Tom Eaves brace helps Gillingham ease past Fleetwood

Posted Sunday, November 04, 2018 by PA

Tom Eaves continued his red-hot goalscoring form with a double as Gillingham continued their revival with an impressive 3-0 triumph against Fleetwood.

Eaves bagged a brilliant brace while Brandon Hanlan grabbed the opening goal to condemn Joey Barton to his heaviest league defeat as a manager at Priestfield.

Gillingham have now recorded successive home wins after a recent slump and backed their convincing 4-0 over Bradford last time out.

Hanlan handed the hosts a deserved lead after 11 minutes by cutting off a defender’s backpass to open the scoring.

Eaves doubled the advantage with his 10th goal of an already fruitful campaign when he was superbly found by Darren Oldaker before controlling the ball and lashing home.

The rout was completed 10 minutes after the restart as Eaves grabbed his second.

Fleetwood were caught on the break with Connor Ogilvie finding Eaves to slot home and secure the points.

The visitors continued to put until the end but failed to grab a consolation.

Paddy Madden rattled the crossbar with eight minutes left with a crisp volley before the striker fired over right at the death as the Cod Army slumped to their third successive away league defeat.