Manager Mark Bonner can sense excitement in the air as Gillingham head into another top-of-the-table clash.
Ticket sales have been good leading into the game where League 2 leaders Barrow take on the Gills, with only goals scored separating the two teams at the top.
League 2 table – top 10
The Gills head into the match buoyed by success on the road last weekend, beating Notts County 1-0 to knock them off top spot in the division.
Bonner said: “I’m looking forward to getting back (at home). I can feel that there’s an excitement about the game and I think there’ll be a big crowd, which is good.
“The players, certainly some that have been rested this week, can go into the game a little bit fresher. Hopefully, we get the benefit of that at the weekend.
“I’m really looking forward to the game.
“I thought last weekend was a really good test so we were delighted with the outcome of that.
“Now we start a three-game week against another team that are flying and going really well.
“We’ve played a lot of teams that are in good form. They’ve been tough games for us, and we’ve been tough games for them. We expect this weekend to be no different.”
Under Stephen Clemence, Barrow have enjoyed a fine start to the season, with an identical record to the Gills, sitting top of the table after scoring one more goal than their weekend hosts.
Bonner said: “I think it’ll be a game where they’ll make it difficult for us to create chances.
“They’ve got some very good attacking players in wide areas. Full-backs get forward and join attacks well. They’ve got some threats throughout the team, as you’d expect.
“We know that they’re top scorers from set plays at the moment in the league, so that’s another area where they’re strong and they’ll make it hard for us.
“You can never predict exactly what the game looks like, which is why I think we have to try to prepare and develop a bit of flexibility in the way we play, so that in any given day, whilst we might have an idea of what the game looks like, whatever twists and turns it takes, we can cope.
“We’ll need a bit of flexibility in the way we go about our work, whether that’s players and personnel throughout the game with substitutions, or just the way in which we play.
“We want to be a team that gets right on top of the game early and tries to have a dominant day where we can but equally, we’re playing against a team that like the ball as well. It should make for a really good game.”
The Gills haven’t lost any of their last 14 home league games, unbeaten since a Boxing Day defeat against Crawley Town.
Eleven of those games came last season when Clemence was in charge of the team.
It’s a good run, but Bonner said: “We just want to win every game and then records and things look after themselves.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t care about them, I should, but I don’t. I just care about the next game because I think if you put wins together and you’re a successful team, loads of stats will start to appear, loads of records will start to go.
“In the end, the time to be looking back and saying you’ve achieved something is at the end of May, not at the beginning of September or October or November or wherever we are.
“We want to win the game and the consequences of if we do that is that we keep a winning run going that spreads over two seasons before my time, so be it. But in the end, that’s not what we’re chasing really.”
