Sevenoaks Town 0-2 Gillingham - I would say Gillingham were a very technical and very, very attractive beautiful side but it's my job to steer the ship this year and stay safe and keep ourselves in this League, says Sevenoaks Town boss Marcel Nimani

Sevenoaks Town 0 – 2 Gillingham
Location	Greatness Park, Mill Lane, Seal Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN14 5BX
Kickoff	03/12/2025 19:30

SEVENOAKS TOWN  0-2  GILLINGHAM
Go Cardless Kent Senior Cup Second Round
Wednesday 3 December 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from Greatness Park

SEVENOAKS TOWN manager Marcel Nimani says he’s feeling pleased that the club got to experience playing a youthful Gillingham side in front of their third largest ever crowd at Greatness Park.

Joe Dunne’s side will travel to Enterprise National League South side Tonbridge Angels in the Kent Senior Cup Quarter-Finals after sealing a comfortable victory, courtesy of a penalty from striker Zac Whitelock and a clinical counter-attacking finish from substitute left-winger Sullivan Booth.

“First of all, what a beautiful side Gillingham, such a young, beautiful, well coached team. It’s a real credit to their coaching team and a real credit to their players, very gifted, very technical and very, very attractive,” said Nimani, who's side beat their league rivals, Faversham Town 2-1 away in the First Round.

“You have to start by acknowledging that the opposition performed beautifully tonight. They are just a very good, technical side weren’t they.  Their rotations in possession made it really difficult for us and that meant we had to change our off-the-ball shape a bit.  They’re very technical, modern, good, beautiful playing side.

“It was tough. It was a good test for us because after Hastings, we’ve got two teams coming here, Whyteleafe and Three Bridges who play similar football, so it was a good opportunity for us to look at some of the things that we need to look at, some of the things that we need to work on, off-the-ball shape and tonight was the best test for it.”

When asked what he got out of tonight’s County Cup tie, Nimani replied: “Well, first of all, I’ve got a few of my players who haven’t played a lot of football. They’ve got to play some football, so there’s about four of my first-team players who haven’t played much lately, so they got 90 minutes.

“Then I got the opportunity to give four of my reserve players good minutes today, so that was again another opportunity and lastly, what I wanted to work on the most is off-the-ball shape because our next two home games replicate the two teams that are coming here.”

The Oaks attracted a crowd of 402 for Gillingham’s maiden visit in this competition. 

Their record crowd was when 526 watched Maidstone United clinch the Kent League title on the final day of the 2005-2006 season, while 426 watched Micky Collins’ side hold Chesham United to a 2-2 draw in the FA Cup Second Qualifying Round on Saturday 17 September 2016, when a 44-year-old Barry Hayles scored a dramatic late leveller for the visitors’ to get them out of jail.

Sevenoaks Town were without the cup-tied Kevin Diomande, Rodney Eruotor, Troy Chiabi, Jefferson Aibangbee and Jed Borders, while Jaden Perez was ruled out through concussion, so Nimani made six changes to his side that suffered a 4-1 defeat away to AFC Croydon Athletic at the weekend.

Gillingham – eighth-placed in League Two - gave a start to first-team second-choice goalkeeper, Taite Holtam, 20, but no other first-team players featured.

Centre-half Logan Dobbs – Gillingham’s captain – impressed at the heart of defence, as he did for Burgess Hill Town in last season’s Isthmian League South East Division Play-Off Final success over Sittingbourne and has since had loan spells with Welling United (Isthmian League Premier Division) and Tonbridge Angels.

Right-winger Louie Dayal was a threat for Gillingham during the first half – with Sevenoaks Town left-back Tolulope Jonah a weak link and was hooked for Charlie Dickens at the interval.

Left-winger Cruz Beszant chipped a left-footed free-kick from 35-yards straight down the heart of the pitch and through a high Sevenoaks line, which was comfortably gathered at head height by untroubled goalkeeper Jordan Perrin, 26.

Sevenoaks Town kept the ball on the deck with a move straight down the heart of the pitch with ineffective lone striker Warren Mfula feeding attacking midfielder Daniel Duncanson on the counter-attack before seven-goal winger Aaron Jenkins took a touch before cracking a right-footed drive sailing over the crossbar from 30-yards, with 10:12 on the clock.

