Gillingham earned a hard-fought point on the road on Saturday afternoon in a 0-0 draw at Fratton Park against Portsmouth.

Gills manager Steve Evans made two changes to the side that saw off Southend last weekend; one forced, as Jack Tucker replaced the injured Barry Fuller at right-back, and one tactical, seeing Alex Jakubiak come in for Oliver Lee to trigger a formation change and add a bit of steel to the midfield.

A wet and windy afternoon saw a well-battled matchup between the two sides, and an even game of few clear chances for either side produced what was, probably, a fair result.

Portsmouth, as they often do at home, started the game on the front-foot, with Gareth Evans forcing Gillingham goalkeeper Jack Bonham into a low save in the opening two minutes.

Gillingham’s first attack of the game came a few minutes later when Mikael Ndjoli showed good footwork down the right hand side to win a throw. Mark Byrne’s missile into the box, though, was cleared.

Bonham had to get down well again minutes later to produce a similar save to his previous effort, before Tom O’Connor sent a direct free-kick narrowly wide at the other end.

Mark Byrne soon saw a left-footed effort fly wide, but Fratton Park erupted just after the half-hour mark when the home faithful thought Ellis Harrison had given Portsmouth the lead. His header, though, from Evans’ corner, came back off the inside of the post, trickled along the line, and was cleared.

Harrison came close again just before half-time when he headed over a well-worked free-kick, but the sides went into the break all-square with much to play for.

As the second-half began, Jack Bonham was forced into another low save, this time from Harrison, to keep Gillingham level.

Kenny Jackett was the first manager to blink, and he introduced former Gillingham striker, and fans’ favourite, John Marquis to the action on 54 minutes – a different kind of threat for the Gillingham defence to think about.

On-loan Southampton midfielder Alfie Jones, surely eager to get one over on his parent club’s bitter rivals, had perhaps Gillingham’s best chance of the game just before the hour mark. Neat build-up play involving Mikael Ndjoli and Alex Jakubiak resulted with Jones finding the ball at his feet in the area, but he was reluctant to pull the trigger and Pompey cleared.

The game slowed down as Jones missed another opportunity, but it suddenly sprung into life in the final ten minutes as Portsmouth pushed for a winner.

Kenny Jackett introduced Andy Cannon and Ryan Williams in an attempt to get more balls out wide, and Portsmouth enjoyed plenty of the late play as Gillingham seemed content to take a point back to Medway.

With the final action of the game, John Marquis missed a Ben Close cross by inches, an opportunity he surely would’ve scored with any kind of contact, but it wasn’t to be for the hosts, and Gillingham held on for a well-earned point on the road.

Portsmouth: Bass, Brown, Naylor, Burgess, Pitman (Marquis, 54), Bolton, Harness, Raggett, Harrison, Evans (Cannon, 75), Close (Williams, 75).

Subs not used: McGee (GK), Downing, Curtis, Haunstrup.

Gillingham: Bonham, O’Keefe, Ehmer, Ogilvie, Hanlan (Hodson 90), Ndjoli (Mandron, 80) Jones, Byrne, Jakubiak (Marshall, 76), O’Connor, Tucker.

Subs not used: Walsh, Charles-Cook, Pringle, Lee.

Attendance: 18,036 (672 away)

Referee: Mr. G. Salisbury.

Assistants: Mr. C. Wade and Mr. P. Jelly.

Fourth Official: Mr. L. Collins.