Former Gillingham midfielder Jake Hessenthaler will face his old club for the first time since leaving in 2018 on Tuesday as the Gills prepare for the visit of Crawley Town for their first 2020/21 EFL Trophy game.

Hessenthaler, now 26, made his way through the academy in ME7 before making 181 appearances for Gillingham’s first team, following in dad Andy’s footsteps after the veteran turned out 365 times for the Gills before managing them twice. Jake was released in 2018 and signed for Grimsby before joining Crawley this summer.

The history is there, but, on Tuesday, Hessenthaler will be hoping to help his new team get a result.

Gillingham go into the game off the back of an opening day win after defeating Southend United 1-0 in the first round of the Carabao Cup on Saturday, and the team will be hoping to build some more momentum with a positive result here ahead of their League One opener against Hull on Saturday.

Crawley, on the other hand, lost their opener, 3-1 to Championship Millwall, but manager John Yems was pleased with the performance his side put in.

The Gills are set to welcome new signing Jordan Graham to the squad after the winger missed the Southend win with a groin issue. The former Wolves man was on loan at the Gills last season but joined permanently in the summer, and he is one of the signings through the door that fans are most excited about.

It was Gillingham who came out on top the last time the two teams met, defeating the Red Devils 2-1 in the same competition back in 2018 thanks to goals from Elliott List and Bradley Stevenson.

The last league game was in 2015. Gillingham also won that 2-1 after Bradley Dack and Jermaine McGlashan goals, and, in history, the Gills have won six of the ten previous matchups between the two sides to Crawley’s three.

Gillingham manager Steve Evans has admitted he has little interest in the tournament, but that he still wants to win.

“Our changes will be wholesale” he said. “The competition is not a priority but that does not mean we do not want to win. We do.

“We are playing a good side. Probably when it comes to resources then have more than us.”

The game kicks off at 17:30 BST and is available to watch on iFollow.