Gillingham manager Mark Bonner isn’t getting distracted by the outside noise as he sets about ending their losing run tonight.
Four straight defeats in League 2 have followed three straight wins and Bonner’s men will be hoping to stop the rot with victory at Priestfield. They host a Newport County team who are on a poor run of form themselves with defeats from their last three games.
The Gills lost 2-1 at Bradford City on Saturday in a game where they started well, took the lead, but then got undone by two set-pieces.
“It’s no disgrace losing narrowly at Bradford City,” said Gills boss Bonner.
“At the same time, we’re definitely not patting ourselves on the back for being hardworking and committed and together and running them close.
“We’re not satisfied with the outcome of the game but in the end, I have to protect the team all the time, and the whole world will go crazy.
“We have to not listen to that at all. The run of results is the run of results. We just get on with it.
“To be honest, I do block it out in the sense that I don’t actually hear it. I don’t live online and things like that, so I wouldn’t know. I just know it’s there. It doesn’t matter.
“People will love you when you’re four on the bounce and hate you when you’re four in defeat sometimes. That’s just the nature of it.
“We don’t want to be in this situation, but we know the recipe and the idea of how we get ourselves in a better position.
“What you can do really quickly if you’re not careful in these moments is feel a bit sorry for yourself and feel like nothing’s going for you.
“You’ve just got to get control of the things you can. If we do the things that we did well (on Saturday) more often, we’ve got some good players and we’ve got a good side. We showed that three or four weeks ago with loads of really good results.
“We weren’t as good as everyone thought we were then and we’re nowhere near as bad now as everyone will be saying we are. That’s just the truth of it and we’ll just crack on.
“We certainly want to end the run as quickly as possible. We’ll get fixed up to try and get a good result Tuesday.”
It’s been a tough month so far for the Gills. They started October top of the league but a home loss to Grimsby Town started their poor run of form. They’ve lost their last two at home.
Last weekend’s home defeat to Accrington was particularly frustrating.
Bonner’s experienced testing times before and said: “My experience says, when you’re in these moments, just crack on. It will turn for you if you’re good and you do the right work. Keep doing the things that have got you the initial success.
“We’re 12 games in. The run of results is horrible, but we’re in an all-right position in the league. Things are really tight.
“Everyone beats everyone in this league. It’s always been that way. It’ll be exactly the same this year.
“The sooner we can get a W, the better, because we want to get back on a good run.”
