Looking to arrest their respective slumps in form, Barrow and Gillingham will lock horns at Holker Street on Saturday afternoon in round 31 of the 2024-25 League Two season.
Just over four months since the away side claimed a 2-0 triumph in September's reverse meeting, the hosts will have one eye on exacting revenge when they take to the field for this weekend's encounter.
Match preview
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Winning just one of their final 12 league games of 2024, Barrow would have been hoping that the start of the new year coincided with an upturn in form for them, but that has not been the case so far after six matches played in 2025 already.
A 2-2 stalemate against Bradford City on New Year's Day was quickly followed by consecutive 2-0 defeats to Harrogate Town and Swindon Town before Andy Whing's men finally picked up their first win of 2025 at the fourth time of asking by beating Grimsby Town 3-0 on January 25.
A chance to pick up consecutive wins for the first time since September awaited the Bluebirds in their final outing of January against Doncaster Rovers, which ended in a 3-1 loss, before Newport Town inflicted a fourth defeat of the year on Barrow after claiming a hard-fought 1-0 triumph in the sides' recent clash.
Now a whopping 16 points adrift of the final promotion playoff place, Barrow's hopes of moving up to the third tier of English football are all but over, although they are in no immediate danger of dropping to National League football due to their eight-point gap from the relegation zone.
With 22 of their 31 points so far coming in home matches, Saturday's hosts have largely been reliant on results in front of their fans to keep their season somewhat afloat, and coming away empty-handed this weekend would be deemed catastrophic.
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Fresh from finishing just six points shy of playoff contention last season, Gillingham kicked off the current campaign with three wins and a draw from four matches, which had many believing they were ready to mount a proper promotion challenge this time around.
Fast-forward six months later, and John Coleman's men are heading to Cumbria for this weekend's involvement aiming to snap a dismal run of eight matches in a row without a victory since beating MK Dons in mid-December.
A tally of 32 points from 27 matches so far has the Gills sitting 18th in the League Two table at the moment, one point and one place ahead of their next opponents, albeit having played one more game.
Gillingham's 2-1 defeat to Notts County at the Priestfield Stadium last time out saw them fail to keep a clean sheet for the eighth straight game, although they still boast the joint-best defensive record of any team outside the top seven.
However, Saturday's hosts have often been let down by their offensive output of 25 goals, which currently ranks bottom but two in the entire division, ahead of only Tranmere Rovers (21) and Carlisle United (22).
Team News
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Latest arrival Ben Whitfield could make his debut for Barrow this weekend, having recently completed a deadline day loan move from Burton Albion until the end of the season.
Gerard Garner and Dominic Telford are both unavailable for the home side after joining Morecambe and Barnet respectively before the January window elapsed.
Nineteen-year-old Joseph Gbode came off the bench to find the back of the net for Gillingham last time out and could be rewarded with a place in the starting lineup here.
Robbie McKenzie will be looking to come up with the goods once again having been named Man of the Match in the last meeting between Saturday's opponents.
Barrow possible starting lineup:
Farman; Jackson, Cameron, Canavan, Vassell, Duru; Gotts, Campbell, Williams, Spence; Acquah
Gillingham possible starting lineup:
Morris; Hutton, Gale, Ehmer, Ogie; McKenzie, Little, Khumbeni; Morgan, Nevitt, Agbinone
We say: Barrow 1-0 Gillingham
With two of the division's lowest-scoring teams going head-to-head, we are anticipating a cagey affair with little goalmouth action at either end.
Nonetheless, we are leaning towards a win for the home side at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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