Gillingham captain Max Ehmer insists they’ve got the character to get out of the rut they’re in.
Manager Mark Bonner questioned his players’ approach to going ahead in games – losing from a 1-0 lead on Saturday against Accrington – urging them to “play with some intensity and some character.”
It’s three straight losses for the Gills as they’ve seen the goals dry up and some unusually shaky defending causing issues at the other end.
It will be down to the likes of Ehmer to get them back on track.
“It’s not a good dressing room at the moment, with three losses on the bounce” admitted the captain, following Saturday’s loss.
“But there’s big enough characters within the squad and staff to get us where we want to get to. We can’t keep saying it, we’ve got to start doing it, but we’ve got to bounce back quickly.
“We’ve lacked many moments of quality in that final third and in the opponent’s half, which we’re just letting teams off too easily at the moment. The quality is not there, like I’ve said a few times now, but we’ve got to get that right for us to win games.
“When defeats come back-to-back, it hurts more, so obviously losing three on a spin is tough, but it’s making sure that we’ve got the characters to bounce out of it because every team’s going to go through blips at some point of the season.
“The quicker you get out of it, the better it is.”
Accrington – with just one league win before the weekend – frustrated the Gills at times on Saturday, with plenty of gamesmanship, but made the most of their chances and it was no smash and grab defeat, with more shots – on and off target – and more touches in the opposition box.
Glenn Morris and replacement keeper Luca Ashby-Hammond were also busier than the Accrington stopper.
Ehmer said: “We got ourselves in a good position just after half-time and then we shoot ourselves in the foot and we go and lose the game, which we can’t do, not at home for sure.
“They’ve obviously come here and sort of set out their stall in terms of wasting time, slowing the game down, stopping the momentum of the game. At the end of the day, they’ve got the job done.
“It’s frustrating on our behalf, but it’s making sure, like I’ve said before, that we overcome those challenges in games, because every game’s going to be different. It’s just making sure we do it.
“We were on a good sort of trajectory going for the first whatever amount of games, eight, nine games, whatever it was. And then we’ve sort of blipped as of late.
“Now it’s just making sure that we’re better. That’s in all departments. That’s not just going forward, that’s defensively as well.”
