The squad does possess midfield goalscorers. Curtis Weston has the quality to be a major player in this division and should be looking to hit double figures from midfield this year, while winger Andy Barcham, last year’s Player of the Season, is a converted striker who loves to get into scoring positions.

The likely involvement of youngster Luke Rooney should provide a few more goals too. The product of the Gills’ youth academy is a composed finisher and could play an important part in Gillingham’s campaign, if given regular first-team opportunities this season.

But while it’s important that goals come from all over the pitch, every side with intentions of challenging at the sharp of the division will need a spearhead. One, maybe two, strikers who can cause defenders problems and put chances away when they arrive.

Of course, Gillingham have one such player in their ranks, but Jackson looks a near-cert to depart Priestfield without playing another League game.

Conspicuous by his absence from both Gills lineups this weekend, it would appear the club are protecting him from the possibility of a deal-breaking pre-season injury.

Southampton are the latest club to be linked with Gillingham’s top scorer, with suggestions of a bid in the region of £750,000 being made. Millwall have had a long-standing interest in the player, as have Queens Park Rangers, but that was three managers ago. Norwich have reportedly had a £500,000 bid turned down, while Plymouth have also been weighing up a bid for the player.

With the season fast approaching it would seem the best option for Hessenthaler would be to encourage the Jackson sale to go through quickly in order for him to bring in the player or players he wants and needs to replace him.

If the Gills are serious about mounting a promotion challenge it will be vital that the club allows Hessenthaler to use an appropriate amount of the money earned from Jackson’s sale to bring in a proven goalscorer to replace him. Replacing Jackson is a must, and it needs to happen sooner rather than later.

Jackson was coy on his future when quizzed about his situation during a corporate event at the club last week.

Norwich City, Peterborough United, Plymouth Argyle, Millwall and Queens Park Rangers are all rumoured to be interested in Jackson, who has scored 42 goals from 98 starts for the Kent club to date.

And chairman Paul Scally has confirmed the club had received a number of offers for the Canadian international, though none had met the club’s valuation of the player.

Jackson’s contract with the club expires at the end of the 2010-2011 season and he is not expected to sign a new deal, meaning Gillingham would have to sell him this season in order to make a profit from Jackson, who arrived from Rushden & Diamonds for £150,000 back in January 2008.

The longer Gillingham hang on to Jackson, and the closer he gets to the end of his contract, the lower his transfer price is likely to be, and Gills365 understands the club will look to sell Jackson before the season kicks off in order to achieve the best possible price and to give new manager Andy Hessenthaler time and funds to bring in a suitable replacement.

Gillingham have already been linked with Barnet striker John O’Flynn, who scored 16 goals in a struggling Bees side last season.

The bid, believed to be in excess of £500,000, was turned down by the Gills, leaving the door open for a counter-offer from Norwich, or perhaps a higher offer from another club.

Talking to the BBC, manager Andy Hessenthaler said the player was not in talks with the Norfolk club.

“Simeon isn’t talking to Norwich,” he explained.

“The chairman does all the transfer dealings with players coming in and out of the club.

“He keeps me in the loop, and as far as I’m concerned, Simeon’s got a year left on his contract and I’ll see him for training on 1 July.

“There’s always going to be interest in a player like Simeon who scores plenty of goals.

“If we get the right offer for him something might happen but I’ve heard nothing about a move to Norwich.

“Every player’s got his price, but we don’t want to lose him because we want to get promoted again next year. I’m sure the chairman will keep me informed if anything does develop.”

Jackson has scored 35 goals in 85 league starts for the Gills and scored the crucial goal at Wembley that saw Gillingham promoted out of the fourth tier two seasons ago.

Sky Sports believes that Paul Lambert is an admirer of Gillingham’s Canadian international hitman, and is preparing to table a bid for the Gills number ten.

With money scarce at Priestfield, a decent bid could see Jackson leaving Priestfield, leaving manager Andy Hessenthaler needing to recruit a proven goalscorer before the season kicks off in early August.

We’ll update you with more news on this story as we get it.