“A bit more quality there, if he hits the target, that goes in. It was a good move though, a great move,” added Nimani.

Gillingham central midfielder Michael Luxton played the ball inside to Dayal, who cut inside and onto his left-foot before unleashing a 35-yard drive, which bounced once and across Perrin and past the far post from a central position.

“As good as they were and as good as their rotation were, the most important thing for us was they didn’t get in behind and they didn’t get in behind. When you’re playing against ball-playing sides, the most important thing you do is you allow them to play in front of you,” explained Ninmani.

Gillingham’s holding midfielder, Ben Clark, strangely wearing the number 10 shirt, pinged a diagonal into the right-channel and Dayal, right-back Nayan Grant and attacking midfielder Donte Augustus linked up before Dayal put the ball into the box from within the channel for Luxton to flick his first time shot over the crossbar at the near-post.

Jonah’s bullet header out of Sevenoaks Town’s defence released right-winger Jenkins down the side before drilling his right-footed angled drive flashing across Holtam and past the far post in the 25^th minute.

“Very good. I think given his track record scoring for us on this pitch; I expect him to hit the target there. If he hits the target, that’s a goal,” added Nimani.

Gillingham played out from the back with crisp passing and their unopposed passing stats must be very high during the course of the game.

Sevenoaks’ centre-half Ryan Sawyer launched a long ball out of defence, the ball was flicked on by Duncanson before Jenkins cracked a left-footed 25-yarder, which was comfortably saved in Hotam’s midriff.

“I’d go as far as saying that if you look chance-by-chance, we actually had the better chances,” admitted Nimani.

“Just a little bit of quality finishing, we could’ve comfortable have been one or two nil up before they got their penalty.”

Gillingham grabbed the lead, however, with 40 minutes and 29 seconds on the clock, courtesy of a clear-cut penalty, awarded by referee Joshua Williams.

Grant delivered a cross from within the right channel into a crowd of players, the home side got the first contact and Jonah was on his own and allowed the ball to drop and bounce up and strike his left hand and a penalty was awarded.

Whitelock stepped up and drove his right-footed penalty just left of centre, sending Perrin the wrong way, who dived to his left.

“I still think the penalty is a little bit of an injustice towards us because another referee doesn’t give that, so it’s not a clear-cut penalty, from my view,” claimed Nimani.

“I would just add as great as the opposition were, let’s not hide away from the fact that they scored two goals, with another referee neither of them would’ve happened, so the penalty, no other referee gives that as a penalty.

“I’m not saying it’s not a penalty but no other referee gives that a penalty. I’ve been in many scenarios where we’ve not received that.

“First of all, my defender’s gone up to jump up to header the ball and the referee’s saying to me ‘he had plenty of time to move his hand.’

“He didn’t handball purposely, he jumped up to header the ball, he’s miss-placed the header and then the ball’s hit him on his hand, so it’s not like my player had a chance to move the hand away.”

Dunne made a double change at the interval, with Booth coming on to play down the left-wing and Teddy James playing next to Dobbs at the heart of defence.

Nimani said: “We split the game in half. For me it was really important that when you play against these sides, they always start very quickly and if you’re switched off, they can nick another goal.

“I was really keen on my players to not concede early in the second half because that could’ve killed the tie off, so we decided to stick in our shape and be patient and hopefully catch them, catch mistakes and errors.  Credit to them, they didn’t make many mistakes, so we couldn’t pounce on anything.”

Gills came out with all guns blazing for the start of the second half, aided by a couple of sloppy defensive mistakes from the part-time hosts.

Dickens’ crossfield pass towards right-back Itauma was intercepted by Booth, who fed Dayal, who hit a right-footed rasping drive towards goal from inside the D, forcing Perrin to beat the ball away with both of his hands low to his right after only 157 seconds.

Sevenoaks’ centre-half Tom Hanfrey completely switched off and gifted the ball straight to Whitelock with a 15-yard pass along the deck and Perrin got his team-mate out of jail by diving high to his left and tipping the ball over the crossbar, with seven minutes and 56 seconds on the clock.

