Gillingham will be eager to bounce back from their worst performance under the management of Steve Lovell.

The Gills conceded four goals before half time at Southend and after skipper Lee Martin was sent off there was no way back for them at Roots Hall.

With the play-off dream all-but over, focus is now back on reaching the 50-point mark to ensure they are playing League 1 football next season.

They have seven games to achieve it and after last weekend’s disappointment, fans will be eager to see their team put on a show at Priestfield.

Defeat at Southend means it’s three defeats on the spin now for the team, their worst run of results in the league this season.

Visitors Doncaster sit above the Gills on goal difference, with wins from their last two outings.

Head to head;

Gillingham wins: 32 Draws: 16 Doncaster wins: 12

League form;

Gillingham (LLLWLD): Southend (a) L 0-4, MK Dons (h) L 1-2, Bradford City (a) L 0-1, Portsmouth (a) W 3-1, Bury (a) L 1-2, Shrewsbury (a) D 1-1.

Doncaster: Blackpool (a) W 2-1, Bradford (h) W 2-0, Southend (a) D 0-0, Rotherham (a) L 1-2, Fleetwood (h) W 3-0, Walsall (a) L 2-4.

Last meeting at Priestfield;

Gillingham 1 Doncaster 0 – Sept 5, 2015

Substitute Jake Hessenthaler struck Gillingham’s winner when Doncaster were last in town.

His second-half strike was too powerful for defender Mitchell Lund to keep out as he tried to make a block on the line.

Doncaster were wasteful in front of goal and the Gills did just enough to take maximum points.

The win took the Gills top of League 1, as their impressive start to the 2015/16 season continued.

Last time out;

Southend 4 Gillingham 0

A woeful Gillingham performance left them well beaten by Southend on Easter Monday.

The Gills had a first half shocker that left them four goals behind and down to 10 men.

Goals from Michael Turner, Theo Robinson and Michael Kightly put Southend 3-0 up after 18 minutes.

It got worse before the break as Stephen McLaughlin added a fourth and captain Lee Martin was sent off.

Gillingham struggled to threaten the Southend goal but Tom Eaves did have two efforts ruled out for offside.

Team news;

Captain Lee Martin starts a four-game ban this weekend.

He received his second red card of the season, at Southend, following a rash challenge at the end of a frustrating first half.

The Gills are also like to be without Luke O’Neill after he limped off with a groin injury.

Josh Parker is also missing with injury but he could be back for the midweek clash against Blackburn.

Callum Reilly is set to return, however, after missing the last two games with injury.

Read more on the team news here.

From the opposition camp;

Doncaster sit level on points with the Gills and they have the same mindset, to finish the season as strong as possible.

With back to back wins behind them, they are certainly in better form than this weekend’s hosts.

Their game on Easter Monday fell victim to the weather and Rovers boss Darren Ferguson said: “I want to finish the season as strongly as possible, the last couple of wins have set us up so that we can finish as high as we can.

“It was disappointing to see the game called off on Monday, we wanted to come back home after the win on Good Friday with some momentum.

“We’re currently on back-to-back wins and we’re now going into a game on Saturday that’s winnable, but it will be tough.”

The two sides shared a goalless draw on the opening day of the season at the Keepmoat Stadium.

Ferguson said: “Earlier on in the season we were creating a lot of chances, we just weren’t scoring as many goals as we should have been. We’ve been more clinical but we have also kept more clean sheets.

“The Bradford game didn’t really see us have too many chances, but we were clinical with the ones that opened up for us, whereas at the start of the season we didn’t take our chances.”

Rovers followed up a 2-0 win over Bradford with a 2-1 victory against Blackpool.

One to watch;

Rovers’ leading scorer John Marquis is no stranger to the Gills.

Marquis, who enjoyed a half-season loan with the Gills in the 2014/15 season, has netted 12 goals for Rovers during the current campaign.

He joined the Gills on loan from Millwall in January 2015, many sceptical that he would make an impact as his record was hardly prolific.

The Gills were under the management of a caretaker team that included current boss Steve Lovell.

Under that regime, Marquis quickly began to show what he could do and when Justin Edinburgh arrived as the permanent boss, the goals continued to come.

He ended his spell at the Gills with eight goals from 18 starts. Gills fans were hoping he would sign permanently that summer but instead agreed a new deal at Millwall.

Marquis joined Doncaster in the summer of 2016 and he scored 26 goals for them on their way to automatic promotion from League 2, finishing third behind Portsmouth and Plymouth.

Midfielder Jordan Houghton is another former Gills loanee who is likely to play on Saturday.

Lovell said: “John Marquis is a very honest man, a hard worker and he'll cause us problems. I'm sure he and Jordan Houghton will be looking forward to coming back."

Man in the middle - Lee Collins;

Games: 13 Yellows: 42 Reds: 1

The Surrey official refereed Doncaster’s FA Cup match at Ebbsfleet earlier this season.

That match ended in a 6-2 win for Rovers, with Fleet having a man sent off.

Mr Collins was last in charge at Priestfield on August 8, 2015, as the Gills made a memorable start to that season, thrashing Sheffield United 4-0.

Assistants: Kevin Howick and Stephen Finch. Fourth official: Adrian Waters.

Fancy a punt?

Gills are 7/4 to win on Saturday with SkyBet but Doncaster are the narrow favourites, with odds of 13/8. It’s 11/5 the draw.

Tom Eaves, Gills’ leading scorer, hasn’t scored in any of this last seven games. He’s 6/4 to get on the scoresheet at any time on Saturday.

John Marquis and former Hythe Town frontman Alfie May are both 2/1 to score.

The Gills won 1-0 on Doncaster’s last visit with a goal from Jake Hessenthaler. It’s 115/1 for that to happen again.