Argentina, managed by all-time great Diego Maradona, scraped through the South American qualification group to book their place at the World Cup this summer. But with the likes of Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid), Walter Samuel (Inter Milan), Carlos Tevez (Manchester City) and, of course, Lionel Messi (Barcelona), the Argentina side boasts enough talent to take them all the way in South Africa.

For Canada, the match represents an opportunity to test themselves against one of the world’s top sides and Gillingham striker Jackson will be looking to make an impact against one of the most uncompromising defences in world football in one of the most intimidating arenas in the world, the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires.

Gills fans can watch Argentina v Canada LIVE on ESPN at 10:00pm on Monday night.

You can listen to the show using the podcast player below, or via our dedicated podcast page.

Plus, you can subscribe to the downloadable version of the show for FREE via the iTunes Music Store. To go our podcast page and click the Music Store button to subscribe today (you need iTunes installed on your machine to subscribe to the download version)

The Gills’ number ten is now a regular in the Canadian national team and is thought to be one of the new breed of young stars who will look to fire Canada to their first World Cup Finals tournament since Mexico in 1986.

Canadian football website RedNation caught up with Jackson and Gills manager Mark Stimson at this week’s pre-match press conference and found out more about Simeon and his footballing journey so far.

Interview by Max Bell @ RedNation

Huddersfield have been one of the division’s success stories under the stewardship of Lee Clark, while Gillingham’s season has been a largely frustrating campaign punctuated by inconsistent performances at home and the sort of consistency away that nobody wants.

With Gillingham desperate for a home win and Huddersfield looking to bounce back and prove a point, it promised to be a competitive game, and it certainly was.

Too competitive.

Gillingham played with three up top, with Andy Barcham hugging the left touchline and the duo of Rene Howe and Simeon Jackson playing more orthodox centre forward roles.

But while the Gills were looking to attack the Huddersfield goal, it seemed that the visitors’ tactic was to attack the Gillingham players.

Peter Clarke spent most of the first half with his forearm (and occasionally his elbow) planted in the back of Howe’s head, while Robbie Williams, whose performance failed to entertain anyone, seemed keen to follow his defensive partner’s lead, and eventually found himself booked for his trouble.

But, in a week where an accidental challenge from Ryan Shawcross resulted in a broken leg for the unfortunate Aaron Ramsey, Priestfield Stadium witnessed a quite disgraceful challenge.

Lee Clark may say the player is young and inexperienced, but the challenge from Nathan Eccleston was deplorable. From our seats in the Medway Stand we heard a loud crack and immediately feared the worst. But thankfully, and amazingly, Lewis recovered after a lengthy spell of treatment.

Meanwhile Eccleston – who had already put his head on Adam Miller after a tangle of legs saw the young Huddersfield player lose his temper far too quickly – was given his marching orders and disgraced himself further with an unrepentant middle-finger gesture to the Medway Stand as he was escorted from the field.

The challenge wasn’t a mistimed lunge, nor was it simply an over-zealous attempt to win the ball. It was, in my opinion and those of the people sat around me, a two-footed, over-the-top attempt to deliberately injure an opposing player. You can only hope the Football Association come down hard on the youngster and that Eccleston himself learns to control his aggression on the football pitch.

By the time Eccleston was sent from the field, Huddersfield were already up against it. Gillingham had taken the lead after just seven minutes thanks to a stunning strike from Simeon Jackson.

Twenty-five yards from goal, Jackson powerfully volleyed a bouncing ball low into the bottom corner, leaving Terriers keeper Alex Smithies bemused and the Medway Stand faithful shocked – many, including me, thought the ball was going narrowly wide.

And Jackson doubled Gillingham’s lead just 25 seconds into the second half, breaking clear of the Huddersfield back line – including Clarke’s cynical attempt to pull him back by his shirt – and firing low past Smithies into the bottom corner.

After the second goal, Huddersfield eventually abandoned their strongarm tactics, decided to play some football, and looked a much better side for it, despite being down to ten men.

The introduction of Gary Roberts in particular gave the visitors some much-needed quality on the ball, and he crashed a 25-yarder against the outside of Alan Julian’s post in one of Huddersfield’s best second-half attacks.