“It was a mistake, wasn’t it, Tom misplaced a pass, which put the guy through. I think a lack of quality maybe from us at the back that led to them creating a chance,” said Nimani.

“Jordan got him out of jail, yes. It was a good reaction from us to be fair. We were happy to narrow their opportunities as much as possible.

“Jordan, he done fine. He couldn’t do anything for the goals. He’s just a senior, experienced goalkeeper. He did the job fine.”

But Sevenoaks Town didn’t lay a glove on Gillingham during their lacklustre second half performance and Nimani explained why his front men failed to press Gillingham’s back four while they played the ball around the back with crisp passing.

“We did in the first 30 minutes and I just felt as our energy levels drop, if we press them at a high intensity, they will start nicking and breaking the lines and just end up scoring,” explained Nimani.

“I felt that them being young and us being patient, we could catch them in mistakes and credit to them they didn’t have any mistakes in the second half.

“You can call it whatever you like, they’re just fit and I think if we had pressed them for 90 minutes, they would’ve found a lot of gaps and got in behind us.”

There were only three corner kicks during the entire game and Sevenoaks’ only delivery came in from Dickens and Sawyer found a pocket of space to sheer to header across the keeper and past the far post (20:27).

Gillingham killed the game off as a contest by scoring their second goal with a clinical counter-attack, with 21 minutes and 6 seconds on the clock.

Duncanson crashed to the deck inside the Gillingham half before Luxton split open Itauma with a deck pass to put Booth through on goal and he clinically placed his right-footed shot across Perrin to find the bottom far corner from close to the corner of the six-yard box.

“The second goal, no other referee plays that on and a lot of referee’s will give a free-kick to us,” claimed the Sevenoaks manager.

“I don’t want to take away the fact, the goal that they went on to score was still good. A lot of referee’s give a free-kick to us, so ultimately the two goals were two calls from the referee, so let’s not stay away from that.

“I don’t want to take anything away from the goal. It was a beautifully worked goal but I have to say the reason why they scored that is because we had a player (Duncanson) down and another play who was not focusing on play but focused on the fact that the referee didn’t give a free-kick, so we were two players’ down.

“The fact that we had two players’ down and their patterns work. Their patterns didn’t work all game when we had 11 players on the pitch, so another referee would’ve give a free-kick to us and they don’t score that.”

Sevenoaks Town lacked desire to get themselves back into the game and the rest of the game allowed Nimani to throw in three subs that feature for the club’s Kent County League side – Yannick Vouhyan (attacking midfielder), Nana Agyeman-Arthur (left-wing) and central midfielder Jack Tickle, while a fourth, starter Harry Bunclark offered no threat as a left-winger for the 51 minutes that he was on the pitch.

That Sevenoaks Town side are top of the Kent County League Division Two Central – which sits nine levels below Gillingham in League Two.  Sevenoaks Town’s first team play in the eighth-tier of English football, meanwhile.

“I think the first half, when we had the reasonably stronger side, we created enough chances to score one. Second half, you have to remember I had like four Kent County League players in there.

“They done well. It’s such a big gap playing Kent County League football against a Gillingham Second Years’ but they done well, they competed.

“There’s a lot of positives. I thought the intent for me has been up and down. The intent of play, the intent of players and I thought tonight the intent was there, so that’s what we spoke about. We’ve got to maintain this intent. Can we get quality whilst we’re playing with this level of intent?”

Hanfrey drilled a long free-kick from inside his own half straight down the middle where Duncanson (now playing as the central striker after Mfula failed to impress) flicked his header past the right-hand post (46:56).

When asked whether he would like to bring in Gillingham’s young players, Nimani replied, “I’ve got a very good relationship with Bryan Bull (Academy manager).  He’s like the Iron Man of Kent. I’ve got a very trustworthy relationship with Bryan and it could potentially lead to something.

“I don’t want to give up my boys’ just yet. We’re trying to build something here.  You’ve got to remember, if I had my full starting 11, it could’ve been a completely different game today.”

