

Gillingham have been unable to pick up their form this month, even with the arrival of former player Ady Pennock following the sacking of Justin Edinburgh after the home defeat to Oxford United on the 2nd January.

The Gills’ last victory was over a month ago in the match at Priestfield when they were able to overcome MK Dons. Since then, they have picked up a miserable two points from five outings and a play-off ambition slowly turn into a relegation scrap.

Shrewsbury Town are in a much worse league position to their opposition but two wins on the bounce seems to have brought confidence back to the team. Hurst’s squad has racked up seven points from the last five.

Gillingham last met the Shrews back in August in the reverse fixture at New Meadow. Shrewsbury, then under the guidance of manager Micky Mellon, found themselves 2-0 up at the break but the Gills crawled back to take all three points, which included a 30-yard stunner from loanee Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and a last-gasp winner thanks to defender Max Ehmer.