Gillingham make their first trip to Boundary Park since April 2018 to face an Oldham Athletic side who were promoted back to the EFL so dramatically at Wembley in June with manager Gareth Ainsworth taking nothing for granted.

Gills boss Gareth Ainsworth is under no illusions just how tough the trip will be as the last time they tasted victory in that part of Lancashire was in 2000 when goals from Ty Gooden, Barry Ashby and Rodney Rowe sealed a 3-1 win for Peter Taylor’s side on their way to winning promotion to the Championship in the play-offs.  

“Saturday will be a touch challenge,” Ainsworth conceded bringing us back to 2025. “Micky Mellon (the Oldham boss) has been around the Leagues and knows his way out of this League. He had some great results with teams in League Two and is a very respected manager in the EFL and he will have his team up for the weekend definitely!” 

“They have had a slow start, but they did magnificently to get to League Two from the National League play-offs last year. He got them through the play-offs and here they are! We are not taking anything for granted, not looking at the League table… we’ve only played five games, it’s nothing at all really!  

“If we’d have been at the other end of the table (the Gills travel North in fifth place), I would have still been saying the same as I am now; work, wait and patience as we are still getting things together, and we have got to respect that that is what Oldham might be doing, they have had some changes of personnel and I am sure that Micky will start getting results.” 

“He is a good manager and I have managed against him a few times and he has always been a tough opponent to come up against, but we will travel on Friday and we need to be at our best, not just on Saturday but in every single game that we play this season.”

“I have told the boys that they need to be on it, and we can’t rest on any laurels and think we have done anything special so far. We really want to get stuck into Oldham and then Bromley and whatever comes next.” 

“We just have to keep ticking them off and I’m really looking forward to going back to Oldham as it’s Northwest and where I grew up. I remember playing youth team games at Boundary Park, they were one of the Premier League founders back in the day!”

“It’s a special Club for me, so I will go and pay it huge respect by being at our absolute best.” 

“Regardless of what we have done already it is my job to get the team focused on the next game. It’s my job to do that as the moment that you start believing that you have done something is the moment that you will fail!”

“One of my massive traits is humility and I want my players to be a bunch who work hard and will get their rewards that way rather that expecting rewards because they have done something in the past.”

“You have to work for everything in this life, and we really have to put the graft in and put the work in to get anything out of it, and I will be saying that to my players!”

“They are a great bunch, I am loving working here, I’m loving the staff, the fans, it’s great and I think we can be even better, and I will be asking for more. I want more and hopefully they can deliver!” 

Asked about his squad for the weekend, Ainsworth said, “Euan Williams joined in some training Thursday morning, which was great to see. Seb Palmer-Holden is on the grass again; Shad (Ogie) has had some good sessions, and we are really close to getting these bodies back.”

“We had no fresh injuries on Saturday and that’s how I want it to be, the medical and sports science team are doing a great job and keeping everyone fit and fingers crossed we will have strong squads going forward!”