Meanwhile, it’s now back to the bread and butter of proper football, the eighth-tier Isthmian League South East Division, where it's all about points on the board rather than player development in the professional ranks.

The League table does not make very good reading for Nimani’s side, who have a battle on their hands to avoid relegation.

East Grinstead Town are rooted to the foot of the table, having picked up only three points from their 19 league games.

Beckenham Town remain second-from-bottom with 10 points from 19 games and are joined in the relegation zone by VCD Athletic (16 points from 19 games) and Sevenoaks Town (19 points, six wins, one draw and 13 league defeats) from 20 games).

Ashford United (19 points from 19 games), Erith Town (20 points from 21 games), Hassocks (22 points from 20 games) and Hastings United (22 points from 20 games) also make up the bottom eight.

Both Beckenham Town and Erith Town played out a 1-1 draw at Eden Park Avenue last night and under pressure manager’s Del Oldfield and Adam Woodward offered to step down from their roles during their post-match interviews.

Nimani takes his side down to Hastings United on Saturday, a side that have won their last two League games and are three points clear of the Oaks.

“It’s a huge game away to Hastings.  We’ll have a full squad, touch wood. It’s the wrong time to play them. We could’ve played them at any point up to now and it would’ve been an easier challenge. Just my luck! We keep playing teams at the wrong time but that’s what challenge is all about.”

When asked about his side’s League position, Nimani, who guided the club to a ninth-placed finish last season (17 wins, 11 draws, 14 defeats, 62 points), replied: “First of all, it does go to show how much we over-achieved last season. That shouldn’t be forgotten because I still have the same resources.

“My challenge when I came in to until the clubhouse is done, is to keep the club in the League. We comfortably did that last year.

“It’s been disappointing (this season). I have to say that and that’s not me shying away from the fact, it has been very disappointing but we are trying to recover the season.  The season isn’t over.  We have got time.

“We’ve got a tough December (home, leaders Three Bridges, 13 December, home, third-placed AFC Whyteleafe, 20 December), but I think January, February and March we stand just as good a chance as any of those teams to beat one another and if we get ourselves a good little run there, we get ourselves out of it and if we do get ourselves out of it (I’ve achieved our) two year objective to stay in the League.

“I would’ve thought 44-46 points (would be enough to stay up) but that’s not guaranteed. It just depends on the behaviour of other teams, so I think you just always have to always keep your mindset just to look upwards.”

Gillingham have only won the Kent Senior Cup on two occasions – 1946 and 1948 – and were runners-up in 1939, 1949, 1950, 1990, 1995 and 2015 – and Nimani was delighted with tonight’s fixture attracting the club’s third largest crowd.

“I’m pleased. I’m just pleased for the board. I’m pleased for the club that they got to experience this,” said Nimani.

“It’s just not been the most exciting season on the pitch but we do have a lot of exciting stuff going on in the background, so it just goes to show the potential of this club has.

“It’s my job to steer the ship this year and stay safe and keep our status in this League and I think things can be a real high next year onwards.”

Sevenoaks Town: Jordan Perrin, Hanson Itauma, Toluope Jonah (Charlie Dickens 46), Jahmal Howlett-Mundle, Ryan Sawyer, Tom Hanfrey, Harry Bunclark (Nana Agyemang-Arthur 51), Ayomide Majekodunmi (Jack Tickle 72),  Warren Mfula (Yannick Vochyan 71), Daniel Duncanson, Aaron Jenkins.
Sub: Archie Howard

Gillingham: Taite Holtam, Nayan Grant, Callum Erskine, Ben Clark (Raif Jones 87), Logan Dobbs, Harry Webster (Teddy James 46), Cruz Beszant, Michael Luxton, Zac Whitelock (Evan Surrey 83), Donte Augustus (Sullivan Booth 46), Louie Dayal.
Sub: Fletcher Hegarty

Goals: Zac Whitelock 41 (penalty), Sullivan Booth 67

Booked: Michael Luxton 44

Attendance: 402
Referee: Mr Joshua Williams
Assistants: Mr Michael Corderoy & Mr Byron Beard