They had the ball in the net, but the goal was pulled back due to the cross going over the by-line before being pulled back, and Alan Julian and his defence had to deal with a flurry of late corners as the visitors searched in vain for a way back into the match.

But with Gillingham having plenty of second-half chances of their own, notably from Jackson, Howe and Miller, the home side ran out well-deserved winners against one of the division’s promotion challengers.

And if there was one thing we can learn from today’s game, it’s that you can’t put a value on having a genuine finisher in your side.

Gillingham had one, Huddersfield didn’t.

Enough of the stats, as this was the ludicrously labelled homecoming of a Messiah, the Prodigal Son, but in fact no more than a mere mortal, Chris Dickson, the subject of the most drawn out transfer deal in the history of the club. Six months of conjecture and a falling-out between the clubs concerned ended when the striker finally pulled on the Number 15 shirt for this game against his previous loan club, Bristol Rovers.

If Dickson failed to score on his return his presence had a galvanising effect on the Priestfield crowd. Gone was the negativity of the past couple of games and with it a welcome respite for Mark Stimson who was able to call on the services of Rene Howe to partner the returning hero.

In a first half in which the home side made the majority of the running it was Howe that failed to profit from a Dickson pass when he weakly shot straight at Rovers’ keeper Rhys Evans, who would have fielded harder back passes in his time.

Dickson who was busy, but at times appeared to be trying almost too hard, set up another chance for Howe who skied over the bar just prior to the break.

The second half was so one-sided it is hard to believe that the home side had to wait until time added on to seal the points. Howe tested the Rainham End rather than the keeper before he was replaced in a double substitution that brought Jackson and Dennis Oli into the game.

As the chances mounted, Gillingham got closer and closer to a breakthrough without actually managing it. A Danny Jackman free kick was inches wide, Dickson was even closer with a header and with time running out Jackson saw his shot pushed onto the post by Evans. When the resultant corner was blasted into the roof of the Rainham End by Andy Barcham, it appeared that another afternoon was about to come up blank for the home side.

The Rovers’ keeper had been a major irritant with his time wasting and when the board showed just three minutes of added time it seemed less than generous, but it was enough. Adam Miller found Jackson with a long pass and from the edge of the box the Canadian drilled the ball into the bottom corner to cue a celebratory run to his manager on the sidelines. As the rest of the squad joined the celebrations the feeling that unity had returned to the club was almost tangible.

Chris Dickson’s return might not have yielded a goal, but it may well have produced something even more important in the fight against relegation, a sense of togetherness that permeates from the terrace to the boardroom, ironically something that was almost demanded in his programme notes from the chairman himself.

Jackson had been rested by manager Mark Stimson, who opted to pair new loan signing Chris Dickson with Rene Howe, back in the side following a spell out injured.

But after Gillingham saw a host of chances go to waste, Stimson threw on Jackson, Dennis Oli and Andy Barcham in an attempt to secure the three points and his positive approach paid off with Jackson’s late, late winner.

In truth, Gillingham should have been out of sight by stoppage time. Rene Howe wasted the best chance of the game in the first half, shanking over the bar from six yards after excellent work out wide by Dickson has presented a golden chance for the big striker.

Dickson went close with a couple of chances, the best of which saw his flicked header from a Danny Jackman free kick fall just wide of the post – while Jackson, introduced mid-way through the second period, saw a shot cannon back off the upright as the Gills cranked up the pressure on the visitors.

Then, in stoppage time and with the fans wondering if it wasn’t going to be their day, Dickson picked out Jackson on the edge of the box with an incisive pass. The Canadian striker shimmied, cut inside the defender and fired a low shot past Rhys Evans in the Bristol Rovers goal and sent the Priestfield crowd into delirium.

The Gills had plugged away throughout the game and never stopped trying to create. Misplaced passes and near misses were a feature of the game, but Gillingham also tried to keep the ball down and pass it. They played some good football at times, moving the ball about the park well, but just lacked that one piece of quality where it mattered – until Jackson conjured his party-piece in the last minute of stoppage time.

FULL-TIME REPORT