This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Comment’ series, this content strand is where the author of the article issues their personal opinion on the topic at hand....

Gillingham fans have got to be disappointed with their start to the season.

They’ve got two wins under their belts, but with one of those against a young Bolton side before their transfer window business, it’s a false position for Steve Evans to be boasting.

The reality is that they’ve got one win against teams on a level playing field and have turned in some very worrying performances.

The second period against Tranmere a few weeks ago was terrible. Micky Mellon’s side are struggling themselves but after shipping two first-half goals they should have gone on and won the match, instead drawing 2-2 and missing a penalty.

A win against high-flying Wycombe steadied the ship for the Gills, but this weekend they looked woeful against Oxford in the first half. They were 3-0 down at the break and out of the game before they finally kicked into gear.

Even though their manager, Steve Evans, thinks they had a better second half, the truth is they had one shot on target all game. They’re not creating chances, they’re struggling to finish the ones they do create and so far, they’ve kept just two cleans sheets, one of those against a Bolton side who had failed to score in the league all season.

It’s not just the bad run of results that might have the board and supporters worried. Steve Evans was surely appointed to add steel to their approach. He’s an experienced manager who might not have replicated his Rotherham success at Leeds, Mansfield or Peterborough, but who does get sides to be tough and strong.

His transfer business looks strong aside from the failure to replace Tom Eaves, but his new players are not living up to the hype. That’s reflective of his previous jobs too; signing Isaac Buckley-Rickett and Lee Angol to huge acclaim only for them to flop.

This season it’s been the likes of Matty Willock and Mikael Mandron who have struggled to adapt to life under Evans. He’s a larger than life character who doesn’t always win friends with his dugout antics. It's all well and good if you’re winning football matches, but if you’re not his routine looks tired and predictable.

Blame referees, blame individual players, blame circumstances but never, ever blame yourself. That seems to be the Evans mantra and as he issued an apology to fans after the Oxford debacle, one or two might be wondering if it’s time to quit this experiment now. He’s doing no better than Steve Lovell did and whatever the official rhetoric from the club, he’s surely been backed more than the previous manager.

Portsmouth, Peterborough, Shrewsbury and Accrington make up the next four fixtures and somewhere in those matches they’ll be looking for six or seven points. Posh might be a tough encounter, but Pompey are struggling, with both Accrington and Shrewsbury in the middle of the pack not impressing or disappointing.

If Gillingham come out of that run of matches with less than three points, it might be time for Paul Scally to look for a different course of action before it’s too late.